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Read the press release here.

New Boat Tour Offers Hidden View of Manhattan's Waterfront

By Della Hasselle

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT — The New York Harbor is home to the busiest port on the East Coast, but most Manhattanites would never know it.

That's because the port's working facilities are hidden away from view, in nooks and crannies along the choppy waterways that surround Manhattan and the city's other boroughs.

Starting this year, however, the Working Harbor Committee hopes to unveil the port's mysteries by offering the New York Hidden Harbor Tours, a series of sunset cruises that whisk visitors from the South Street Seaport to the docks that run Manhattan's bustling maritime industry.

A series of 10 cruises, the first of which started Tuesday, transports New Yorkers from Manhattan to three different destinations: the Hudson River, Newark Bay and the Brooklyn waterfront.

The tour will reveal a little-seen glimpse of the city's vast ship terminals, tugboat yards and ship repair facilities.

"There's a whole world developed out here that we've been blissfully unaware of," tour-goer Michele McMorrow, 63, said as she took in the view with her husband, Michael McMorrow, 60. "It's truly a fascination."

Members of the Harbor Committee hope that the tour will help New Yorkers understand how the maritime transport industries and other facilities affect New Yorkers' day-to-day lives.

Most New Yorkers "don't really understand where stuff comes from," said Captain John Doswell, 67, Executive Director of the Working Harbor Committee, who narrates the tours.

Doswell, a Hell's Kitchen resident who has been a boater all his life, is also part owner of the historical fireboat John J. Harvey, which was used on 9/11 to help douse the flames at Ground Zero. During the ride, Doswell explains that ships deliver goods ranging from fuel to clothing to fresh fruit  to Manhattan each day.

"The cleanest way to ship goods is by water," he told those assembled for the organization's first tour Tuesday evening.

Tuesday's tour headed to Newark Bay and Kill Van Kull, which is located between Staten Island and Bayonne.

The other tours head to Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn's Erie Basin, the Statue of Liberty in Jersey City and Bayonne, and also offer views of landmarks like the 9/11 Teardrop Memorial, the NYC Fire Department's Marine Division and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The Working Harbor Committee's Hidden Harbor Tours will continue through Sep. 27th. For a detailed schedule, please click here.