In a message dated 98-07-01 09:28:49 EDT, you write:

<< that NY people long ago complained about the slips infringing on the
 streets.  Were they actually dug as inlets, where shoreline space on an
 island was extremely valuable?  My 1848 map of the piers actually shows >>

The shoreline on the East River side of lower Manhattan  was originally on
Pearl Street.  The Dutch are of course famous for their ability to reclaim
land from the sea and so in New York they filled in the shoreline.  After
Pearl Strret came Water Street,  then Front Street and finally as they
continued to fill South Street.   I believe early Manhattan slips, such as
Peck Slip, were not dug, but rather as they pushed the shoreline out to deep
water these indentations in the shoreline (slips) were left for the ships.

I wonder what the advantages/disadvantages there are of loading/unloading a
ship at a slip rather then a pier.  I could surmise the slip had advantages in
bad weather since the land protected the boat.  Maybe there were other
nautical advantages to the use of a slip. Does anyone know of any?

Jim Maguire
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