Related Pages located on Long Island
Genealogy:
Long Island Shipwrecks
Ship Building In Early
Suffolk
Ship Building in Setauket
Raynor Rock Smith Hero Life
Saver of the Wreck "Mexico"
The Schooner C. C.
Colgate
Murder On The High Sea
The Wreck of the Bristol - November
21, 1836
Specializing in the field of United
States Lighthouse Service, Life-Saving Service, Revenue
Cutter Service and early Coast Guard. More particularly, it
aims to provide various governmental agencies, historical
groups, restoration contractors and collectors with
information and original artifacts relating to lighthouses,
life-saving stations, etc. in their area.
They have literally thousands of items and
pieces of information, from vintage photographs to
architectural plans, reports, books and original apparatus
and equipment. In addition, we provide research services on
the subject, and can offer quality copies of some items (ex.
architectural plans) for use by contractors of historical
groups to aid in preservation efforts.
The catalogue comes out every 10 weeks and
contains 200-300 original artifacts, plans, books and
information. Catalogues are by subscription, which is
refundable with your first order. If you would like to
receive future issues. They also maintain want lists as Items
come and go quite quickly, so that we can keep an eye out for
your particular wants.
Books Available on the US Life-Saving Service
An Interesting, recommended, and well
researched book, written by a native Long Islander and
occassional visitor to this site is WRECKS AND RESCUES ON
L.I. by Van
Field is available from Runaway Bay Book Store in
Sayville, the Souwester Books Shop in Bellport, Preston's
in Greenport, Book Revue in Huntington, at Fire Island and
Montauk Lighthouses. It is also available by mail from
Van at 17
Inwood Rd, Center Moriches, NY 11934 for $25 plus $2 shipping
$27 total, sorry no credit cards.
His stories also appear in L.I. Boating
World every month along with Harlan Hamilton's LI Sound
Lighthouse stories. They are both interesting
publications considering they are FREE at any marina or
boating supply store. L.I. Boating World also has a web
site at
http://www.liboatingworld.com.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries large sections of the United States’ eastern
seaboard were sparsely populated. The crew of any ship
running aground could expect very little, if any, help. As
maritime trade increased, so did the demand for assistance
for those wrecked near the shore. The chances of ships
running aground is illustrated by examining the approaches to
the nineteenth century port of New York, at the time the
fastest growing city on the eastern seaboard. A sailing ship
had to make a long funnel-like approach to the busy port,
with the coast of New Jersey on the one side and the coast of
Long Island, New York, on the other. During a strong
noreaster, a sailing craft could be driven upon New
Jersey’s lee shore. Both coasts contained sandbars
located between 300 to 800 yards offshore. In a storm, any
ship stranded on the sandbars usually went to pieces within a
few hours. Few people could survive a 300 yard swim in 40
degree storm-tossed surf. Even if a few sailors managed
somehow to reach the beach in winter, they stood a good
chance of perishing from exposure on the largely uninhabited
shore. On January 2, 1837 for example, the American bark
Mexico wrecked on the Long Island coast (Long Beach) and all
112 emigrant passengers on board were lost.
In 1871 the United States Life-Saving
Service was established and merged with the Revenue Cutter
Service to create the Revenue Marine Bureau. These two
services would become separate again between 1876-1878, and
would remain so until 1915, at which time they would merge
again to become the United States Coast Guard. While
originally begun on the New York and New Jerseys coasts, the
USLSS stations covered the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as
well as the Great Lakes region. Separated by distances of
approximately four miles, some of the the stations in the
immediate area of “The Water’s Edge”, were
the Smith Point, Forge River and Moriches USLSS
stations. All of the L.I. stations were on or in the
beach hills/sand dunes, a short way from the high water mark.
(Van Field)
The USLSS stations were substantial
structures that were well equipped for the dangerous duty of
rescuing the lives of those aboard ships in distress off
America’s coastlines. They had four rooms on the first
floor, two on the second, and an observation area
above. The lifeboat itself was approximately 26 feet long, 7
feet wide and weighed between 700 and 1100 pounds.
Operated by a seven man crew, their lifesaving ability
was formidable. By 1915 the United States Life-Saving Service
had aided over 28,000 vessels and saved over 178,000
lives.
The U.S. Life-Saving Service was a Federal
agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian
efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and
passengers. By the time the USLSS merged with the Revenue
Cutter Service in 1915 to form the U.S. Coast Guard, there
was a network of over 270 stations covering the Atlantic,
Pacific, and Gulf Coasts, and along the Great Lakes.
