Party at Schamonchi before it sunk into Newtown Creek | October 2024 (Ondel)
An only-in-New York fundraiser quickly reached its goal to restore a 270-ton, 9,000-square-foot steel ferry which sank in Newtown Creek. The vision is to turn the ferry, named Schamonchi, into “No One’s Ark,” a floating hub for art, ecology and community programming. The project is no small feat: cranes will be required to pull it out of the mud, then it will be towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to be restored and built out to accommodate an events venue, maker space, classroom, gallery and tech incubator.
Schamonchi dates back to 1978, when it carried passengers to the shores of Martha’s Vineyard. After being decommissioned in the late 90s, an artist brought the ferry to Brooklyn, docked it off Newtown Creek and turned it into an underground arts and music venue. The pandemic brought property owner disputes and the ferry fell into disrepair. It began slowly sinking into the shallow waters of Newtown Creek, which was designated a federal superfund site back in 2010.
The fundraising crew purchased the ferry and self-funded its initial “rescue from the mud.” They set a Kickstarter goal of $111,000, which was quickly raised. There are still several weeks of the fundraiser to go, but a project like this will likely cost millions — as Pete Davidson and Colin Jost learned from their doomed purchase of a Staten Island ferryboat in 2022. Just this week, in a surprise SNL return, Davidson joked about losing millions on their efforts to transform the decommissioned ferry into a dining and events venue.
As the Schamonchi team acknowledged in its Kickstarter, “Restoring a half-sunken, 270-ton steel ferry is no small feat. It comes with a lot of risks: unexpected repairs, rising material costs, delays in dry docking, and the sheer challenge of working on a vessel this size.”
A 2024 fête at the Schamonchi
Getting to the Schamonchi
The Schamonchi and the mirrored waters of Newtown Creek
Arriving to the party
Upper deck of Schamonchi
Going below deck
Below deck
Arriving to the party
Getting there
(NYC Ferry)
For the New Yorkers who just want to ride ferries, as opposed to restoring them, there’s good news. The New York City Economic Development Corporation and NYC Ferry have just announced a comprehensive redesign of NYC Ferry routes to shorten commute times, provide riders with more places to go, and improve the overall efficiency of the system.
There will also be new improvements and landings: the expansion of the East 34th Street Ferry Terminal, the construction of a second NYC Ferry homeport facility, and new landings at East Harlem 125th Street and MADE-Bush Terminal in Sunset Park.
The optimized NYC Ferry routes will go into effect on December 8, 2025. As for the Schamonchi, if all goes according to plan — from the lofty restoration to securing a permanent dockage site — it should return to Newtown Creek in the summer of 2027.
Contributing Writer
Emily Nonko
Emily is a Brooklyn-based writer who has covered New York City real estate, architecture and design for Brownstoner, The Wall Street Journal, Dwell and other publications. You can follow her on Twitter @EmilyNonko.
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