"Here is an account that is more than just a recital of facts: it is a dramatic tale peopled with colorful, vigorous characters ranging from pirates, smugglers and slavers to sea captains, great merchants, shipbuilders, and city officials--the men who made municipal history." -Mayor of the City of New York. A Maritime History of New York is a republication of the work compiled by the New York City unit of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) Federal Writers' Project originally published in 1941, with new historical and updated material.