Cy A. Adler

My name is Cyrus Adler. My nom-de-plume is Cy A Adler, no period after the middle A...I was born on a kitchen table in Bensonhurst and grew up in Brooklyn in the 40s.

For about 15 years I taught oceanography, physics and math at CCNY, LIU and other schools. I live in the West 90s in NYC; I can see the Hudson River and New Jersey from my apartment. Now I serve as president of Shorewalkers, Inc., a not-for-profit organization founded twenty-four years ago to promote shorewalking and the preservation and enhancement of metropolitan shorelines.

I have written books about the Hudson and NYC waterfront and developments along their shores: Walking Manhattan's Rim: The Great Saunter; Adventures and Discoveries on the Shores of the Worlds' Richest and Most Varied Island ($13.95, Green Eagle Press)and Walking the Hudson, Batt-To-Bear; From the Battery to Bear Mountain ($12.95, Green Eagle Press). I have also written an environmental book, Ecological Fantasies: Death from Falling Watermelons, and a couple of books on electric vehicles.

In 1952 when I was a student at N.Y.U., I was living in a cold water flat on the Lower East Side paying $15.50 a month rent. But I got restless and wanted to see the world. I went down to the National Maritime Union [then in Chelsea] to try and get on a ship. But there were a lot of sailors in town -- it wasn't that long after the end of World War II. They told me to try a Norwegian ship, and I did. We left from Stapleton, Staten Island. It was a tramp steamer going around the world. Going across the Pacific we didn't see land for 29 days, but we only got as far as Manila.

On the way back I got into a fight with a crazy sailor -- he was my roommate actually. He bit me and took a piece out of my chest near the neck. There was no doctor on board and by the time we got to San Pedro I was running a high fever. I almost died but I still love the sea.