Mere days after a distraught tourist was talked out of jumping from atop Rockefeller Center, a Bronx woman was prevented from giving her life to the Hudson River. Yesterday a 57-year-old woman was pulled from the water after jumping from a ferry to the Statue of Liberty a little before 3 p.m. more ›

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes He tells you to kill your son on a mountaintop, other times He commands you to send an army to take out the guy in Iraq who tried to kill your dad. Yesterday God was busy over in Jersey, where He sent an unidentified man on a mission to swim to Liberty Island. Unfortunately, the federal gov'ment stepped in once again to thwart The Almighty's sovereign will. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, a woman died after jumping off a Staten Island-bound Staten Island Ferry boat and into the New York Harbor. According to the Staten Island Advance, "The unidentified Hispanic woman, who was in her 30s, was pulled unconscious out of the water by two ferry deckhands who were lowered in a rescue boat launched off the ferry. The deckhands then handed the woman off to the crew of an NYPD rescue craft, which rushed her to South Cove Marina in Manhattan, where she was taken to" Beekman Downtown Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 5:42 p.m. more ›

Dan Dickinson caught video of some fireworks exploding over Governors Island last night. Does anyone know what they were for? more ›

With 75,000 spectators on hand to watch the final day of competition for the Red Bull Air Race, pilot Paul Bonhomme of Britain won the first-ever race in New York. Nigel Lamb, also of Britian, took second place while American Kirby Chambliss placed third. The goal of the pilots was to fly through a twisting 5.5 km course over the Hudson River and not hit the inflatable pylons in the fastest time possible. Bonhomme had the fastest time, with a 1:10.01. more ›

Aww, we got a report about a "deer in the water" by Governors Island. The NYPD's Harbor Unit is requested for an "'8 point buck' swimming around the island." Apparently he's trying to get up on the rocks! Update: The Jersey Journal reported earlier, "Jersey City police and the New York Police Department Harbor Patrol are searching the waters near Exchange Place in Jersey City for a deer -- that's right, a deer -- swimming in the Hudson River... City Animal Control Office Rich Lorenzi said the first call Animal Control received today was from a resident who spotted the deer at Brunswick and First Street today." more ›

Those boats in the water today—it's the Coast Guard! "The U.S. Coast Guard will be conducting exercises in the East River, Hudson River, and New York Harbor between 9 AM and 3 PM on Tuesday 9/15/09. Expect additional Coast Guard vessel activity in these areas." Just be glad for the warning—DC didn't get one and CNN, after overhearing on the radio the words "you will be fired upon" and "bang bang bang," decided that shots were fired on the Potomac, started a Friday kerfuffle when it was just a training exercise the Coast Guard didn't disclose to the public (and apparently the news media). more ›

As the NYC Office of Emergency Management mentioned yesterday, there will be a "marine law enforcement exercise" taking place today between 10 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. New Yorkers were told to "Expect additional marine vessel activity south of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York Harbor." And here are a few more details. It's part of the NYPD's "Securing the Cities" initiative and WCBS 2 adds, "The goal is protect the area from a potential "dirty bomb" or nuclear device. Participants on about 17 vessels will practice checking for radioactive material" (sort of like the highway terrorism drill held in Queens back in June). more ›

New York Water Taxi is acquiring Circle Line Harbor Cruise, which specializes in New York Harbor tours (website; it is often confused with the other Circle Line with the round-Manhattan tours). According to Crain's NY, Circle Line Downtown "suffered a major blow last year when it lost the government contract—representing 75% of its revenues—to ferry passengers to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island." Whereas New York Water Taxi, which has commuter boats, tours, and service to the Red Hook Ikea, has been growing. NYWT head said, “We are growing by leaps and bounds, especially in the tour and travel area. Circle Line gives us the (additional) capacity we need.” The head of Circle Line Downtown, a 54-year-old family-run company, believes its employees will be hired by NYWT. more ›

