Cudahy begins with a history of the Circle Line and its forerunners and erstwhile competitors in the around-Manhattan sightseeing business. Next, he gives us the fascinating story of the fastest ocean linear of all time: the S.S. United States. The noble history of the New York Fire Department's fire boats is next, followed by the story of the Iron Steamboat Company's sidewheelers, which ferried passengers to the magical Coney Island from 1881 to 1932. Then there is the tragic 1932 explosion of the steamboat Observation, with its parallels to an earlier and even more devastating tragedy at nearly the same spot. Finally, Cudahy tells, in fascinating detail, of the New York-to-Bermuda cruises - as they were in yesteryear, and as they are today.

An ultra-useful guide that brings together all the information necessary to enjoy the waterfront, in a compact, well-organized form - Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan Use this guide to discover the beaches, boardwalks, historic sites, and marine attractions, as well as the limitless opportunities for waterside fun, dining, and adventure in the five boros of New York. Designed for travelers and locals, alike, Going Coastal New York City offers the best, most comprehensive information on what's happening along New York City's over 500 miles of coastline.

In the Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Maritime Industry, author Kenneth J. Blume provides a convenient survey of this important industry from the colonial period to the present day: from sail to steam to nuclear power. This concise new reference work captures the key features of overseas, coastal, lake, and river shipping and industry. An introduction provides an overview of the industry while the dictionary itself contains more than four hundred cross-referenced entries on ships, shipping companies, famous personalities, and major ports. A number of appendixes, including statistics on foreign trade, maritime disasters, famous ships, and major ports, supplement the dictionary, and a comprehensive bibliography leads the researcher to further sources.

A 150-year history of the planning, construction, and development of all forms of mass transportation in Brooklyn, New York. How We Got to Coney Island is the definitive history of mass transportation in Brooklyn. Covering 150 years of extraordinary growth, Cudahy tells the complete story of the trolleys, street cars, steamboats, and railways that helped create New York’s largest borough—and the remarkable system that grew to connect the world’s most famous seaside resort with Brooklyn, New York City across the river, and, ultimately, the rest of the world. Includes tables, charts, photographs, and maps. Praise for How We Got to Coney Island “This is an example of a familiar and decidedly old-fashioned genre of transport history. It is primarily an examination of the business politics of railway development and amalgamation in Brooklyn and adjoining districts since the mid-nineteenth century.” —The Journal of Transport History

New York is a city of few boundaries, a city of well-known streets and blocks that ramble on and on, into our literature, dreams, and nightmares. We know the city by the byways that split it, streets like Broadway and Madison and Flatbush and Delancey. From those streets, peering down the blocks and up at the top floors, the city seems immense and endless. And though the land itself may end at the water, the city does not. Long before Broadway was a muddy cart track, the water was the city's most distinguishing feature, the rivers the only byways of importance. Some people, like William Kornblum, still see the city as an urban archipelago, shaped by the water and the people who have sailed it for goods, money, pirate's loot, and freedom. For them, the City will always be an island. William Kornblum--New York City native, longtime sailor, urban sociologist, and first-time author--has spent decades plying the waterways of the city in his ancient catboat, Tradition. In At Sea in the City, he takes the reader along as he sails through his hometown, lovingly retelling the history of the city's waterfront and maritime culture and the stories of the men and women who made the water their own. In At Sea in the City and in Kornblum's own humility, humor, and sense of wonder, one detects echoes of E. B. White, John McPhee, and Joseph Mitchell.

Fifty years ago--on April 26, 1956--the freighter Ideal X steamed from Berth 26 in Port Newark, New Jersey. Flying the flag of the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, she set out for Houston with an unusual cargo: 58 trailer trucks lashed to her top deck. But they weren't trucks--they were steel containers removed from their running gear, waiting to be lifted onto empty truck beds when Ideal X reached Texas. She docked safely, and a revolution was launched--not only in shipping, but in the way the world trades. Today, the more than 200 million containers shipped every year are the lifeblood of the new global economy. They sit stacked on thousands of "box boats" that grow more massive every year. In this fascinating book, transportation expert Brian Cudahy provides a vivid, fast-paced account of the container-ship revolution--from the maiden voyage of the Ideal X to the entrepreneurial vision and technological breakthroughs that make it possible to ship more goods more cheaply than every before. Cudahy tells this complex story easily, starting with Malcom McLean, Pan-Atlantic's owner who first thought about loading his trucks on board. His line grew into the container giant Sea-Land Services, and Cudahy charts its dramatic evolution into Maersk Sealand, the largest container line in the world. Along the way, he provides a concise, colorful history of world shipping--from freighter types to the fortunes of steamship lines--and explores the spectacular growth of global trade fueled by the mammoth ships and new seaborne lifelines connecting Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Masterful maritime history, Box Boats shows how fleets of these ungainly ships make the modern world possible--with both positive and negative effects. It's also a tale of an historic home port, New York, where old piers lie silent while 40-foot steel boxes of toys and televisions come ashore by the thousands, across the bay in New Jersey.

Cudahy (an independent scholar with a PhD in philosophy and a passion for transportation) looks at the early days of the cruise ship industry and discusses contemporary cruise ship design, cruise markets, and the evolution of the burgeoning, recreation-oriented business. Coverage also includes the challenges of managing cruise lines and regulations governing the industry. A detailed appendix presents an instant history of the major cruise line ships, including notes on specifications, builders, registry, and passenger capacity. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.