Vessels participating in the festival will include:

  • Lehigh Valley Barge No. 79, built in 1914 and celebrating its 100th birthday this year. It is the only surviving wooden railroad barge of its type. Once aboard visitors will see the tools that the longshoremen used when the barge carried cargo, an amazing ball machine that whirls, jumps and plays music via gravity, and a special exhibit, “From Shore to Shore: Boat Builders & Boat Yards.”
  • The retired NYC fireboat John J. Harvey, built in 1931 and a 9/11 firefighting hero, looking better than ever after recent major restoration work.
  • The 174-foot former Coast Guard lighthouse tender Lilac, built in 1933 and the last steam-powered lighthouse tender in America. Visitors can see crew quarters, heavy-lift cranes and the ship’s amazing triple expansion steam engine. A special exhibit, The Hero Project, a stunning series of photographs of dancers posed aboard historic ships by Jonathan Atkin, hangs throughout the ship.
  • The iron-hulled schooner Pioneer, built in 1885 to carry cargo, now carrying passengers on harbor sails. She is owned by South Street Seaport Museum.
  • The 107-year-old tug Pegasus, who spent her long career towing barges and docking ships in New York Harbor.