You are right. That book "Old New York In Early Photos, 196 prints, 1853 -1901 from the collection of the NY Historical Society" published by Dover in 1973 has an image of Battery from 1853. It occurred during an enlargement of the landfill so the older seawall is shown abutting a muddy field of rubble and fill. In the left of the picture you can still make out the masts of ships moored along the Hudson.
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> From: Walter Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Immigrant arrival
> Date: Monday, January 25, 1999 11:03 AM
>
> David Minor wrote:
> >
> > For photographs of NY harbor in 1847 you might want to check out the web
> > sites of the Museum of the City of New York and of The New-York Historical
> > Society.
>
> 1847 in *very* early for outdoor photography but I have distinct
> recollections of seeing a volume specifically of very early images of
> New York City (published in 1970s?) which included a number of harbour
> photographs. My recollection was that the earliest images dated from
> around 1852-4.
>
> You might also want to look at the Library of Congress American Memory
> site. It includes a collection of panoramic maps. The earliest one of
> NYC dates from the mid-1850s and is particularly rich in harbour
> details.
>
> Walter Lewis
> [log in to unmask]