Ambrose Returns To South Street Seaport After Repairs
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - An FDNY fireboat heralded the arrival of the antique lightship Ambrose at the South Street Seaport on Monday.
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It was built in 1907 and is one of several tall ships at the museum, but wear and tear over the years made it necessary to take her to drydock for three months.
"A metal vessel, steel vessel in this case, sitting in a salty water environment is subject obvious things like rust, but also to electrolitic corrosion, which is electrical currents in the water than can actually eat away at the steel," said Jonathan Boulware of the South Street Seaport Museum on Monday as the ship made her way from Staten Island back to lower Manhattan.
"The most obvious thing that we have now that people will see when we get back to the pier is the bright red topside paint with the bright white letters that say 'Ambrose' on the side, but, in fact, the large majority of the work happened below the waterline," he said.
The boat will reopen to the public as a museum in late spring.
The Peking and the Wavertree, the other two ships at the museum, have also suffered from years of neglect.
The museum is located at 12 Fulton Street, New York, NY 10038.
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