AUTUMN CRUISE UP THE HUDSON RIVER 2012

It seems there is always someplace new to experience on the water. After making the transit down the East River I rounded the Battery a little after sundown and I wanted to find an anchorage soon.  In the past I have poked into the basin behind the Statue of Liberty. But, it does not have a lot of room and if it was filled with a few cruising  boats on their way south I'd have to find another spot in harbor after dark and also fight the ebb current coming down the Hudson (North) River. So I decided to check out a new anchorage that looked inviting but, had never seen to many boats use. It is an area north of Ellis Island. So after rounding the Battery in Manhattan's southern tip I made a B line in the fading light for the area. Winds were out of the west blowing 10 to 15 knots and I put the bow as far west as I dared and dropped the anchor.

It turned out to be a pretty good spot. A little rolling at first but, it calmed down nicely until 4 AM when another roll woke me up. In the morning I waited until the flood current began to push up the Hudson and then weighed anchor and used the current to help push BIANKA along.  First past the still unfinished Freedom Tower:

Below is a photo of what it looked like during BIANKA's cruise in 2011. 

 A lot of progress was made but, last year I thought it might have had all the glass installed by this year. Hopefully, it will by next years cruise. Though there are signs that things will be reaching a peak soon. The parts of the tower that will be making up the transmission tower aka the spire on top have begun to arrive in the harbor as seen in this Tugster Post.

Continuing up the river the Empire State and Chrysler buildings soon showed up in my view with Pier 40 in the foreground:

A little further on I passed the Intrepid Air and Space Museum. Which had a new addition since last years cruise. That white bubble near the stern housed the  Enterprise Space Shuttle.

A week after this photo was taken Hurricane Sandy destroyed the tent which covered the spacecraft and exposed the shuttle to the elements.

Further on several those floating cities known as cruise ships where tied to up the land based city getting ready for their afternoon departures.

Soon BIANKA was passing the George Washington Bridge one of the bridges that make up the gateways to the City of New York. Near the eastern base of the bridge is the Little Red Lighthouse made famous in the book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge:

 BIANKA then sailed past the Yonkers Recreational Pier.

The last Victorian steel pier on the Hudson. A leftover from the days before air conditioning when people headed toward the waterfronts to escape the stifling heat of summers without indoor air conditioning in their houses.

Further on the main reason why I wanted to make this fall cruise soon appeared as the dramatic Palisades started showing some of the fall colors.

There was not a lot of boat traffic on the river which made for a very pleasant sail. I did come across another boat sailing back to New York. I think it was the ADIRONDACK a day sailor based out of the Chelsea Piers. I was thinking as it sailed by this is what it must have been like on the Hudson in the days before the steamships started plying the waters:

A few miles further on and BIANKA would reach the intended destination of the cruise which I will write about in a future post.

DESTINATION: CITY ISLAND NAUTICAL MUSEUM

After visiting the Pelham Cemetery it was time for lunch. The Crab Shanty was my choice for a reasonably priced lunch. Capt Mike's Tip: Make sure you come hungry. The portions were big and I made another meal with what I took back to the boat. After lunch it was time for the main reason why I came to City Island in the first place. Which was to visit the City Island Nautical Museum run by the City Island Historical Society. The museum is housed in a century old former school building which is still standing no doubt because those people who built those stout boats and ships in the shipyards also participated in it's construction too. It makes an impressive sight when one comes up to it on Fordham Street with it's up pointed arrow like roof making a rather positive architectural statement:

City Island Nautical Museum

Once inside the solidness of the building continues as one wanders around the halls and rooms which contain photos, artifacts and exhibits of City Island's nautical past and also life on City Island through the years.  With an emphasis on boat building that took place on the island.

I wonder how much it would cost for this wooden "yacht tender" today? The Henry B. Nevins shipyard had them in stock years ago. Back then you would be able to "row it away today" no doubt:


I also wonder if any of the ship builders tools on display like those below were used in making some of those yacht tenders?

For those into power boats you'll find also find something of interest too, Like this display of outboards through the years:

While at the museum I ran into a fine old gentleman named Ed Sanders. He was master of a New York City fire boat called the FIREFIGHTER for decades. He also built the model of the boat on display at the museum:

 

He was also a Hell Gate Pilot and I spent and hour or two chatting with him about his life and experiences fighting fires in New York Harbor on the fire boat and his experiences as a Hell Gate Pilot.  I also spent some time in the library of the museum which had shelves of nautical books as well as clippings from newspapers and other historical documents about the island. Including the log books kept on the construction of some of the ships from the various shipyards.

I spent four hours in the museum and I still plan to go back again as I found it a fascinating place and being able to come visit it by boat made it even more special.