Half Moon, a replica of Henry Hudson’s ship, looks very small sitting on the deck of the heavy-lift ship Traveler, which is carrying the ship to its new berth at the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, in the Netherlands. As heavy lift ships go, … Continue reading
Category Archives: City of Ships
The Howard Hughes Corporation, a real-estate firm based in Dallas, TX, is proposing a $1.5 billion redevelopment of the historic South Street Seaport in New York City. Their plan includes destroying several historic buildings and erecting a controversial 494-foot residential tower … Continue reading
A recent article in the TribecaTribOnline was titled, “Two Historic Sailing Ships Could Dock at Seaport This Summer.” The story is that Jonathan Boulware, the South Street Seaport Museum’s interim president, is working very hard to arrange dock space for … Continue reading
Here is a short video by the Harbor School, a public high school located on Governors Island in New York harbor. The school’s mission is to “provide a college-preparatory education built upon New York City’s maritime experience that instills in students … Continue reading
Recently, the NY Times and others have been reporting on the installation of the first commercial wind turbine in New York City. The Sims Municipal Recycling facility in Sunset Park on the Brooklyn waterfront has installed a 100 KW 160′ … Continue reading
The schooner yacht Wanderer was built in 1857 for Colonel John D. Johnson, a New Orleans sugar baron. At just over 100 feet long, she was luxurious, sleek and extremely fast, reportedly capable of sailing at 20 knots. The Wanderer is … Continue reading
Last night, my wife and I took to a two hour sail on the schooner Pioneer to watch the “super moon” rise over New York harbor. The “super moon,” is in scientific terms referred to as a “perigee moon,” a … Continue reading
Four years ago, workers excavating at the new World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan uncovered the remains of an 18th century wooden merchant ship. The ship was found 20 feet below street level, is roughly 30 feet in length and was probably buried intentionally as land … Continue reading
PortSide New York, the organization behind the historic tanker Mary A. Whalen, is having an amazing marine hardware fundraising sale. From their press release: If you think a full-sized bollard makes the perfect doorstop, or that a collection of shackles … Continue reading
I believe that this is the first straight-out restaurant review that we have done on the Old Salt Blog. Then again the Grand Banks Oyster Bar on the schooner Sherman Zwicker is not your typical restaurant. Sherman Zwicker is a … Continue reading
In New York City, there is a story told about Gallus Mag, the bouncer at the ‘Hole in the Wall‘, a bar and brothel on Water Street on the East River waterfront in the mid-1800s. Standing well over 6’ tall, she … Continue reading
In March, we posted about “The Captain Rose House of 1773 & Kit Burns Rat Pit of 1870,” at 273 Water Street in Lower Manhattan. In addition to being the third oldest building in Manhattan, the building has a rich … Continue reading
On my way to an informal gathering of water-bloggers on Saturday, I passed by Captain Joseph Rose’s House at 273 Water Street in Lower Manhattan. I wanted to stop by because one scene in my next novel, The Shantyman, is set … Continue reading
In the almost 6,000 miles of streets, roads and highways in the five boroughs of New York City, only about 15 miles are still paved with cobblestones. As noted by the New York Times: Starting in the 17th century, cobblestones … Continue reading
Sometime during the Civil War, the poet Walt Whitman wrote a poem about New York City, titled “The City of Ships.” The first stanzas begin: City of ships! (O the black ships! O the fierce ships! O the beautiful, sharp-bow’d … Continue reading