New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the region encompassing the coast, coastline where the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean; it has always pla ...

. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, which is enclosed by the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

boroughs of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

and the Hudson County, New Jersey, municipalities of Jersey City and

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

, although in colloquial usage it can sometimes expand to cover Upper and Lower New York Bay New York Harbor is one of the largest natural harbors in the world.

Overview

The harbor is fed by the waters of the Hudson River (historically called the North River as it passes

), as well as the Gowanus Canal. It is connected to Lower New York Bay by the Narrows, to Newark Bay by the

Kill Van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York (state), New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey, in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York ...

, and to

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

by the East River, which, despite its name, is actually a tidal strait. It provides the main passage for the waters of the Hudson River as it empties through the Narrows. The channel of the Hudson as it passes through the harbor is called the Anchorage Channel and is approximately 50 feet deep in the midpoint of the harbor. A project to replace two water mains between Brooklyn and Staten Island, which will eventually allow for dredging of the channel to nearly , was begun in April 2012. The harbor contains several islands including Governors Island, near the mouth of the East River, as well Ellis Island, Liberty Island, and Robbins Reef which are supported by a large underwater reef on the

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

side of the harbor. The reef was historically one of the largest oyster beds in the world and provided a staple for the diet of all classes of citizens both locally and regionally until the end of the 19th century, when the beds succumbed to pollution. Historically, it has played an extremely important role in the commerce of the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

. The Statue of Liberty National Monument recalls the immigrant experience during the late 19th and early 20th century. Since the 1950s, container ship traffic has been primarily routed through the Kill Van Kull to Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, where it is consolidated for easier automated transfer to land conveyance. As a consequence, the waterfront industries of the Harbor experienced a decline leading to diverse plans for revitalization, though important maritime uses remain at Red Hook, Port Jersey, MOTBY, Constable Hook, and parts of the Staten Island shore.

Liberty State Park Liberty State Park (LSP) is a park in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City opposite Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The park opened in 1976 to coincide with United States Bicenten ...

opened in 1976. In recent years, it has become a popular site for recreation sailing and kayaking. The harbor is traversed by the Staten Island Ferry, which runs between Whitehall Street at the southernmost tip of

near

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...

( South Ferry) and St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace in

near Richmond County Borough Hall and Richmond County Supreme Court. NY Waterway operates routes across the bay and through The Narrows to locations near Sandy Hook. The harbor supports a very diverse population of marine species, allowing for recreational fishing, most commonly for striped bass and bluefish.

History

Colonial era

The original population of the 16th century New York Harbor, the

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

, used the waterways for fishing and travel. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano anchored in what is now called the Narrows, the strait between

and

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

that connects the Upper and Lower New York Bay, where he received a canoe party of Lenape. A party of his sailors may have taken on fresh water at a spring called "the watering place" on Staten Island—a monument stands in a tiny park on the corner of Bay Street and Victory Boulevard at the approximate spot—but Verrazzano's descriptions of the geography of the area are a bit ambiguous. It is fairly firmly held by historians that his ship anchored at the approximate location of the modern Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge's approach viaduct in Brooklyn. He also observed what he believed to be a large freshwater lake to the north (apparently Upper New York Bay). He apparently did not travel north to observe the existence of the Hudson River. In 1609 Henry Hudson entered the Harbor and explored a stretch of the river that now bears his name. His journey prompted others to explore the region and engage in trade with the local population. The first permanent European settlement was started on Governors Island in 1624, and in Brooklyn eight years after that; soon these were connected by ferry operation.''The New York Waterfront: Evolution and Building Culture of the Port and Harbor'', edited by Kevin Bone, The Monacelli Press, 1997. () The colonial Dutch Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, ordered construction of the first wharf on the

bank of the lower East River sheltered from winds and ice, which was completed late in 1648 and called Schreyers Hook Dock (near what is now Pearl and Broad Streets). This prepared New York as a leading

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

for the British colonies and then within the newly independent

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1686, the British colonial officials gave the municipality control over the waterfront.

