1964 Sixth Boro b

In continuing reportage from Steve Munoz:  “On Sunday, July 12th, 1964, my family sailed out of Paerdegat Basin in Jamaica Bay on the Evelyn Mae (below)

and arrived at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, still under construction and not to be opened until late November [1964].

Throughout that afternoon we drifted and steadily rolled in a southeast wind as sailing ships from around the world came up Ambrose Channel.”

Below, behold an anchored Statsraad Lehmkuhl, currently [shifting to 2019] at a dock in Fredrikstad, Norway.

Gorch Fock II was nearby.

Anyone have ideas on what that small boat off GF’s starboard bow might be?

Esmeralda . . . is as of July 2019 sailing off New Zealand.  I love the crew hanging off the vessel, including the bowsprit, sprucing up her appearance before the parade.

Black Pearl passes Gorch Fock II.  I’m told Black Pearl is currently in the Great Lakes, but I’ve never seen  or heard of her there.

Juan Sebastian de Elcano .  .  .  is a Spanish training ship launched in 1927 and whose namesake assumed leadership of Magellan’s journey from the Moluccas back to Spain.  She appeared on this blog here in 2012.

“Libertad fired their saluting cannons off Ft Hamilton.”   Libertad has a special relationship with Wavertree, the South Street Seaport Museum ship.

“A return salute was provided by the USS Willis (DE-1027) at anchor in Gravesend Bay.

My father positioned himself with his Kodak camera, with slide film in it, against the lifeboat and mentally calculated the timing of the saluting cannon of the Argentine full rigged sailing ship Libertad and caught the flash of the cannon seen in the picture in this article. We didn’t see all of the ships enter the harbor that day, but they arrived under full sail, saluted the USS Willis and settled in at their assigned anchorage position in Gravesend Bay. There weren’t many other boats or harbor craft around that day, but in those days we were able to get up close and circle the ships after anchoring and watch the cadets secure the ship from sea.”

USCG Eagle was there, as was

SS Rotterdam entering NY harbor before parade.  SS Rotterdam is currently docked near the Hotel New York in  . ..  Rotterdam.

Note the cranes atop to western tower of the VZ Bridge;  it wouldn’t open for a few more months.

Would that helicopter be an HH-62A?

“Darkness was approaching and we set course back to Paerdegat Basin.”  This is reprinted from NY TUGS magazine, vol2, no2 in 2009.

Many thanks, Steve.  More to come.

By the way, one upcoming post features Evelyn Mae.  Until then, are there any guesses on her date and place of build?