The concept of assistance to shipwrecked
mariners from shore based stations began with volunteer
lifesaving services, spearheaded by the Massachusetts Humane
Society. It was recognized that only small boats stood a
chance in assisting those close to the beach. A sailing ship
trying to help near to the shore stood a good chance of also
running aground, especially if there were heavy onshore
winds. The Massachusetts Humane Society founded the first
lifeboat station at Cohassett, Massachusetts. The stations
were small shed-like structures, holding rescue equipment
that was to be used by volunteers in case of a wreck. The
stations, however, were only near the approaches to busy
ports and, thus, large gaps of coastline remained without
lifesaving equipment.
In 1848 the federal government entered the
shore based lifesaving business. William A. Newell, a
Congress-man from New Jersey, made a "vigorous and
victorious" appeal to Congress for $10,000 to provide
"surf boats, rockets, carronades and other necessary
apparatus for the better preservation of life and property
from ship-wrecks on the coasts of New Jersey....." The
Massachusetts Humane Society also requested, and received,
funds for stations on the coastline. The stations were to be
administered by the U.S. Revenue Marine (later called the
U.S. Revenue Cutter Service), within the Treasury Department.
Actually, once the stations were built, they were run like a
volunteer fire department, but without anyone in charge, nor
any inspection system to insure that men and equipment were
up to standards.
The lifesaving system managed to continue
under this type of organization for the next six years. Then
a strong storm swept the East Coast in 1854. Many sailors
died because there were not enough lifesaving stations and
equipment had not been properly cared for. One town, in fact,
used its lifeboat "alternately as a trough for mixing
mortar and a tub for scalding hogs."
Again, Congress appropriated funds for
more stations. This time, however, some of the money was used
to employ a full-time keeper at each station. Also included
was money to hire two Superintendents to supervise the
stations along the New Jersey and Long Island coasts. The
problems, however, continued. As one old salt recalled, the
‘only person on duty was a keeper who received $200 a
year, and if he discovered a vessel in distress he had to
collect a volunteer crew.
The American Civil War caused the neglect
of the government’s shore based lifesaving network.
This neglect continued until 1870, when another vicious storm
ripped into the East Coast and many lives were lost.
Newspaper editors began to call for reform to "check the
terrible fatalities off our dangerous coasts" and to
revamp the lifesaving system so that sailors could depend
upon help "in the future." The year 1871 marked a
turning point in the history of shore based federal
lifesaving efforts.
Sumner Increase Kimball, a young lawyer
from Maine, was appointed, in 1871, the chief of the Treasury
Department’s Revenue Marine Division. One of his first
acts was to send Captain John Faunce, of the U.S. Revenue
Marine, on an inspection of the lifesaving network. Faunce
noted that rescue "apparatus was
rusty for want of care and some of it ruined," some
keepers were too old, few were competent, and politics had
more influence in the selection of keepers than
qualifications for handling boats. In short, the report
painted a dismal picture.
Kimball, using his own political know-how
and reenforced with Faunce’s report, proceeded to
completely remake the lifesaving network. He succeeded in
gaining an appropriation of $200,000 and Congress authorized
the Secretary of the Treasury to employ crews of surfmen
wherever they were needed and for as long as they were
needed. Kimball instituted six-man boat crews at all
stations, built new stations, drew up regulations with
standards of performance for crew members, set station
routines, set physical standards, and, in short, set the
organization on the road to professionalization.
The number of stations increased. In 1874,
the stations were expanded to include the coast of Maine and
ten locations south of Cape Henry, Virginia, including the
Outer Banks of North Carolina. The next year, the network
expanded to include the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula,
the Great Lakes, and the coast of Florida. Eventually, the
Gulf and West Coasts would be included, as well as one
station at Nome, Alaska.
In 1878 the growing network of lifesaving
stations was finally organized as a separate agency of the
Treasury Department and named the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
Sumner I. Kimball was chosen as the General Superintendent of
the Service. Kimball held tight reign over the Service and,
in fact, remained the only General
Superintendent of the organization. The law which created the
U.S. Coast Guard in 1915, also provided for the retirement of
Kimball. The Service’s reputation for
honest, efficient, and non-partisan administration, plus
performance of duty, can be largely attributed to the efforts
of this one man.