19th century

In 1835, Lieutenant Thomas Gedney of the Survey of the Coast (renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836 and the

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ( USC&GS; known as the Survey of the Coast from 1807 to 1836, and as the United States Coast Survey from 1836 until 1878) was the first scientific agency of the Federal government of the United State ...

in 1878) discovered a new, deeper channel through the Narrows into New York Harbor. Previously, the passage was complex and shallow enough that loaded ships would wait outside the harbor until high tide, to avoid running into the huge sandbar, which was interrupted in a number of places by channels of fairly shallow depth: at low tide and at high tide. Because of the difficulty of the navigation required, since 1694, New York had required all ships to be guided into the harbor by an experienced pilot. The new channel Gedney discovered was deeper, enough of an added margin that fully laden ships could come into the harbor even at slack tide. Gedney's Channel, as it came to be called, was also shorter than the previous channel, another benefit appreciated by the ship owners and the merchants they sold to. Gedney received the praise of the city, as well as an expensive silver service. In her 1832 book '' Domestic Manners of the Americans'', Fanny Trollope wrote of her impressions upon entering New York Harbor for the first time:

I have never seen the bay of Naples, I can therefore make no comparison, but my imagination is incapable of conceiving any thing of the kind more beautiful than the harbour of New York. Various and lovely are the objects which meet the eye on every side, but the naming them would only be to give a list of words, without conveying the faintest idea of the scene. I doubt if ever the pencil of Turner could do it justice, bright and glorious as it rose upon us. We seemed to enter the harbour of New York upon waves of liquid gold, and as we darted past the green isles which rise from its bosom, like guardian centinels of the fair city, the setting sun stretched his horizontal beams farther and farther at each moment, as if to point out to us some new glory in the landscape.

In 1824 the first American drydock was completed on the East River. Because of its location and depth, the Port grew rapidly with the introduction of

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

s; and then with the completion in 1825 of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

New York became the most important transshipping port between Europe and the interior of the United States, as well as coastwisesee also Maritime geography#Brown water destinations. By about 1840, more passengers and a greater tonnage of cargo came through the port of New York than all other major harbors in the country combined and by 1900 it was one of the great international ports.The Erie Canal: A Brief History
, New York State Canal Corporation (2001). The Morris Canal carried anthracite and freight from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

through

to its terminus at the mouth of the Hudson in Jersey City. Portions in the harbor are now part of

. In 1870, the city established the Department of Docks to systematize waterfront development, with

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...

as the first engineer in chief. By the turn of the 20th century numerous railroad terminals lined the western banks of the

North River (Hudson River) North River () is an alternative name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and Gateway Region, northeastern New Jersey in the United States. History Name In the early 17th century, the entire wat ...

in Hudson County, New Jersey, transporting passengers and freight from all over the United States. The freight was ferried across by the competing railroads with small fleets of towboats, barges, and 323

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of Lighter (barge), lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it i ...

s, specially designed barges with rails so cars could be rolled on.''New York in the Forties'', Andreas Feininger, Dover Books.() New York subsidized this service which undercut rival ports.Lighterage Controversy
, Louis L. Jaffe, Mercer Beasley Law Review, v. 2, no. 2, p. 136–170, 1933. Major road improvements allowing for trucking and containerization diminished the need. The harbor saw major federal investment at the end of the century when

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

passed the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. Over $1.2 million of initial funding was appropriated for the dredging of 40-foot-deep (12.2 m) channels at Bay Ridge, Red Hook, and Sandy Hook. The

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

(''Liberty Enlightening the World'') stands on Liberty Island in the harbor, while the nearby main port of entry at Ellis Island processed 12 million arrivals from 1892 to 1954. The Statue of Liberty National Monument, encompassing both islands, recalls the period of massive immigration to the United States at the turn of the 20th centuryEllis Island History
, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., 2000 (source NPS) While many stayed in the region, others spread across America, with more than 10 million leaving from the nearby Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal.

