HARBOR CRUISE TO VIEW MS ROTTERDAM (VII)
October 27, 2022 @ 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
On Thursday, October 27, 2022, 17 members of the PONY Branch and the Steamship Historical Society of America embarked on Sea Scout Ship 228’s historic 1953 Higgins T-Boat, SEA DART II, to escort Holland America Line’s Pinnacle-class MS ROTTERDAM (VII) on her maiden departure from New York as she continued her 15-day transatlantic voyage honoring the maiden voyage of ROTTERDAM (I) in 1872. Departing from the National Lighthouse Museum on Staten Island under sunny skies, we sailed past the Staten Island Ferry maintenance facility and the Ollis-class ferry DOROTHY DAY, newly delivered from the builders in Florida. After paying a visit to the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, NJ, to view Royal Caribbean’s Voyager-class ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS, we continued up the Hudson (North) River, arriving off the Manhattan Cruise Terminal as the MS ROTTERDAM was leaving her berth. The SEA DART II then escorted her to the Statue of Liberty where HAL’s flagship hove to and used her azipods and thrusters to rotate in place several times to provide passengers on both sides of the ship a view of the statue at sunset. As night fell, we headed back to Staten Island as MS ROTTERDAM set course for the Verrazzano Narrows and the open ocean en route to Fort Lauderdale, FL.
(Photo: Stuart Gewirtzman)