Guided Tours | Wed-Sun | 11am-5pm | Pier 16 | Free
Join a guided tour of 1908 Lightship Ambrose at South Street Seaport Museum Wednesday to Sunday. Visitors can tour the multiple decks of this National Historic Landmark to see the living and working spaces once inhabited by sailors stationed on Ambrose, as well as the special features that allow the ship to fulfill its mission of staying on station, being seen, and being heard. Ambrose is the first vessel to join the Seaport Museum’s fleet and the very first lightship to guard the largest shipping channel in and out of the ports of New York and New Jersey—the Ambrose Channel.
Tours are led multiple times per day and last approximately 30 minutes. Advance reservations are recommended. Tickets are free for adults and kids. Book your tickets below!
Guests must check in 15 minutes before the tour at the red tent on Pier 16. Access to Ambrose requires walking up an angled gangway. Stairs lead to the lower decks.
Be sure to review the latest COVID-19 protocols.
South Street Seaport Museum
By subway: Take the A, C, 2, 3, J, Z, 4, or 5 train to Fulton Street.
By bus: Take the M-15 SBS or M-15 to Fulton Street.
By water: The NYC Ferry, and New York Waterway provide service to Pier 11. The Staten Island Ferry provides services to Whitehall Terminal.
Parking: Parking lots can be found at Front and John Streets, as well as 294 Pearl Street.
About the Lightship Ambrose
Lightship LV-87, also known as Ambrose, was built in 1907 as a floating lighthouse to guide ships safely from the Atlantic Ocean into the broad mouth of lower New York Bay between Coney Island, New York, and Sandy Hook, New Jersey–an area filled with sand bars and shoals perilous to approaching vessels. South Street Seaport Museum’s Ambrose occupied her original station from her launching in 1908 until 1932. In 1921 Ambrose became the first lightship to be fitted with a radio beacon, greatly assisting navigation of the channel in poor visibility. In her role as navigational aid, she was also witness to the largest period of immigration in U.S. history, seeing some six million immigrants pass her station. After her half-century career, she was donated to the newly-formed South Street Seaport Museum by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1968.