The stations of the Service fell into
three broad categories: lifesaving, lifeboat, and houses of
refuge. Lifesaving stations were manned by full-time crews
during the
period when wrecks were most likely to occur. On the East
coast this was usually from November to April, and was called
the "active season." By the turn of the
century, the active season was year-round. Most stations were
in isolated areas and crewmen had to be able to perform open
beach launchings. That is, they were
required to launch their boats from the beach into the surf.
Before the turn of the century, there were
very few recreational boaters and most assistance cases came
from ships engaged in commerce. Lifeboat stations were
located at or near port cities. Here, deep water, combined
with piers and other waterfront structures, allowed the
launching of heavy lifeboats directly into the water by
marine railways on inclined ramps. In general, lifeboat
stations were located on the Great Lakes, but some lifesaving
stations were situated in the more isolated areas of the
lakes. The active season on the Great Lakes stretched from
April to December.
Houses of refuge made up the third, and
last, class of Life Saving Service units. These stations were
located on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and
Florida. A paid keeper and a small boat were assigned to each
house, but the organization did not include active manning
and rescue attempts. It was felt that along this stretch of
coastline, shipwrecked sailors would not die of exposure to
the cold in the winter as in the north. Therefore, only
shelters would be needed.
The first stations consisted of one
building measuring 42 by 18 feet. As the Service grew, so did
the size of the stations. The early buildings were strictly
utilitarian, but by the 1880s, they were becoming more
fashionable and usually were made up of two or three
structures. The main building contained the offices, boat
house, and berthing area for the crew. It usually had a
lookout tower on the roof.
Some were built to resemble a Swiss chalet
and one was even designed with a clock tower. By the 1890s,
the architect A. B. Bibb designed stations that looked much
like beach resort homes with lookout towers. The Life
Saving Service operated under a dual chain of command. The
Life-Saving District Superintendents reported directly to
Kimball and were responsible for most of the administrative
matters of the stations, including such matters as pay and
supply. The other channel of command was the Inspector of
Life Saving Stations, a Captain in the U.S. Revenue Marine
Service. The inspector assigned assistant inspectors, usually
lieutenants of the U.S. Revenue Marine Service, to each
district and they were responsible for the operational
matters concerning the Service.
The assistant inspectors held drills,
investigations, and so forth. The Inspector of the
Life-Saving Service also reported to Kimball, thus creating a
system of checks and balances. The U.S. Life Saving Service
had two means of rescuing people on board ships stranded near
shore: by boat and by a strong line stretched from the beach
to the wrecked vessel. The Service’s boats were either
a 700 to 1,000 pound, self-bailing, self-righting surfboat
pulled by six surfmen with twelve to eighteen foot oars, or a
two to four ton lifeboat. The surfboat could be pulled on a
cart by crewmen, or horses, to a site near a wreck and then
launched into the surf. The lifeboat, following a design
originated in England, could be fitted with sails for work
further offshore and was used in very heavy weather. Some
crews, at first, viewed the lifeboat with skepticism because
of its great weight and bulk. The skepticism soon changed and
crews began to regard it as "something almost
supernatural," for it enabled them to provide assistance
"when the most powerful tugs and steam-craft refused to
go out of the harbor. ..."
When a ship wrecked close to shore and the
seas were too rough for boats, then the Service could use
another method to reach the stranded mariners by stringing a
strong hawser (line) from the shore to the ship. To propel
the line to the ship, a cannon-like gun, called the Lyle gun,
was used. This shot a projectile up to 600 yards. The
projectile carried a small messenger line by which the
shipwrecked sailors were able to pull out the heavier hawser.
Once the line was secure, a life car could
be pulled back and forth between the wreck and the safety of
the shore. The life car looked like a tiny, primitive
submarine. The life car could be hauled over, through, or
even under the seas. After the hatch in the top of the car
was sealed, there was enough air within the device to
accommodate eleven people for three minutes. It is hard to
envision eleven people crowding into the car’s small
compartment but, as one surfman put it, people "in that
extremity are not apt to stand on the order of their
going."
Typically, a life car carried four to six
people. Life cars were heavy and difficult to handle. Also,
as those in distress evolved from crowded immigrant packets
with many on board to small commercial schooners with less
than a dozen on board, the life car was widely replaced by
the breeches buoy. A breeches buoy resembles a life preserver
ring with canvas pants attached. It could be pulled out to
the ship by pulleys, enabling the endangered sailor to step
into the life ring and pants and then be pulled to safety
much more easily than the heavier life car. A beach apparatus
cart carried all the equipment needed to rig the breeches
buoy and could be pulled by the crew or horses to the wreck
site.
