South Street Seaport Museum Opens Stunning Maritime Exhibit

Ship ahoy! Have ye see the Maritime City exhibition?

Hotly anticipated since last autumn, when the A.A. Thomson & Co. warehouse building at 213-215 Water St. was rededicated as the new home of the South Street Seaport Museum, its debut show opened to the public on Wednesday, March 12.

The October 2024 rededication was the culmination of a long and varied history for the building, which was completed in 1868, had many subsequent occupants, and was first leased to the Seaport Museum in 1973.

The opening of the A.A. Thomson building represents the once uncertain triumph after years of travails including 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, the storm surge of which washed over the local streets on Oct. 29-30, 2012.

This structure is now the big sibling to the museum’s other, smaller exhibition space around the corner at 12 Fulton St., in the cobblestoned block between Water and Front streets, called Schermerhorn Row, as well the mothership of its next-door neighbor, at 211 Water St., of Bowne & Co. Stationers, a letterpress print shop and gift store. Down at Pier 16, the Museum keeps its small fleet of historic ships.

As for Maritime City, its soft opening began with an invitation-only ribbon-cutting event on Feb. 27. Museum President and CEO, “Captain” Jonathan Boulware; NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Combo, exuberant in a hot-pink jacket and matching heels, Council Member Christopher Marte, clean-shaven and wearing an elegant brown suit, were among those posing with the ribbon and giant scissors.

Council Member Gale Brewer, who in her previous job as Manhattan Borough President did much to assure the museum’s future, was among those who later spoke before more than 100 guests delighted in drinks, hors d’oeuvre, and live music from a string quartet.

With so much history and anticipation behind it, this scribe hoped to be wowed—and he was! If Moe—played by the brilliant Brooklynite Thelma Ritter—in director and writer Samuel Fuller’s classic 1953 waterfront spy thriller Pickup on South Street were still alive, this is where he’d take her. Remember this, Moe?

Remembrance of Waterfronts Past

The exhibition’s 540-odd objects are displayed across the building’s first three ample, well-lit floors. The building’s upper two stories are reserved for offices and meeting space. On the afternoon of Straus News’s visit—which was its sunny if still cool opening day of March 12—the sense of excitement was palpable, from the jovial Nabokov-reading ticket clerk, to the amiable, mostly young docents engaging with the other, mostly older early birds.

Other than a well-mannered security-type person talking to some museum workers about the finer points of crowd control around the building’s elevator and stairs, both the building and the Maritime City exhibit were ready to go—including its clean and well-appointed restrooms.

Thanks to the multi-page laminated gallery guides available on each floor, visitors can take in all the objects independently, while also knowing exactly what they are and their provenence. On this day, there were docents for everyone who desired them, though that would be impossible when larger groups are present.

For the old nautical reporter who knows that Odysseus’s ship has no name; who has read every Herman Melville novel; who watches Sea Wolf yearly; and who considers the “Shanghai Lil” scene in Footlight Parade with James Cagney and Ruby Keeler the greatest waterfront-themed dance number in movie-musical history, the only disappointment of Maritime City is that there isn’t more of it.

Still, that leaves plenty, and the 540 objects it does include—out of the museum’s 80,000-plus-item collection—are a constant delight. From large-scale models of trans-Atlantic passenger ships to teensy ships in a bottle to all manner of maps and photography; from blacksmith tools to ferry and railroad memorabilia to vintage warehouse boxes; from telescope, compass, and sextants to the secrets discovered by US Customs authorities in their battle against smugglers, it’s all here, at least in part.

Bring on the next 540!

The South Street Seaport Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $18, $15 for seniors and students, $5 for children under 18. To further the cause of maritime history and culture, there is also a pay-what-you-wish admission policy.