WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

On Saturday, June 4th, twenty PONY Branch members and friends embarked under sunny skies onboard the SEA DART II (an ex-U.S. Army Higgins 1953 T–Boat) for a trip up the East River to the American Merchant Marine Museum at Kings Point, NY, located on the grounds of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. The museum is located on the North Shore of Long Island in an area formerly known as the “Gold Coast” because of the affluence of its residents at the turn of the 20th century. The museum officially opened as a permanent exhibition space in 1979 and is housed in “Elm Point,” the mansion designed by Greville Rickard and built in 1929 for William Slocum Barstow, an associate of Thomas Edison. Inside there are both permanent and temporary collections that trace and honor the history of the U.S. Merchant Marine, the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and the profession of seafaring. These include a 15–foot model of the United States Lines WASHINGTON, a replica of the Hales Trophy (the original resided there until it was returned to Britain in 1990), a MacArthur “surrender sword”, an extensive collection of shipboard service china, and a new series of ship models that went on display in 2019. The museum as well as the campus of the United States Merchant Marine Academy is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Also found on the campus and the National Register is Wiley Hall, formerly known as “Forker House,” once the summer home of Walter P. Chrysler.

Prior to departing from Red Hook, Brooklyn on the SEA DART II, we visited the 1938–built coastal tanker MARY A. WHALEN. It is the current home of PortSide New York, an organization with the goal to connect New Yorkers to the benefits of New York Harbor.

(USMMA photo)