Photo by Vincent Desjardins (CC 2.0)

 

Her departure, a day later than first anticipated, due to the threat of Tropical Storm Hermine, barque Peking was eased away from her home at the South Street Seaport for the past 40 years and gently towed to Staten Island to prepare for her long journey across the Atlantic in the Spring.

As many of you already know, Peking is headed back to Hamburg, Germany, where she was built over 100 years ago. The German government has allocated 120 million euros to restore the vessel, where she will become the star attraction of the city’s new harbor museum.

Rick Spilman of Old Salt Blog was dockside at the South Street Seaport yesterday morning, together with a crowd of well-wishers, to bid Peking a fond farewell. (video by Rick Spilman)

 

 

This morning, the 1911 built, steel, four masted barque, Peking, left South Street Seaport, its home for more than 40 years, for the last time. For those of us who have known the ship for almost as long, it was both a sad and joyous day. The South Street Seaport Museum lacked the resources and even the berth space to support the Peking. The museum worked very hard to find a good home for the historic ship and they succeeded. Read more from Old Salt Blog here…

posted by Mai Armstrong for the Working Harbor Committee