On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote this to his wife Abigail:  “The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.”

I wonder if Abigail believed him.

Last night around 1900 hr, Brendan Turecamo (above) and Catherine Turecamo pushed their Macy’s loads upriver.  I think two other Macy’s barges  were pushed by Kimberly Turecamo and Jennifer Turecamo.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think that the Macy’s 34th Street megastore had embarked on short sea shipping of goods.   Do you know that as a teenager, R. H. Macy  worked on a Nantucket whaling ship, Emily Morgan, during which time he got a tattoo, which is the star that still today in the company logo.

A motley crew of spectators ventured into the river for the show,

a very motley crew indeed.

Other tugs took some time off as well . . . Maurania III here, and Quantico Creek and the other Pegasus over on the other side of the river.  Maybe others too.

The two Harley tugs—HMS Liberty and St Andrews–hung out with 1907-built Pegasus at the sanitation pier.

It appears here that a contingent of the  NYC Air Force is escorting in Hornblower Infinity.  As it said, it APPEARS that way.    Anyone I know working there?

343 summons the safety spirits.

Lots of spectators wait on a contingent of NYC’s passenger/dinnerboat fleet.

Darkness falls. Tension builds as thunderstorms do their own illumination to the north and the south.

Around 2130 h . . . opening salvo.

These fotos do not capture that percussive blasts and echoes off the sanitation pier . . . so use your imagination.

Too bad John and Abigail and all the other signers weren’t here.

Well, maybe they were.

I did hear some creaking and squeaking on the pier.

Happy

Independence

all the time.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

AND Pegasus and you have something else to celebrate.  Remember the Partners in Preservation voting lots of you all did back in May?  Pegasus and Lehigh Valley 79 ended in 14th place, and I thought that meant they got no money.  Au contraire, they DID get a hefty sum . ..  $140,000 to split!   . . .to be used for preservation, and on a 1907-built vessel, there’s a lot of preservation to be done.  So thanks much for voting.  If you want to see Pegasus close-up, come down to Pier 25 west side of Manhattan . . .