48 pages Sterling Publishing Company  (New York) Publication Date: January 1961 Hardcover ISBN: N.A.

Somebody once said, "A harbor is a parking lot for ships." The statement is true, but it is a long way from the whole truth, as The Story of Harbors points out. A harbor is more than a parking lot--it is ships, and piers, and tugboats, and barges, and channels, the Coast Guard, dredges, fireboats, police boats, tides, longshorement, and, most important, trade. In short, the story of the harbor has been the story of man's history in commerce from the Phoenician harbor of Tyre to the American harbor of New York.

Here is New York harbor--the largest, most important harbor in the modern world. Everything happening in harbors throughout the world is happening in New York, plus a few other things as well.

To New York come the gargantuan passenger liners with all their glitter, and to New York also come the everyday cargo freighters, enough of them to make the harbor the largest general cargo port in the world. Also past the Statue of Liberty stream the greatest tankers and bulk carriers, moving the goods efficiently in fair weather and foul, in the day and in the night. Behind the big ships are smaller vessels: tugboats, barges, and dredges--all in New York to perform a specific function of maritime commerce.

Superbly illustrated with up-to-date, accurate photographs, The Story of Harbors vividly recreates the excitement and glamour of the waterfront.

Ben J. Wattenberg is a senior fellow at AEI.