“Here is an account that is more than just a recital of facts: it is a dramatic tale peopled with colorful, vigorous characters ranging from pirates, smugglers and slavers to sea captains, great merchants, shipbuilders, and city officials--the men who made municipal history.” - Mayor of the City of New York.

A Maritime History of New York is a republication of the work compiled by the New York City unit of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) Federal Writers' Project originally published in 1941, with new historical and updated material. The writer's provide a concise and insightful description of the Port of New York's 400 year history -- and the resilience of the people, the city and the seaport through changing times.

“Portuguese navigators, Dutch settlers, English colonists, pirates and privateers, the armies of two great nations, smugglers and slave-traders, captains of ocean packets and clipper ships, towboat- and longshoremen, the adventurers and seafarers of all nations throng the pages of this history of the world's greatest seaport.  From the time Henry Hudson rounded Sandy Hook in 1606 to the present day, the harbors history has been one of unparalleled commercial growth. Early Dutch traders carried cargoes of furs from New Amsterdam, later a great trade with China made New York one of the world's first international seaports; the Erie Canal made it the gateway to a continent; the days of the great clipper chips saw its rise as a shipbuilding center. With the coming of steam, it saw the rise of famous steamships. Today one of the world's busiest seaports, it has a history and tradition unsurpassed by any other ports.  Here is a complete record of its founding, its growth and present greatness, a chronicle of famous ships and famous men, a record of the manifold activities of a gigantic center of commerce -- the result of years of painstaking research made into one of the most fascinating histories ever written.”

This book provides the "big picture" -- how the global city of today was an international one from the moment the first trading post was established on its shore; how the city's fortunes, industry and standing rested on its vast and vastly successful seaport. The cover and illustrations are based on the original and the text has been supplemented to include a prologue that provides an anthology of the book by maritime historian Norman Brouwer, a new forward that offers a tour of the Port today provided by the Navy League; and an epilogue that gives an overview of port activity from 1941 to modern times by Barbara La Rocco.