20th century

Post–World War I

After the war, the 1919 New York City Harbor Strike by the Marine Workers Union shut down the port for weeks. It started on January 9 and was paused on January 13 for arbitration. The strike resumed March 4 after workers rejected the War Board labor ruling and ended on April 20, 1919 after new terms had been offered by both public and private port employers. NYH carfloat

World War II

After the United States entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the German navy's Operation Drumbeat set the top

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

aces loose against the merchant fleet in U.S. territorial waters in January 1942, starting the Second happy time. The U-boat captains were able to silhouette target ships against the glow of city lights, and attacked with relative impunity, in spite of U.S. naval concentrations within the Harbor. Casualties included the tankers ''Coimbria'' off Sandy Hook and ''Norness'' off Long Island. New York Harbor, as the major convoy embarkation point for the U.S., was effectively a staging area in the Battle of the Atlantic, with the U.S. Merchant Marine losses of 1 of 26 mariners, a rate exceeding those of the other U.S. forces.U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II
, U.S. Maritime Service Veterans, 1998–2006. Bright city lights made it easier for German U-boats to spot targets at night, but local officials resisted suggestions that they follow

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's lead and blackout the lights of coastal cities. However, some lights were darkened, including those of the amusement parks in Coney Island,

, and the Coney Island Light, and Sandy Hook Lighthouse. The Harbor reached its peak activity in March 1943 during World War II, with 543 ships at anchor awaiting assignment to convoy or berthing (with as many as 426 seagoing vessel already at one of the 750 piers or docks). Eleven hundred

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s with nearly of enclosed space served freight along with 575 tugboats and 39 active

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

s, the largest being

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a se ...

. With a large inventory of heavy equipment, this made New York Harbor the busiest in the world."Port in a Storm: The Port of New York in World War II"
, Joseph F. Meany Jr. ''et al.'', NY State Museum, 1992–1998.

Post–World War II

Deterrence and investigation of criminal activity, especially relating to organized crime, is the responsibility of the bi-state Waterfront Commission.Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor
(WCNYH). The commission was set up in 1953 (a year before the movie '' On the Waterfront''), to combat labor

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

. It is held that the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. ...

controlled the New York waterfront and the Genovese crime family controlled the New Jersey side.Watching the Waterfront
, ''The New Yorker'', June 19, 2006.
synopsis
). In 1984 the

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...

local was put under

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was e ...

(RICO) trusteeship, and in 2005 a similar suit was brought against the International Longshoremen's Association local.The RICO Trusteeships After Twenty Years
, 2004, ABA, republished by Laborers for Justice

(), Civil Action No. 82-689, US District of New Jersey, February 8, 1984. In March 2006, the Port passenger facility was to be transferred to Dubai Ports World. There was considerable security controversy over the ownership by a foreign corporation, particularly Arabic, of a U.S. port operation, this in spite of the fact the current operator was the British-based P&O Ports,Fact Sheet on Acquisition of P&O Ports by DP World
, American Association of Port Authorities, 2006. and the fact that Orient Overseas Investment Limited, a company dominated by a Chinese Communist official, has the operating contract for Howland Hook Marine Terminal. An additional concern is the U.S. Customs "green lane" program, in which trusted shippers have fewer containers inspected, providing easier access for contraband material.The Docks of New York
, ''The New Yorker'', June 19, 2006.

Water quality

The water quality in New York Harbor has been affected by centuries of shipping activity, industrial development and

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

Water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of Body of water, water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and ...

from these sources has been a constant phenomenon, although there have been improvements in some areas of the harbor complex in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. A 2019 study of the harbor identifies water quality trends in nine regions of the harbor, using data collected during 1996 to 2017. The Lower New York Bay region has the highest quality, due to frequent exchange of water with the Atlantic Ocean. The poorest regions are those with limited exchange of water flows: Newtown Creek, Flushing Bay and Jamaica Bay. High levels of

nutrient pollution Nutrient pollution is a form of water pollution caused by too many Nutrient, nutrients entering the water. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters (lakes, rivers and Coast, coastal waters), in which excess nutrients, usually ni ...

