At Sea in the City: New York from the Water's Edge

by William Kornblum

New York is a city of few boundaries, a city of well-known streets and blocks that ramble on and on, into our literature, dreams, and nightmares. We know the city by the byways that split it, streets like Broadway and Madison and Flatbush and Delancey. From those streets, peering down the blocks and up at the top floors, the city seems immense and endless.

And though the land itself may end at the water, the city does not. Long before Broadway was a muddy cart track, the water was the city's most distinguishing feature, the rivers the only byways of importance. Some people, like William Kornblum, still see the city as an urban archipelago, shaped by the water and the people who have sailed it for goods, money, pirate's loot, and freedom. For them, the City will always be an island.

William Kornblum--New York City native, longtime sailor, urban sociologist, and first-time author--has spent decades plying the waterways of the city in his ancient catboat, Tradition. In At Sea in the City, he takes the reader along as he sails through his hometown, lovingly retelling the history of the city's waterfront and maritime culture and the stories of the men and women who made the water their own. In At Sea in the City and in Kornblum's own humility, humor, and sense of wonder, one detects echoes of E. B. White, John McPhee, and Joseph Mitchell.

Genres: Nonfiction, New York

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sailors, and especially urban sailors, will enjoy this reflection on the joys of puttering around in boats in your “backyard,” particularly when your neighborhood is NYC.
It affirms the truism that adventure is where you find it. The author’s nostalgic account of his personal history in the City (capitalization deliberate) melds nicely with a bit of historical and sociological context. A good read.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique look at NYC's waterways, from Jamaica Bay through the Lower and Upper Harbor, up the East River and through to the Sound. I have long wondered about the waterways from a nature perspective, especially since there often seems to be so little nature left. But it turns out that there's more than I realized, such as migratory bird areas, even in the flight path of JFK Airport. There's lots of history here, including the author's own recollections of working along the onetime industrial riverbank of Manhattan, and the too often forgotten ferry fire that killed over 1,000 people from Kleindeutschland, today's East Village. All those islands, inhabited and not, that I've wondered about, get talked about here. And even understanding the powerful currents of the East River, which I used to watch from office windows, was very interesting. It gave me a greater respect for the long, if largely faded, shipping and tugboat traditions of New York City.

The only thing I found a little slow going was all the sailing vocabulary, which I don't know at all. If I was a little more determined about this, I would have looked up some terms. Would have been useful to have a glossary at the back for those of us who havne't sailed. Small quibble, though, and the map at the start of each chapter was helpful. I look forward to learning more about New York's waterways, and have already found myself looking at YouTube for visuals to accompany the descriptions in this book.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a charming book about experiencing New York from its waterways - specifically, from a small catboat sailing those waterways. It interweaves one family's love of sailing, discovery, and New York with great nuggets of history and ecology. This book was most definitely a product of its times - the early '90s and early '00s. It reflects a New York beginning to wrestle with its waterfront environment in a decidedly post industrial era, yet before Bloombergian development. As such, it has a sense of optimism about preserving working and middle class spaces - from Greenpoint's waterfront to the Canarsie Pier - which didn't really pan out 10 to 15 years later. I wasn't expecting the book to be such a personal story, and I found that to be a pleasant, refreshing surprise. And I learned a lot - especially about Jamaica bay.

[Jeanli · Rating 5 out of 5]

just lovely! read this book during the dog days of a nyc summer, where i was spending alot of time on ferries. i love the way he inhabits the waterways and gives us the histories of those places alongside his current ruminations and predicaments. I have recommended this book to several people.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pete Hamill’s introduction was very good. Not what I expected from this book. Lots of writing about his sailing his boat,
how the boat is constructed and dealing with boat issues in general.

[John]

An interesting look at NYC from a sailor's perspective; however, I believe it would help to be familiar with the area before reading the book.
For a complement, see also: Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan.

[Beth Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up outside NYC but never really considered the City from this perspective; I want to go sailing.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovingly written book about a catboat called "Tradition" and experiencing NYC from the water. Might be worth trying someday...