Fortunately, George Washington Had a Better Crew
'During a publicity event at the Village Community Boathouse on Pier 40 overlooking the Hudson, owners of bookstores and people who were attending the BookExpo America convention at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center listened as Mr. Sullivan discussed the historical importance of Manhattan’s waterways.
So inspired, several of the audience members decided to try historical immersion for themselves.
Two rowboats – built at the boathouse to imitate 19th-century New York Harbor craft known as Whitehall gigs – left the pier loaded with booksellers, volunteer coxswains and local residents who had heard about the boathouse’s rowing program.
The first boat struck a pier at North Moore Street and flipped over, dumping three BookExpo conventioneers, two instructors and two others into 60-degree water, according to the Fire Department. Five of them were pinned against the pier and climbed onto it, while the other two drifted 100 yards away. Mr. Sullivan was not in the boat.
Washington made his nighttime crossing without the loss of a single life. Mr. Sullivan’s flotilla suffered no fatalities, either, although one woman suffered minor injuries and was treated briefly at New York Downtown Hospital, the Fire Department said. (All three BookExpo participants were back at the Javits Center on Wednesday.)'
Ha! Too funny...and they should have mentioned that Washington escaped across the EAST River, and not the Hudson. But Washington had the Gloucester fishermen manning the boats—the best there were!