NYHC wants to take the opportunity to remember the 50 veterans that reportedly died in the Long Island nursing home. To date, there are more than 1000 veterans in VA health system sites that have been lost due to Covid-19 infections. Along with the veterans who are not getting the proper ceremonial honors at their burials due to Covid-19. However, hundreds of other veterans were lost in the state-run homes.  We ask, how many of these veterans would still be alive today if they were fast-tracked to USNS Comfort.  And for those who would have succumbed to the infection, how many would have been happier spending their final hours on the military hospital ship?  Of course, these are tough questions.

On this Memorial Day Observance, NYHC is honored to have Congressman and veteran Max Rose offer words of thanks to the crew of USNS Comfort.  A purple heart recipient, Max Rose served as a platoon leader in Afghanistan and was wounded there in 2013.  In addition to his representation of the 11th Congressional District from Brooklyn and Staten Island, he currently is attached to the New York Army National Guard for active duty.

NYHC is proud to have found men and women of distinction to help tell our Covid-19 New York story.  The time span of the documentary is from March 7th (the first covid deaths in NYC) to April 30th (when Comfort leaves NYC).   The key focal characters are Rachel Hartley, who answered the call for ICU nurses, sailing her temporary residence into New York Harbor and USNS Comfort’s Chaplain, Lt. Johnny Bravo.  There is a strong spirituality between the two, told from their respective ships.  The working New York Harbor personnel is represented by the Sandy Hook Pilot, Captain Tim Ferrie, who navigated Comfort into its NYC pier.  USNS Comfort’s Commander Amersbach offers his precise detail of the Hospital ship operations.

New York Harbor is in lock down for all passenger ship traffic.  The cruise ship industry ties NY waters to the oceans of the world.  We also touch on Erika Butters’ plight stuck on a Cruise Ship stranded in the Atlantic Ocean.   As Covid-19 tears apart careers and industries, Erika’s 56 day saga offers a musical therapy as she records a consistent daily post on Facebook from her ship.  Erika’s music offers uplifting melodies under our visual footage.  NYHC has taken the best of our interviews over the past two months to piece together this unique story.

Governor Cuomo and President Trump provide the Covid-19 reality as well as the backstory as to why Comfort was in NYC for only 30 days.  The hospital ship only treated 182 Covid patients over a mere 14 day period.  Despite the political tension that permeates the atmosphere, Comfort does exhibit its  marvelous medical deployment and staff acumen.  Not a single Covid-19 patient treated on-board was lost.

We conclude with shout outs from New Yorkers including one from  Congressman Max Rose.  With Comfort’s return to the Norfolk Naval Station, one missing element remains… a Mission Name.  We invite everybody who was touched both physically and spiritually to offer a name for the Navy Command to consider.  NYHC has chosen ‘Operation Gentle Shadow’ as its reach in dark times has brought calm and compassion to the waters of New York Harbor.

After USNS Comfort sailed out of New York Harbor, the torch had been passed to a visiting nurse from Lynchburg, Virginia and the hundreds of other healthcare workers like Rachel Hartley.  Of course, we cannot forget about the thousands of healthcare workers who started this battle when Covid-19 first entered the NYC hospital system back in February.  Departure day for the Comfort marked a significant Turning Point for New York.  The number of Covid-19 cases was slowly, but steadily on the decline.

NYHC wishes to take this opportunity to personally thank the men and women of the USNS Comfort for their service to the nation   The ship exemplified professionalism.  What’s more, the hospital ship also served as a ambassador.  It was indeed a Gentle Shadow that spread compassion from the waterfront to all the New York and New Jersey front line workers.   As you sailed out of the harbor, you took your excellence with you to serve on another mission.  For New York, Operation Gentile Shadow will live on as a shining light that helped bring us out of the unknown darkness.  We wish you fair winds and following seas!

For more in depth articles and interviews found in New York Harbor Channel, please click below

Commander Amersbach

Captain Tim Ferrie

Erika Monet Butters

Nurse Rachel Hartley

Chaplain Johnny Bravo

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Due to the size and depth of the USNS Comfort, US Navy Meteorologists and Oceanographers prepared the weather forecast and the underwater topographic maps.  Logistics were already in motion well before the ship’s departure from Norfolk Naval Operations Base.

Back in New York Harbor, Donjon Marine, a local dredging company, was permitted to deepen the harbor for safe transit and docking at Pier 90 Manhattan Cruise Terminal.