The boats, beach apparatus, and life cars
were only as good as the surfmen who served in the U.S.
Life-Saving Service. The man in charge of the station,
officially
known as the keeper, was called captain by his crew and was
an expert in the handling of small boats and men.
Superintendents of the Life-Saving Districts were responsible
for the selection of the keepers, who, in turn, were
responsible for selecting the crews. Both keepers and crews
were examined by a board of inspectors made up of an officer
of the Revenue Marine Service, a surgeon of the Marine
Hospital Service (later called the U.S. Public Health
Service), and an expert surfman to determine their health,
character, and skill. Keepers were required to be able
bodied, of good character and habits, able to read and write
and be under forty-five years of age and a master at handling
boats, especially in rough weather.
Most keepers tended to have long
experience at fishing, or other maritime occupations, or had
worked their way steadily through the ranks of the U.S.
Life-Saving
Service. Although many of the keepers transferred from
station to station, a great many of the men remained at one
station, or within a small radius. The long years of service
in one area made the men experts on the weather and surf
conditions. Furthermore, because the keepers tended to select
men from the local community for their crews, the units of
the Service, unlike many government agencies, remained
principally a local affair.
The men who made up the crews of the
Service were known as surfman, because those on the East
Coast, where the Service began, launched their boats from
open beaches into the surf. Surfmen could be no older than
forty-five and had to be physically fit and adept at handling
an oar. A glance at the muster rolls of the Service shows
that most surfmen listed their occupations before entering
the Life-Saving Service as "fisherman" or
"mariner." The number of men composing a crew was
determined by the number of oars needed to pull the largest
boat at the station. This meant the crews ranged from six to
eight, but by the turn of the century, some stations were
staffed with at least ten men. Because keepers selected the
crews, regulations were enacted to prevent nepotism. Many
surfmen, like the keepers, remained at one station for long
periods of time, but some moved on to other stations in order
to be promoted. Surfmen were ranked by order of their
experience, with Surfman Number I being the most experienced
and second in command of a station.
In 1889, the Service became uniformed. The
idea grew from stations on the Great Lakes which had adopted
a naval uniform. Initially, this did not result in an esprit
de corps but instead resulted in a shout of outrage. The
surfmen were expected to pay for the uniforms out of their
meager salaries. The rescues performed by the men of the U.S.
LifeSaving Service captured the attention of nineteenth
century America. Indeed, the sight of a keeper standing erect
in the stern of his small boat, grasping his sweep oar,
urging on his men at their oars as the boat rose and fell in
high surf, could cause a reporter to write exciting copy.
Terms such as "soldiers of the surf" and
"storm warriors" were used to describe the
lifesavers. The men did perform amazing rescues, but by far
the largest amount of work for the crews revolved around
drilling (practicing) with the rescue equipment, patrol and
lookout duty, and general station upkeep.
Each day of the week, except Sunday, the
surfmen were expected to drill or clean. On Mondays and
Thursdays, for example, the crew practiced with the beach
apparatus. The surfmen had to complete the entire procedure
of rigging the equipment, including firing the Lyle gun at a
practice pole shaped like a ship’s mast. When
the district inspectors arrived, the entire drill had to be
completed within five minutes or the man slowing the
operation could be dismissed from the Service.
On Tuesday, the men were expected to
practice with their boats. The craft were to be launched and
landed through the surf. In order to have the men react
automatically in an emergency, the boats would be
deliberately capsized and righted. This was a great crowd
pleaser, one observer noting that "no sight is more
impressive." The remainder of the week was taken up with
practice in signaling and first aid. Saturdays were devoted
to cleaning the station. All of the drills, while not overly
technical, were constantly hammered into the crew, which, in
turn, insured that the men would react quickly and
automatically during an emergency. This would pay large
dividends when the surf was running and danger was high.
There remained one other important duty
that took up a large portion of the surfmen’s routine,
lookout and patrol duties. During the daylight hours, a
surfman was
assigned to scan the nearby water areas from the lookout
tower. No seats were kept in the tower in order to prevent
inattention to duty. At night, or when the weather grew foul,
the surfmen performed beach patrols. Originally, the patrol
distances were set up so that the beach patrol would meet the
patrol from its neighboring station, thus providing a good
coverage for isolated shorelines. As more and more of the
coast came under the watchful eye of the Service, it became
impossible to provide such coverage. In the areas where
overlapping patrols could not be maintained, the surfmen
patrolled for five miles or more. At the end of his patrol,
there would be a stake with a patrol-clock key attached. The
key was inserted into the patrol clock and the surfman would
be able to prove that he had completed the patrol.
