The Hudson River sloop Clearwater, the iconic environmental vessel founded by Pete Seeger and launched in 1969, was removed from the Sail4th 250 Parade of Sail in New York Harbor on Saturday morning after displaying advocacy banners on its mainsail.
The vessel was participating in the maritime celebration, part of the lead-up to America’s 250th birthday festivities, and was scheduled to escort the Portuguese Navy training ship NRP Sagres during the parade. According to a statement from Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, shortly after the event began around 11am, the vessel was approached by the US Coast Guard and instructed to leave the parade route and exit the event’s exclusion zone.
Clearwater Captain Rory Kane asked for the reason behind the removal and was told it was because of banners displayed aboard the vessel. The banners read “Save the Clean Water Act” and “Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Climate Solutions.”
A Sail4th 250 representative told Clearwater’s captain that the decision was made above their level, according to the organization. The sloop, carrying 29 passengers and 19 crew members, was escorted from the parade area by Coast Guard and Navy vessels and continued sailing south of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
For Clearwater, the use of the vessel as a platform for environmental advocacy is inseparable from its history. The organization was founded in 1966, when Seeger and a group of activists launched a campaign to build a replica 19th-century Hudson River sloop that could reconnect communities with the river at a time when industrial pollution had severely damaged the waterway.
Three years later, Clearwater began sailing with a mission centered on environmental education, advocacy, and restoration. The organization has long credited public awareness campaigns—including messages displayed from the sloop itself—with helping galvanize support for cleaning up the Hudson River and strengthening environmental protections.
Over the decades, Clearwater has become one of the region’s most recognizable environmental symbols, bringing more than half a million people aboard for educational sails focused on the Hudson River ecosystem. The organization has also remained active in environmental advocacy, particularly around water quality, climate change, and public access to waterways.
Saturday’s Sail4th 250 Parade of Sail brought together vessels from around the world in New York Harbor as part of the countdown to the United States’ semiquincentennial celebration in 2026. Organizers have described the event as a large-scale gathering of historic ships and maritime traditions.
Clearwater officials said the banners reflected the organization’s longstanding mission and values. The group noted that the sloop’s mainsail has frequently served as a place for messages related to environmental protection and social issues. “The sloop has a long and storied history of using the mains’l to share messages of hope and advocacy,” the organization said in its statement.
The Clearwater continued sailing outside the restricted parade zone following its removal.
Thanks for your timely reporting of this shameful incident just when we should be celebrating our founding values. Another black mark of intolerance and suppression of free speech.
This is absolutely shameful. The Clearwater is great. I still have my Clearwater pin from when I visited it as a kid in the 1970s. My family is from the Hudson Valley and we visited the Clearwater and saw Pete Seeger there. This regime is depraved.
What are the odds that a tall ship flying the Confederate flag would have also been ejected?
F**K FASCISM ! ! ! ! !
J E R K S ! ! !
Sorry to learn of this. My wife and I were watching the broadcast and wondering why the Clearwater was not there. Glad to know they stayed true to their values. Pete would be proud.
I’m proud that the Clearwater stayed true to their founding ideals; more than can be said of many of our current so called leaders
This shameful censorship epitomizes the depravity of the Rump regime.
In solidarity with our sloop Clearwater – for all – for ever.
Clearwater was doing what it has always done: avacating for a better world. What could possibly be wrong with that? three cheers for Clearwater its crew and passengers. I hope they keep the signs up wherever they are. They set a good example of care for us all.
Thank you for the reporting on this shocking incident! How shameful that advocacy by the Clearwater, an historically powerful environmental justice voice, is censored during an event to celebrate not only how far we have come as a nation, but which should be an opportunity to shine a light into the future.
I am saddened and disturbed that this should have happened to the Clearwater on such an important moment in history–or at all, ever! What has happened to freedom of speech? We are celebrating 250 years under an amazing Constitution and this happens at a July 4th celebration? Obviously, we are at risk of losing what we treasure most.
But it’s OK for the racists in Patriot Front to march down the street in Washington, DC? WTF??>
Exactly ‼️
But it’s OK for the racists in Patriot Front to march down the street in Washington, DC? WTF??
Hello, thank you so much for this information. To whom would you suggest to complain to and protest this action ? I live on the West Coast now, but I lived in the mid -Hudson Valley for many years and I’m very familiar with Sloopwater and its important work.
Best regards Deb Murphy
I’d be curious to know if there were any other boats with political messages removed or was it only this one? Obviously if there are rules to be included in the sail you have to follow the rules, if this was a rule they broke I hope it was administered fairly across the board.
Good point, but Clearwater has stated that nowhere in their agreement did it say that they could not fly banners with messaging, so I don’t think it was made a rule.
The organizational sponsorship rns through the Trump regime, via Freedom 250 which coopted the congressionally mandated which was originally supposed to run the event. This is typical of their deafness to the still, small voice of humanity.
Funny how everyone is talking about censorship when I guarantee if it was pro life homosexuality is a sin etc.. everyone here would say kick them out and cheer for it. Pathetic..
This was not the time to make political statements. The accomplishments of clear water spoke for themselves. Banners just were a distraction.
There is a time for every season
Thanks for reporting this ‼️
Thank you for the great reporting. The silver lining to this insult is that the whole world was watching and now more people are talking about the wonderful and critical work Clearwater continues doing for generations! Thanks also for your email telling people what they can do to support the org- hopefully this leads to lots more support for the upcoming benefit.
…and if a boat had signs that said “Protect the Second Amendment” or “Secure Borders, Safe Nation” or “Pro-life” or “Socialism Never Worked” it would have been fire bombed and sunk my the angry mob who hate our society and would like nothing more but for it to be destroyed. They speak of free speech… hypocrites.
“Organizers of officially permitted water parades and public maritime festivals (such as July 4th events) typically reserve the right to exclude boats that display overt political messages.” “The Coast Guard stated they contacted the ship’s crew and requested they remove the signs or be removed from the parade. When the banners remained, U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, and NYPD vessels escorted the Clearwater out of the event’s exclusion zone.”
Since when is “Save the Clean Water Act” a political message? What’s wrong with clean water? Does the Republican Party prefer dirty water? Kicking the Clearwater out of the event–the ship that has done more than any institution to make people aware of the state of the Hudson River and its approimately 70 tributaries– is a blatant rightwing move to stifle free speech. And it’s not the first time they’ve done it. The Coast Guard leadership should be ashamed of themselves for following illegal orders.