Pete Seeger, Don McLean and the Clearwater sloop in 1969: “Unless we insist on it”
Pete Seeger’s plan to build a replica Hudson River cargo sloop grew from his anger at the pollution he saw on the river. The Clearwater’s 1969 voyage brought musicians and supporters together to draw attention to the Hudson’s beauty and poor condition, and to argue that public pressure was needed to make polluters and politicians act.
More than 2,000 people watched the boat launch in Maine on 17 May 1969; its crew included Seeger, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Gordon Bok and 23-year-old Don McLean. They played about 20 fundraising shows before the sloop reached New York on 1 August. In 1970, the crew sang to more than 70 members of the US House of Representatives, helping build support for the Clean Water Act, passed in 1972; since then, the Clearwater has taken hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren onto the river.
- Pete Seeger built the Clearwater to draw attention to Hudson River pollution.
- The crew’s 1970 visit to Congress helped build support for the Clean Water Act.
- The sloop has since taken hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren onto the river.
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The Hudson River runs through New York State and has long been used for transport and industry. By the 1960s, pollution from factories and other sources had damaged the river, prompting concern about its effect on wildlife and nearby communities.
Pete Seeger was an American folk singer who used music to support social causes. He and other musicians helped build the Clearwater, a replica of the cargo boats once used on the Hudson, as a way to bring people’s attention to the river and encourage them to press for change.
The effort linked public campaigning with wider debates in the United States about clean water and the responsibilities of government and industry. The Clearwater later became a way for schoolchildren to learn about the river and its environment.