(nitrogen and phosphorus) were observed throughout the various harbor regions, although there has been a general lowering trend in total nitrogen, and some other indicator parameters show improvements. The implementation of the Clean Water Act and related pollution control laws, along with cleanup programs and conservation measures throughout the region, have begun to yield some improvements since the 1970s. The study authors state that "the New York Harbor ecosystem is much healthier than it was 30 years ago."

Container shipping and air travel

The Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest oil importing port and third largest container port in the nation.PANYNJ seaport facilities
. The commercial activity of the port of New York City, including the waterfronts of the five boroughs and nearby cities in New Jersey, since 1921 has been formalized under a single bi-state

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

.The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Since the 1950s, the New York and Brooklyn commercial port has been almost completely eclipsed by the container ship facility at nearby Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in Newark Bay, which is the largest such port on the Eastern Seaboard. The port has diminished in importance to passenger travel, but the Port Authority operates all three major airports, La Guardia (built 1939) and JFK/Idlewild (built 1948) in New York, and Newark (built 1928) in New Jersey.''Guide to Civil Engineering Projects in and around New York City'', Metropolitan Section, American Society of Engineers, 1997, available fro
ASCE Metropolitan Section
.

Ferries and cruise ships

The harbor is still served by cruise lines, commuter

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

, and tourist excursion boats. Although most ferry service is private, the Staten Island Ferry is operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. Passenger ship facilities are New York Passenger Ship Terminal, the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at Red Hook, and MOTBY at

Gallery

File:New-york-bay.jpg,

, across the bay from

File:RobbinsReefLight MOTBY Port Jersey 01.JPG, Robbins Reef Light, MOTBY, and Port Jersey File:DN-ST-87-01292.jpg, Liberty Weekend 1986 File:USA-NYC-Ellis Island crop.jpg, Ellis Island File:Liberty Island photo Don Ramey Logan.jpg, The

File:New York Harbor 1935 71.jpeg, Edward Moran, ''New York Harbor,'' 1880 File:Moran New York Harbour.jpg, Edward Moran, ''New York Harbor'' File:Manhattan & Liberty Island, New York.jpg, Liberty Island, with Ellis Island, downtown Jersey City (left), and

(right) in background

References

External links

New York Harbor Webcam
��Live streaming views from Staten Island using an HD-quality camera

National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy
—National Parks and other recreational and educational sites on the harbor
New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program
��Partnership to protect and restore the Harbor Estuary.
New York and New Jersey Harbor

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

, New York District
Digging Deeper in New York
''Mechanical Engineering Magazine'', November 2003.
Public Parks, Recreational Access, and the Post-Industrial Harbor of New York
''Gotham Gazette'', 2000.
Cornell NY harbor tour summary
September 24, 2005.

by Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Dept. of Economics & Geography, Hofstra University, 1998–2006.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: Global Changes, Regional Gains and Local Challenges in Port Development
Jean-Paul Rodrigue Department of Economics & Geography, Hofstra University, ''Les Cahiers Scientifiques du Transport'', February 2004.

map and tables by year of convoys
New York Harbor: Immigrants, Mobsters and Treasures
{{Coord, 40, 40, 06, N, 74, 02, 44, W, type:waterbody_region:US-NY, display=title Bodies of water of Hudson County, New Jersey Estuaries of New Jersey Estuaries of New York (state) Geography of New York City Port of New York and New Jersey Ports and harbors of New Jersey Ports and harbors of New York (state) Ports and harbors of the United States Atlantic coast Water transportation in New York City Yachting in New York City