Early on Sunday morning I went with Jean and Georgia to one of the most fantastic places in New York;
The Staten Island Boat Graveyard.
For a mile and half,
the Arther Kill Waterway, which separates Staten Island from New Jersey,
is filled with the rotting remains of hundreds of scuttled vessels;
houseboats,
barges,
ferries,
and fishing boats,
the ships seem to be frozen in the process of sinking.
It is wonderfully eerie to paddle a little boat in and out of the wrecks;
like the whole world is standing still.
As we floated through the tangle of debris,
Jean and Georgia were quiet and thoughtful.
You see, this was not an ordinary ‘Tide and Current Taxi’ mission,
and these participants were not an ordinary crew.
We were on an important scouting mission.
Jean and Georgia are members of a collaborative art endeavor called the Flux Factory,
and one of their projects this summer is a series of tours that they call ‘Going Places (Doing Stuff)’.
We were out on the boat that morning to see if The Staten Island Boat Graveyard could be one of the places.
It would take a lot of coordination to get 30 people in small boats out to see the graveyard,
but this is the sort of thing that the Flux Factory seems to specialize in.
And they knew some other boat makers, like Mare Liberum, who might be able to help.
We had to find a place to get 30 people down to the water and into the boats,
so we began exploring water routs along the highway,
and under the highway.
As we planned the tour we started to get excited on behalf of the future participants.
We imagined how happy they would be, riding through a sewer,
on the way to a massive boat dump!
Real adventure in New York City – we thought.
And it was!
To see images of the Flux Factory Tour click here.
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