The beaches many times were "clad
with ice" and, at best, were "pathless desserts in
the night." Often times ‘the soft sand,
bewildering snowfalls, overwhelming winds, and bitter
cold," threatened to stop the men. Surfmen bundled up in
oilskins and carried a patrol clock, if patrols did not
overlap, and a pouch of coston signals. The coston signal was
much like a flare and was used to warn ships that were
approaching too close to the beach, or to let grounded ships
know that they had been potted and help was on the way.
Mariners were ortunate that beach patrols were run in all
weather. In [899, for example, surfmen burning coston signals
warned off 143 ships in danger of running aground. In October
of the same year, Surfman Rasmus Midgett, of he Gull Shoals,
North Carolina, Station, accomplished he amazing feat of
rescuing ten people single-handedly rom the wrecked Priscilla
while on patrol.
The greatest days of the Service covered
the ten years rom 1871 to 1881. These were the years of its
greatest growth and some of its greatest rescues were
performed luring this period. As the nineteenth century began
to edge closer to the twentieth, however, two major )roblems
began to develop for the Service. First, with the Ldvent of
steam powered ships, the age of sail was oming to an end.
With improved navigational technology, ships were less at the
mercy of the wind and were in less danger of being driven
into the beach. Secondly, at the turn of the century, the
U.S. Life-Saving Service noted the increase of gasoline
powered small boats, especially those used for recreational
purposes. For example, the amount of cases involving these
boats increased fifty-eight percent from 1905 to 1914. The
Service was not equipped for this type of work. To be sure,
it had experimented with motor lifeboats as early as 1899.
Keeper Henry Cleary, of the Marquette, Michigan, Station
tested a 34 foot lifeboat equipped with a two cylinder,
twelve horsepower Superior engine. By 1905, twelve power
boats were in operation. It was, however, too little too
late. The Service was essentially set up to move boats, or
beach apparatus, by cart to the site of a major shipwreck.
The procedures required to do this were fast enough for
sailing and steam ships, but not for large numbers of
pleasure boats.
Other problems developed. There was no
retirement system, nor any compensation for injured crewmen.
Salaries became too low to attract new men and, with no
retirement, it became difficult to gain promotion. By 1914
there "were instances of keepers in their seventies
manning the customary sweep oar while the strokes were manned
by men in their sixties." In 1914, after years of trying
to obtain a retirement system, Kimball agreed that a merger
of the U.S. Revenue Cutter System and the U.S. Life-Saving
Service would be best for both services and the country.
The law which created the U.S. Coast
Guard, on 28 January 1915, by combining the two services,
also provided for the retirement of Kimball and many of the
older keepers and surfmen. The U.S. Life-Saving Service
performed nobly over its forty-four years of existence.
During this period, "28,121 vessels and 178,741 persons
became involved with its services." Only "1,455
individuals lost their lives while exposed within the scope
of Life-Saving Service operations.
The legacy of the U.S. Life Saving Service
is great. The organization Kimball formed provided the basis
for the new U.S. Coast Guard’s search and rescue
organization for years to come. Indeed, one can find little
fault with the drills and organization of Kimball’s
routine. As late as 1959, U.S. Coast Guard Lifeboat Stations
on the Great Lakes were still following a modified version of
the old Life-Saving Service’s schedule for drills. For
example, beach apparatus drills were still being held weekly
to provide first aid and signaling practice. Further, lookout
tower watches were also still in effect. The constant
attention to practice with rescue equipment and inspections
is still in use today. In short, the good practices of the
Life-Saving Service remained in effect.
Kimball’s organization also allowed
a small crew to perform a large mission. The perception of a
small service doing a big job is as true for today’s
Coast Guard as it was for yesterday’s Life-Saving
Service. For instance, the average size of many U.S. Coast
Guard stations in 1959 was no more than fifteen. Technology,
however, has helped the U.S. Coast Guard to perform its
mission more efficiently. Better motor lifeboats have
increased the range of rescue efforts. Helicopters have
greatly increased the ability to help those in distress. In
fact, the combination of better boats and helicopters
eventually caused the closure of many stations. In 1915, for
example, there were twenty-nine Life Saving Stations on the
Outer Banks of North Carolina. Today, because of the impact
of technology, there are now eight stations in the same
area.
