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.
