The first European sail in New York harbor was likely in 1524. I’ve no idea what his vessel looked like or what it was named, but he was from what is now Italy and sailed for Francis I, of France of course. This was the era of Henry VIII, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Suleiman the Magnificent. The next recorded European sail in the harbor was Henry Hudson, who was English and commanded the vessel Halve Maen for the Dutch East India Company.
Half Moon either got left in Albany so that this port building could be tied up to it, or spawned this replica.
Not replicas are Lettie G. Howard and Pioneer, sailing toward the Battery. Photo was taken from Pioneer.
I love this schooner. All else I can say about it is that it’s a “pinky” design, so called because of the shape of its stern, popular among fisherman in the 1700s. The high stern protected the tillerman. I welcome comment from anyone who can tell me more about this occasional schooner on the harbor.
My first sails were on a Sunfish. It was magic. Then I graduated to an aluminium canoe with a sail, a demonic play thing in gusts.
I don’t know the name of the class of boats above, but the drama of rounding the buoy and setting the spinnaker was palpable.
This is Makulu, a 40-something foot sloop at the end of its second educational trip around the world. Currently Makulu is homebound, lap 3, back in the Atlantic off West Africa.
Parting shot for now: Clearwater and Adirondack are northbound on a hazy summer day.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
4 comments
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December 9, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Tillerman
“Protecting the tillerman” is an excellent idea. I’m all for it.
December 10, 2006 at 10:18 pm
bonnie
Hey, that’s my friend Richard’s little schooner, the Rosemary Ruth! I’ve sailed with him a few times, nice guy – that’s actually where I met Brian, too. Doing a search of Frogma for “Rosemary Ruth” will find a number of mentions, and Richard’s got a very interesting site with stories of refitting her and also of his earlier Tom Colvin pinky schooner, the Orbit.
December 10, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Richard Hudson
Great blog. Bonnie sent me the address.
Thanks for the nice picture and comments on my pinky schooner, Rosemary Ruth. She is a 35′ Tom Colvin Yin Yang design, built in steel near Toronto, Ontario, around 1980.
I bought Rosemary Ruth a couple of years ago, halfway thru a 7-year refit in Oregon. She is docked at Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City for the winter.
April 19, 2009 at 11:09 pm
the Schooners of New York Harbor « Bowsprite: A New York Harbor Sketchbook
[…] are some of the schooners that live here. Many friends come through: Mystic Whaler is here, at the 79th st Boat Basin, the A.J.Meerwald from Bivalve NJ, and many others. If you are […]