The Bicentennial

I had the good fortune to attend the Bicentennial celebration in New York Harbor during the July 4th 1976 weekend. The central event was the parade of the Tall Ships from many countries. Having joined a sailing club out of City Island I reserved a berth on the MARY E a small schooner acting as one of the many spectator boats. The Tall Ships had already marshaled in Bermuda and sailed up to anchor off the Atlantic Highlands in New Jersey. But the smaller boats were being hosted at the many yacht clubs on Long Island Sound. So I joined MARY E at the Larchmont Yacht Club on the Friday evening and on Saturday all our class boats sailed single file down the East River. The high rises along the river bank hung banners out their windows - it was a festive greeting. As we hit Hell Gate where the river narrows it got choppy requiring engines. Our assigned anchorage was just north of the Verrazano Bridge where we spent Saturday night. On mid-morning Sunday the Tall Ships appeared led by the U.S. Coast Guard EAGLE dressed with flags and with sailors up on the spars. Following came vessels from France, England, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Argentina and two from Russia. The harbor was extremely crowded with all types of craft and the Coast Guard did a great job of traffic control. Pres. Gerald Ford was there aboard a cruiser anchored off New Jersey. Mid-afternoon a squall came up and all the boats scattered. Their and our destination was up the Hudson River where berths were assigned and we rafted up alongside several boats and the partying commenced. Except that the Russian boats were not permitted to dock and spent their night at anchor in the Hudson. An attempt to repeat this scene was carried out ten years later but the original celebration was the greatest weekend I ever spent on the water. Wish you all were there.
tjs
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