Ships New to Our Waters Coincide with Seasonal Rites, Plus Multiple Maritime Confabs
“For the mighty wind arises, roaring seaward, and we go,” Alfred Lord Tennyson exhorted in 1842, when New York was in the process of displacing Boston as America’s preeminent port. Evidence that those days are not behind us arrives over the next ten days, as ships new to New York Harbor arrive in high-tech gadgetry, the annual Fleet Week parade of military vessels steams up the Hudson, the Honorable William Wall clubhouse opens for the season, and maritime experts and advocates gather in Lower Manhattan at the annual Waterfront Conference and the inaugural Ocean Tech Summit.
Two vessels are visiting New York for the first time this week (their “maiden” arrivals): the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Maurice Jester (right), named in honor of a heroic Coast Guard commander, and the cruise ship Diana, named after the Roman goddess of the light, the moon, and the wilderness. The Jester arrived yesterday (May 12). Tied up on the north side of Pier 17 at South Street Seaport, this cutting-edge Coast Guard boat (armed with machine guns) is open for free tours by crew members today, May 13, between 10am and 5pm. No reservations needed. On May 14, watch for Diana to glide by Lower Manhattan en route to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. At 409 feet long, she is a polar class cruise ship specializing in trips to the Antarctic, with a special ice-resistant hull and hybrid diesel electric propulsion.
Tomorrow also marks the opening day of the Willy Wall, Manhattan Yacht Club’s floating clubhouse, moored between the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Membership in the club is not required to visit the Willy Wall, which is an ideal spot for sailboat watching and enjoying unique vantage of Lower Manhattan. For Downtowners seeking a relaxing interlude out on the water, $30 gets you two consecutive boat rides from the Brookfield Ferry Terminal to the clubhouse on Thursdays and Fridays.
Wind Support NYC, a new organization working to accelerate the adoption of wind propulsion in maritime transport, is scheduling events this week at 189 Front Street, starting with the Wind Support Summit, today from 2pm to 5pm. Free and open to all, this event features a discussion of decarbonizing maritime transport and the capacity of ocean-going vessels to support this transition.
May 16 will bring the inaugural, two-day NYC OceanTech Summit (also at 189 Front Atreet), attended by ocean researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the public interested in fostering innovation in ocean technology. The first day of the summit will feature innovators and entrepreneurs in a research presentation competition, while the second session is “Investors Day.”
The 17th annual Waterfront Conference—this year themed Designing for Tomorrow: A Multi-Sector Approach to Resilience—takes place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on May 21. Tickets for this always consequential gathering of urban planners, scientists, engineers, policy-makers, captains, environmentalists, and journalists start at $50 for students.
The morning of Wednesday, May 22, brings maritime pageantry to the waterfront, when the 36th annual Fleet Week launches with a parade of military ships up the Hudson River. For this year’s event, the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard will bring a total of nine vessels and thousands of service personnel (supplemented by two ships from the Deutsche Marine, or German Navy) to New York for a packed calendar of ship-board tours and events. Please check the BroadsheetDAILY on May 21 for further details.
In the same year that Tennyson wrote the quoted lines above, Charles Dickens penned these words about his first visit to New York, as his ship approached Manhattan: “How the lunatics flung up their caps and roared in sympathy with the headlong engine and the driving tide!” Readers are urged to give all of the vessels visiting New York Harbor in the coming ten days a Dickens welcome.