For decades, one of the best ways for moving people and freight to and from New York over land was by rail. As the car, truck, and airplane took over the railroads declined their importance – unlike most of the railroads weren’t cut off by the Hudson River. Today, most of that rail infrastructure is gone, but a surprising amount of it is still existing albeit in a rotting relic state. You may even have seen it preserved in places like Gantry Plaza State Park or Liberty State Park along the shores opposite Manhattan. Or you may have seen it in action with the railcar barges of the New York New Jersey Rail working their way across the harbor or when you take a train from Hoboken Terminal. more ›

Yesterday a group of law enforcement agencies launched the largest counter-terrorism demonstration in history at the New York Harbor. The operation was led by the NYPD who unveiled two new state of the art radiation-tracking boats worth $750k each. Police say the crew of one of the new boats was able to pinpoint a bottle containing harmless germanium a half-mile away on a fishing boat. It launched 17 vessels to put a "choke-point" on traffic coming into New York Harbor under the Verrazano Bridge. When the NYPD "Tracs" boat pulled up the to "The Last Dollar," a recreation speed boat, cops knew from their top secret devices that they would find a radiation device on board. more ›

Fox’s New Amsterdam (Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., WNYW 5) sounds like a mashup of Pocahontas and Forever Knight, but with out the animation or the vampires. The story for this new series starts in 1642 when a Dutch soldier (Danish import Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) saves a Native American girl and is given the gift/curse of immortality and not ageing until he finds his true love. Fast forward to today and that soldier is now NYPD homicide detective John Amsterdam, who now has to deal with a new partner (British import Zuleikha Robinson). more ›

Soanya Ahmad, the 24-year-old woman who embarked last spring on a sailing journey that would last 1,000 days without making landfall, is back in New York City. She could only last just over 300 days before the elements and regular seasickness drove her to shore in Australia. Her 56-year-old boyfriend Reid Stowe is continuing his quest alone. more ›

Shortly before 2 this afternoon, three ships collided in Newark Bay, closing the bay to marine traffic. The three-way collision was between two dredging vessels, the 117-foot Melvin Lemmerhirt and the New York, and the 669-Foot Liberian tanker Orange Sun. The Orange Sun is reported to be carrying orange juice as its cargo. Reports also say the New York is taking on water, that there is a fluid leaking from one of the ships (presumably, not orange juice), and there's hydraulic fluid leaving a sheen on the waters nearby. The juice-filled Orange Sun is being brought back to harbor via tugboat. more ›

New York City officials are planning for a Dunkirk-like evacuation of Manhattan island in the case of an emergency. In the early days of World War II, a "bathtub navy" was assembled between Dunkirk, France and Dover, England, in order to move hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Continent to safer ground as the Nazis advanced across France. Hundreds of small craft were sent across the English Channel to ferry stranded and cornered British troops back to England. more ›

Luxury cruise line Cunard has many ships, but last night was the first time that its Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2, and new Queen Victoria ships were in the "same port at the same time." And the port was the NewYork Harbor, under fireworks and gaze of the Statue of Liberty. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Boyland St. in Brooklyn, a person under a train at 116th St. and Douglass Blvd. in Manhattan, and a body found on West 91st St. in Manhattan.
• Martha Stewart is still mad over the public spat she had with Donald Trump in 2005 over her The Apprentice spin-off series. We bet she prepares a wonderful cold revenge dish.
• Police are searching for a man who attacked a 17-year-old woman in Jamaica, Queens, forcing her at knife point to a secluded area where he sexually assaulted her. The attacker may be the same man responsible for four other similar assaults recently.