Publicly Accessible Lifesaving Stations within the New York area
FORGE RIVER LIFEBOAT STATION
Location: FIRE ISLAND
Nearest City: BAYSHORE
Owner: FLYNN'S HOTEL
Current Use: HOTEL
Hours:
Public Phone: 516-583-8000
Access: OCEAN BAY PARK
OAK ISLAND LIFESAVING STATION
Location: OAK ISLAND BEACH
Nearest city: BABYLON
Owner: TOWN OF BABYLON
Current use: COMMUNITY CENTER
Hours: BY APPOINTMENT
Public Phone:
Access:
POINT OF WOODS LIFEBOAT STATION
Location: FIRE ISLAND
Nearest City: BAYSHORE
Current Use: HOTEL
Hours:
Public Phone: 516-583-8000
Access: OCEAN BAY PARK
New York Maritime Historical Sites open to the Public
Dunkirk Historical Lighthouse and Veterans Park
Museum
1 Lighthouse Point Drive (off Route 5)
Dunkirk, NY 14048-0069
(716) 366-5050
Long Island Maritime Museum
(formerly Suffolk Marine Museum)
86 West Avenue
West Sayville, NY 11796
(516) 854-4974
Hudson River Maritime Museum -
http://www.ulster.net/~hrmm/
Dedicated to The Preservation of The Maritime History
of The Hudson River One Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY 12401 -
914-338-0071,
FAX 914-338-0583 - e-mail hrmm@ulster.net
MUSEUM
HOURS & FEES
telephone #718-409-7200
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/museum/layout.htm
The museum is housed in the halls of historic Fort Schuyler,
on the campus of the State University of New York (SUNY)
Maritime College, Bronx, New York. The Maritime College
may be reached by public transportation from Manhattan via
"Pelham Bay Local" of the Lexington Avenue (East
Side) I.R.T. Subway.
Change at Westchester Square Stations, and take bus- marked
"Bx40 Fort Schuyler" -directly to the gate of the
College, which is the last stop on this bus route.
The New York Bus Service offers express bus service between
Manhattan and Throgs Neck. Call (718)994-5500 for stop
information. The stop for Fort Schuyler
is at the intersection of Pennyfield and harding Avenue,
approximately 1/2 mile from the campus.
From Long Island and Long Island Expressway West on Long
Island Expressway to either Cross Island Parkway or Clearview
Expressway North to Throgs Neck Bridge: take Pennyfield
Avenue-Fort Schuyler Exit IMMEDIATELY after toll station. If
possible use right most toll booths. At second stop sign turn
left over highway onto Pennyfield Avenue to College
entrance.
Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site
Park Road, off U. S. Route 9W
Stony Point, NY 10980
(914) 786-2521
South Street Seaport Museum
Website
http://www.SouthStSeaport.org
New York City's maritime past comes alive at South Street Seaport Museum. Here adults, families, and children can see, touch and enjoy the city's rich and diverse maritime past in the 19th century district where it all began. Explore the decks and cabins of six historic ships, see exhibitions of maritime art and artifacts, discover New York's archaeological heritage. Journey through the area's stone-paved streets as well as the little shops all along he way. Learn to use a 19th Century letterpress, sail around New York harbor on a graceful twin-masted schooner or excursion vessel.
Address & Phone
South Street Seaport Museum
207 Front St.
New York, New York 10038
Phone: (212) 748-8600
Fax: (212) 748-8610
Hours
April 1st - September 30th:
Daily 10 am to 6 pm; Thurs. until 8 pm
October 1st - March 31st:
Daily 10 am to 5 pm; closed Tuesdays
Admission
Adults: $6
Seniors: $5
Students w/ID: $4
Children: $3
Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum
W. 46th Street & 12th Avenue
New York City, NY 10036
(212) 245-2533
U. S. Merchant Marine Academy
Steamboat Road
Kings Point, NY 11024
No phone number given.
By appointment only.
East End Seaport Marine Museum
One Bootleg Alley
Greenport (Long Island), NY 11944
(516) 477-0004
Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum
Montauk (Long Island), NY 11954
(516) 668-2544
Old Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara State Park
Youngstown, NY 14174
(716) 745-7166
Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum
Main Street
Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724
(516) 692-9626
H. Lee White Marine Museum
Foot of West First Street
Oswego, NY 13126
(315) 342-0480
Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum
7606 Ontario Street
Sodus Point, NY 14555
(315) 483-4936
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