The Coursen Heads Home from Dry Dock

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This win­ter, Gov­er­nors Island’s pri­ma­ry pas­sen­ger and vehi­cle fer­ry ves­sel, the Coursen, took a short break from its dai­ly duty of pro­vid­ing fer­ry ser­vice between Man­hat­tan and the Island. The Coursen head­ed to May Ship­yard in Stat­en Island this Jan­u­ary to 


Where does the name Coursen come from? The name­sake of the 860-ton fer­ry, Lt. Samuel S. Coursen, grad­u­at­ed from West Point in 1945 and served in the US Army dur­ing the Kore­an War. In Octo­ber, 1950, Coursen was killed in the act of sav­ing a fel­low sol­dier at the age of 24. Coursen’s val­or earned him the Medal of Hon­or, the high­est mil­i­tary hon­or award­ed. In ear­ly 1956, the U.S. Army chris­tened a new 172-foot pas­sen­ger and vehi­cle fer­ry the Lt. Samuel S. Coursen to oper­ate between Man­hat­tan and Gov­er­nors Island. 

Pas­sen­gers and vehi­cles board the Coursen, ca. ear­ly 1960s. Pho­to cour­tesy U.S. Coast Guard His­to­ri­an’s Office via Ann Buttenwieser

In con­tin­u­ous ser­vice since, the fer­ry has car­ried heads of state vis­it­ing the Island and NYC, includ­ing Queen Eliz­a­beth II in her first vis­it as Queen in 1957, and the King of Nor­way in the ear­ly 1990s. It also brought USSR Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Mikhail Gor­bachev to a meet­ing with Pres­i­dent Rea­gan and Pres­i­dent-elect Bush in Decem­ber, 1988. When the Army depart­ed in 1966, the fer­ry con­tin­ued in ser­vice as the Island became a base for the U.S. Coast Guard until 1997. The Coursen, now owned by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, con­tin­ues to pro­vide fer­ry ser­vice to Gov­er­nors Island every day. 

The Coast Guard requires that the Coursen be tak­en out of ser­vice and deliv­ered to a ship­yard for dry dock over­haul and repair work twice dur­ing any five-year peri­od. While in dry dock, the 64-year-old ves­sel under­goes rig­or­ous inspec­tions and main­te­nance, includ­ing every­thing from pro­peller and rud­der tests, to fuel tank clean­ing, to retouch­ing the paint. The Coursen went into dry dock on Jan­u­ary 11th this year, and will be return­ing to Gov­er­nors Island from the oth­er side of the Har­bor soon. With this dry dock vis­it com­plete, The Coursen will be back at work in ship shape.