Monday morning, the Sandy Hook Launch was waiting.  Captain Tim Ferrie was on board. He cautiously ascended ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ at the Ambrose Station meeting point in the New York Bight.

The Sandy Hook pilot delivers the Flag of New York State that was unfurled above the Comfort as it entered New York Harbor.

At the helm of USNS Comfort, alongside Commander Patrick Amersbach and Captain Andrew Lindey, Tim Ferrie wore his mask in the face of COVID-19 precaution.

A salute from the New York Harbor flotilla accompanied the hospital ship up the Hudson River into Berth 4 of the Marine Terminal.

The configuration of the Navy Hospital ship was not unfamiliar to Captain Ferrie. Both USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy are converted super-tankers. Similar specifications to many other tankers that a routinely enter New York Harbor carrying oil. This was another delivery in the hundreds of deliveries the Sandy Hook pilots make every day and every night.

Captain Ferrie was presented with the traditional Navy Challenge Coin by Commander Amersbach.  New York Harbor Channel applauds all the members of the Sandy Hook Pilot Association.

The post A Sandy Hook Pilot Delivers the USNS Comfort into New York Harbor appeared first on New York Harbor Channel.

In 1964, the MTA named its new bridge after the Italian explorer who first sailed into New York Harbor in 1524.  The 4,260 foot span connected the boro of Staten Island to Brooklyn and was officially deemed “the Verrazano Narrows Bridge”.  Ribbon cutting was interrupted by hundreds of exclamations, with cries proclaiming, “There is a Z missing!”  Despite pleas from the Italian population that were echoed from the nearby neighborhoods stretching miles under the bridge structure, the incorrect signage remained.  ‘Verrazano’ became the accepted spelling for more than fifty years.

Finally, in 2018,  Marty Golden, the presiding New York State Senator from Brooklyn’s District #22 at the time, joined the Staten Island State Senator, Michael Cusick in promoting the original Robert Nash of Brooklyn College petition to use the correct spelling of the Italian explorer.  On October 1st, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “The Verrazzano Bridge is a vital transportation artery for millions of Staten Island and Brooklyn residents.  We are correcting this decades-old misspelling out of respect to the legacy of the explorer and to New York’s heritage.  It was finally official.

However, the traffic signs will not be immediately replaced.  Instead, they will be gradually replaced during routine maintenance scheduling.  How ironic!  Bridge and tunnel renaming has been rampant for the past two decades in many other New York crossings.  For example, the Mayor Ed Koch 59th Street Bridge, R.F.K Triboro Bridge, Hugh Carey Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, and most recently, the Mario Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge.  But if Brooklyn and Staten Island residents have waited this long, another year or two won’t matter.

You can imagine the fractious debate on Brooklyn streets and neighborhoods since the opening of the bridge.  “How do you spell it?” is the common question when people needed to write the name or even google it.  The internet is filled with thousands of references to Verrazzano with a missing “z” all thanks to the 1964 MTA.

The New York Harbor Channel staff was careful to spellcheck the name of the bridge for many of its articles.  We thought it was best to copy the bridge ramp signs to confirm the spelling for our coverage of the New York City Marathon.  Indeed, the bridge had only one “z”!  Alas, we were wrong!  We would like to offer our apologies to all parties who may have noticed our spelling error.

But what about the Brooklyn community as a whole?  Many Brooklyn businesses adopted the incorrect spelling of the explorer when they filed their incorporation papers over these many decades.  Verrazano Bicycle Shop and Verrazano Flooring Company will forever be tied to the historic misnomer.  They will forever be bound to the incorrect spelling until they dissolve their corporation.  Should Governor Cuomo bestow upon them an official apology? A decree of recognition?

Then, there is the Verrazano Residents Incorporated Apartments, housing Brooklyn dwellers under a banner with the missing “z”.  In addition, P.S. 101 in Bay Ridge schooled its children with only one z.  It was the Verrazano School until everything changed recently.

Now Giovanni da Verrazzano will have his proper name and place in American history, high above Brooklyn and Staten Island.  Verrazzano will now join those other American institutions that preceded it… ZZ Top, The Mezzanine, Frizziness, and Puzzle to name a few of the 1249 words that contain ‘zz’ according to The Free Dictionary’.

So, for those who travel between Brooklyn and Staten Island, let’s hope the sign replacement campaign can keep its promise to install the replacement signs on schedule.  We can only pray the MTA is not found catching too many zzz’s.

The post New York Signs On To The Two Z’s of Giovanni da Verrazzano appeared first on New York Harbor Channel.