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A Hudson River merchant sailing ship is bringing goods to Red Hook again after 100 years
Tomorrow, a 65-foot, steel-hulled ship will sail into Brooklyn with a cargo hold packed full of goods direct from the Hudson Valley. The Schooner Apollonia––designed in 1946 by a naval architect, and named after the Greek god Apollo (patron and protector of sailors)––is the only sailing merchant vessel on the Hudson River in the last century. But hopefully it won’t be the last, as its captain, Sam Merrett, is set on re-establishing water-based, emission-free shipping throughout the region.
For local producers who pride themselves on sustainability, sail freight offers a carbon-friendly mode of delivering their goods, and the Hudson River was once the superhighway of this area, with 1,200 working ships moving goods up and down it. “It’s important to me that people start realizing the impacts of transportation, and it’s not just how you get from point A to B, but how your stuff gets from point A to B,” says Merrett, who previously had a business converting diesel engines to run on alternative fuel. He’s also the co-founder of the Hudson Sloop Club, dedicated to reconnecting the community with the Hudson River. “We’re not saying the Apollonia will solve all problems––but green energy is not about just one thing.”
Restoring the schooner to seafaring condition took five years—it was on “the hard” in Boston for close to three decades prior. Last summer saw her inaugural voyage, followed by a handful of shipments between Hudson River towns, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, limited by (what else?) the pandemic. Over winter, Merrett got busy connecting family farms, breweries, distilleries and makers, building a network of trade routes to ship not just finished products, but also crops like malt and grain. Once word got out, like-minded clients stepped forward.
“There’s a real hunger in people to move from saying, in principle, they’re a huge supporter of sustainability and finding better ways to move goods to actually taking a tangible small step, and then seeing a result,” says Brad Vogel, another member of Apollonia’s team. “Even if it’s just one small subset of goods that’s been taken off the road, that’s a start.”
The Apollonia is not an experiment in climate-friendly trade solutions; it’s a for-profit business. Merrett was first inspired by the Vermont Sail Freight Project, which sailed down the Hudson River in 2013 and 2014, loaded with fresh Vermont farm goods, demonstrating the potential for river cargo. These efforts tie in with the growing international sail freight movement, committed to developing carbon neutral shipping. When the Dutch Fairtransport first launched in 2007, their brigantine was the only engineless cargo ship on the seas; now there are dozens of ventures sailing goods around the globe, with bigger ships currently in development, like the Ceiba in Costa Rica, which will have the capacity to stow 250 tonnes.
For local producers who pride themselves on sustainability, sail freight offers a carbon-friendly mode of delivering their goods, and the Hudson River was once the superhighway of this area, with 1,200 working ships moving goods up and down it. “It’s important to me that people start realizing the impacts of transportation, and it’s not just how you get from point A to B, but how your stuff gets from point A to B,” says Merrett, who previously had a business converting diesel engines to run on alternative fuel. He’s also the co-founder of the Hudson Sloop Club, dedicated to reconnecting the community with the Hudson River. “We’re not saying the Apollonia will solve all problems––but green energy is not about just one thing.”
Restoring the schooner to seafaring condition took five years—it was on “the hard” in Boston for close to three decades prior. Last summer saw her inaugural voyage, followed by a handful of shipments between Hudson River towns, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, limited by (what else?) the pandemic. Over winter, Merrett got busy connecting family farms, breweries, distilleries and makers, building a network of trade routes to ship not just finished products, but also crops like malt and grain. Once word got out, like-minded clients stepped forward.
“There’s a real hunger in people to move from saying, in principle, they’re a huge supporter of sustainability and finding better ways to move goods to actually taking a tangible small step, and then seeing a result,” says Brad Vogel, another member of Apollonia’s team. “Even if it’s just one small subset of goods that’s been taken off the road, that’s a start.”
The Apollonia is not an experiment in climate-friendly trade solutions; it’s a for-profit business. Merrett was first inspired by the Vermont Sail Freight Project, which sailed down the Hudson River in 2013 and 2014, loaded with fresh Vermont farm goods, demonstrating the potential for river cargo. These efforts tie in with the growing international sail freight movement, committed to developing carbon neutral shipping. When the Dutch Fairtransport first launched in 2007, their brigantine was the only engineless cargo ship on the seas; now there are dozens of ventures sailing goods around the globe, with bigger ships currently in development, like the Ceiba in Costa Rica, which will have the capacity to stow 250 tonnes.
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