The AMERICAN TURTLE was the first submarine used in war. It was in 1776, not far from Red Hook. Invented by David Bushnell, the one-man hand-propelled craft was designed to attach an underwater time bomb to an enemy vessel. On a...
The Potato King, 1889
Mr. Stewart is one of the largest produce merchants at the Atlantic Basin. He was also predominant at the Washington Market in Manhattan. His produce boats provided seed potatoes to the farmers of Long Island, from the India Wharf and Central Pier.
Atlantic Basin / Atlantic Docks
Click here for a curated tour through Red Hook WaterStories' collection about Atlantic Basin. The construction of Atlantic Docks in the late 1840's jumpstarted the development of Red Hook. The facility was so innovative, large and such...
Eymund Diegel map: Flattening Bergen Hill for Red Hook Fill, c. 1845
Bergen Hill once stood tall in Brooklyn, before developers had it carted away for fill to make the Atlantic Docks of Red Hook. Looking at historic maps from 1775, 1837 and 2004 cartographer Eymund Diegel determined that the hill, which was in...
PortSide uses of the MARY
PortSide NewYork created this Red Hook WaterStories product. PortSide is a maritime non-profit founded in Red Hook in 2005. Our goal is to create a waterfront center with a landing for boats, a home for the MARY A. WHALEN, and more programs and...
Street address: Atlantic Basin Pier 11. Closest corner is Pioneer and Conover Streets.
Atlantic Basin, operated by DockNYC
The City announced plans to completely take over Atlantic Basin from the Port Authority on May 14, 2024. As of that news, this site is being replanned along with the larger Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT). Atlantic Basin has been...
How the Hamilton Avenue Ferry got started, 1846
The Hamilton Avenue Ferry was established in 1846. It was run by the Union Ferry Company, who also ran the Fulton Ferry at that time. A major destination was a new upmarket cemetery. The ferry offered a “direct approach by way of the Gowanus...
Overspreading on transit seats ca. 1850. Contentions on the Hamilton Avenue Ferry
All was not peaceful on the new Hamilton Avenue Ferry. People, particularly in the evening, were sprawling out across the benches, and extra deckhands were hired to keep the order. One of the directors suggested adding dividing armrests, but the...
Mrs. "Commodore Hamilton": canal boat owner, 1890
In 1890, Mrs. A. M. Hamilton, a widow, was interviewed in Atlantic Basin, and celebrated by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as being equal to any man running a canal boat. Beginning in the mid-1820s, canal boats brought produce from the nation's...
King's bird's-eye view of Brooklyn, 1905
This is a cropped portion of an aerial rendering of Brooklyn produced in 1905, from King's Views of New York . The text at the the bottom of the page reads: Busiest shipping-district in the world; N. Y. Dock Co., Atlantic Basin (40 acres), Erie...