Sailing Off the Big Apple

In December 1954 National Geographic magazine published a story on everyday life in the New York Harbor. The article, “Here’s New York Harbor” featured the ebb and flow of ships and cargo vessels and those who made their living in its busy straights and bays. Among them was the artist John A. Noble (1913-1983) who lived on his floating studio anchored in the waters between Staten Island and New Jersey. The son of a noted painter, Noble had studied art in Paris but also worked many years on the New York docks. Hallway to John A. Noble's floating houseboat studio. Noble Maritime Collection, Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Staten Island. Elegantly crafted wooden ships were left to rot in a ship graveyard at Port Johnston, a coal dock built on the tidal strait between Staten Island and New Jersey. In 1941, here on the Kill Van Kull, a name harkening back to early Dutch explorations, Noble began salvaging parts of ships in the “boneyard” to create his floating studio. Drafting...

Sailing Off the Big Apple explores New York City by water, discovering and rediscovering the city’s historic waterways, shoreline developments, and rich maritime culture. Where its sister site Walking Off the Big Apple strolls the streets on foot, this site wanders down to the shoreline and gets on a boat. A motorboat and a sailboat pass like ships in the night during sunny daylight in the East River.  At first, we’ll mostly travel by ferry. The city’s expanding and affordable ferry service is increasingly opening new ways to experience New York City both for residents and visitors. Riding the ferry is a great way to keep up with the transformation of the waterfront and explore unfamiliar neighborhoods. View of Midtown East from the NYC Ferry Over the past few years, many of the city’s old working piers and industrial waterfronts have been repurposed for recreational purposes, transformed into new parks and spaces for entertainment. Where once dockworkers a...