At the direction of Gov. Spitzer, state inspector general Kristine Hamann (who handled the Troopergate investigation) is looking into allegations of "misfeasance and nonfeasance" at The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. The commission was formed in 1953 to root out corruption and mob control of the docks in New York. Ironically, it's now the waterfront watchdog that has come under scrutiny for misdeeds that include that it "hired unqualified police officers, inappropriately spent agency... more ›

Yesterday morning, surfers contacted the Coast Guard about "tar-like balls of oil washing up" on the shoreline of Lido Beach, near Jones Beach on Long Island. The surfers said they also had oil on their wet suits. The spill seems to be about 3000 feet wide and 1500 feet long. Now the Coast Guard, working with other local, state and federal agencies, are trying to figure out where the spill is coming from as they... more ›

Somehow, a tanker managed to strike the Ambrose Light navigation aid early Sunday morning. The Ambrose Light is a 76-foot structure that sits 12 miles southeast of Staten Island and, according to the Coast Guard, "watches over the main shipping lanes to New York Harbor." The 799-foot tanker Axel Spirit "slammed" into the light, which is usually visible for 18 miles. Now the light is not rotating and, therefore, is not reliable. A commercial pilot... more ›

It sounds like a Project Runway challenge: create a look Princess Grace would have worn. However, the six gowns that are currently being displayed in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue were created by some of the top designers -- each being paired with a specific look to be reinterpreted in a modern way. more ›

Historical ecologists and research cartographers are using historical pre-Revolution military maps produced by the British to create a 21st Century digital rendering of the topography of Manhattan in the 17th Century, before the arrival of European colonists. The New Yorker has a slideshow of a number of images that are attempts to show Manhattan as it was occupied solely by Lenape Indians. The basis for the topographical model was drawn from this 1782 map* drawn up by the British military to help defend the colony from George Washington and the Continental Army. The image above is a rendering of what a 17th Century Times Square looked like in comparison to West 42nd St. today. more ›

After Wednesday's drenching that caused the subways to melt down, terrible flooding, and sewage to back up into streets and into homes, officials are creating task forces for review what the hell is going on. But the sad truth is that NYC's drainage systems are complicated. The NY Times has a fascinating and frightening (if the ideas of lots of sewage frightens you) article that looks at the dirty secret of NYC's storm water drainage system. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: missing children on Lenox Rd. in Brooklyn, shots fired at Columbus Ave. and West 104th St. in Manhattan, and a water rescue at the Stepping Stone Lighthouse off City Island in the Bronx.
• The chief of a volunteer fire company in the Bronx is scrambling to explain how the firehouse is now broke, after receiving a half-million dollars in donations after 9/11/01.
• A pair of 15-year-olds will be tried as adults after breaking into a woman's Central Park West home and allegedly raping her four times each before fleeing.
• The Daily News reports on the progress of Reid Stowe and his girlfriend Soanya Ahmad, who are attempting to sail 1,000 consecutive days without making landfall. They left New York Harbor 100 days ago, so only 900 days left.
• Complaints about rude police officers have risen dramatically over the past six years, so programs are being instituted to improve and chronicle relations between cops and the public. Critics of the new programs say that cops have to be rude and mean to do their jobs effectively.
• Some reports claim that the area around South Street Seaport is being overrun by rats, as construction to replace a 150-year-old water main on Fulton St. have driven the pests into the street.
• The New York Times has a short video piece on the replacement of hot dog sidewalk pushcarts with halal food carts.
• A 30" alligator was found in a pillowcase on a Long Island beach this morning. The person who found the pillowcase was forewarned of its contents by the message written on the outside, which read "Live gator, please find him a home."

The Abora 3 itself is “old school” to say the least. Built of 12 tons of bundled reed by the Aymara-Indians in Bolivia, the Abora III was shipped to Liberty Harbor, New Jersey to be prepared by Gorlitz and his crew. more ›

New York's own floating pool is opening tomorrow! The concept was that of Ann Buttenwieser, founder of the Neptune Foundation and a former manager of City Parks. The water on water can be found at Brooklyn Bridge Park, it's free and open from 11am to 7pm (the beach is open from 9am to 9pm) - seven days a week. more ›

After reviewing a number of bids, the National Park Service ended Circle Line's contract to provide ferry service between lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The new ferry service provider will be Hornblower Yachts of California, which offers service between San Francisco and Alcatraz. Hornblower: Taking you to Liberty and lock-up. more ›