Built on the landfill at the southern tip of Manhattan, the Museum returned to the sea during Hurricane Sandy when it was flooded with six feet of water. Just a month earlier, UNY collaborated with the American Folk Art Museum’s exhibition of nautical folk art to present a reading of original stories based on the building and the work.
On June 15, 1905, General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River, taking with it 1,021 German immigrants on their way to a church picnic. It was the worst maritime disaster in NYC’s history and the gravest loss of life until September 11, 2001.
Because of the current, human and animal bodies tend to accumulate in nooks and crags near the Manhattan Bridge.
The water’s edge is sharply defined by concrete in order to accommodate docks and roads. Over time, the concrete cracks, revealing tons of rebar, which acts as a kind of netting, snagging junk like old tires and garbage cans.
This British vessel sank in Hell Gate in 1780, with treasure aboard, so the rumor goes. Salvage attempts over the years have been futile; the remains of the ship may lie in a Bronx landfill. Hear a story about it here.
Jeff Woodbury saw this curtain wash up in Long Island City at 3 pm on April 18, 2004. See a picture here.
Jeff Woodbury, who spotted this flying saucer at 3:02 PM on April 18, 2004, says: "We usually imagine aliens to be somewhat human-sized, but this proves differently.” See a picture here.
This bike turned up near Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City on April 18, 2004. See a picture here.
Discussing a housing complex built on Manhattan’s East Side, artist Rick Caruso says: “The other weird aspect of Waterside is that it’s built on a platform jutting into the East River which is supported by—I think—hundreds of concrete pilings and they actually have a team of full-time divers that dive every day to check and fortify the pilings.”
Much of the water near the shore and around Liberty Island is less than ten feet deep. This makes us think of that Edie Brickell song (but now we’re dating ourselves).
These critters are like underwater termites, chomping at the wood that holds up those little ol’ structures we call bridges. We knew the Tappan Zee was a total hazard, but FDR Drive? One more reason to take the subway.
On beaches near the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges lie the rusting remains of many cars, mostly from the '70s and '80s. We’re guessing this is what people did before Cash for Clunkers.
A fireboat captain spotted dolphins near the Navy Yard just a day after a NY Harbor School educator saw a 7-footer in toxic Newtown Creek. The mammals are also regularly seen off the Rockaways.
The table sits upright, as if waiting to be set, near 16th Street. We’d accept a hundred stories about this one.
