ON THE WATER POWER TRIP

One foggy morning this spring, a ferryboat traversed the choppy waters between lower Manhattan and Governors Island. It was just after 7 A.M.—the first run of the day. But, for the boat, it was almost sunset. “She’s our tether,” a lightly bearded passenger named Sebastian Coss said. Coss, a former Governors Island staffer, was referring to the ferry, whose official name is the Lt. Samuel S. Coursen.

- —Adam Iscoe

Sebastian Coss

Commissioned by the U.S. Army in 1956, the Coursen has reliably transported equipment, vehicles, and passengers to and from Governors Island ever since. During the island’s decades as an Army and Coast Guard base, the ship carried military families (as well as lumber and munitions). In its period of bureaucratic limbo, occasional government caretakers hitched a ride. Lately, food trucks, porta-potties, and luxury-spa-goers are a more common sight.

Two years ago, New York City announced that the Coursen, which runs on diesel, would be replaced by a thirty-three-million-dollar hybrid-electric passenger ferry. Asked if he’ll miss it, Coss chuckled. “If you owned a nineteen-fifties Chevy Bel Air and you drove it to work every day, there’d be elements of it you’d really love,” he said. “And you’d also be, like, ‘It’d be nice to have air-conditioning.’”