Visit to Tallship Amsterdam at South Street Seaport

By Greg Lynch, President, NY6

I missed St. Patrick’s Day in New York this year. At the time of the parade down Fifth Avenue, I was with a group of New York Rotarians on a train from Milan to Venice. So having missed the wearing of the green, I found myself back in New York donning a bright orange tie, an orange scarf and our Club pin of orange, white and blue and heading down to the Seaport. The occasion was the visit to our Seaport of the Clipper Ship Stad Amsterdam. The purpose was to create awareness regarding the up-coming Netherlands Day, scheduled to be celebrated by the Rotary Club of New York in June 2004.

The Chair of this year’s Netherlands Day is our new member Christ’l Dulleart. Christ’l is a former Club President in Amsterdam. She is by profession a philosopher with a concentration in ethics. In that capacity she advises some of the best known institutions on the globe. It is Christ’l who has taken up the challenge provided by the major success scored by our Sweden Day event. Judging from the impressive list of event sponsors she is rounding up, we should be in store for another major international day at the Club.

Approaching the Stad Amsterdam, one could only believe that this was a beautifully restored clipper from the 19th century. It is in fact, only four years old, built in Amsterdam and inspired by the only extent period clipper, the Cutty Sark. Interestingly the construction of this sea-going jewel was something of a public works project, employing many otherwise unemployed craftsmen from that legend Dutch city. It is now a successful floating hospitality center, catering parties and providing ocean transport to the super, well, fortunate. I am really hoping that Christ’l manages to get a crossing on the Stad Amsterdam as a raffle prize. Then again, I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead.

We had a tour of the ship - cabins, chart room, galley and then ended up in the long room where we were greeted by the Deputy Mayor Amsterdam, the Representative of the Port of Amsterdam, the Consul and Deputy Consul and a cozy group of business personalities. Christ’l had provided a beautiful volume on Peter Stuyvesant, first mayor of then New Amsterdam for presentations to these Dutch dignitaries. From my windows, as I write these lines, I can see his grave in the shadow of St. Marks on the Bowery Church. The Bowery, or Bowerie as it was then known, was Stuyvesant’s farm. Our little neighborhood here is an historic district for that very reason. . . .but I digress.

Christ’l and I presented the book to Deputy Mayor Huffnagel and Port Big Wig Maaswinkel and had our pictures snapped. Christ’l then went off looking for sponsors for our Dutch lunch, while I gave out a few Club pins and told the story of New York Rotary, the best 95 year old Rotary Club this side of the Atlantic. We hope that this little sojourn will translate into more fun at Netherlands Day, more Rotary spirit and maybe a new member or two from Holland. Thank you, Christ’l. You’re definitely sailing in the right direction.