Back in the long, long ago, New York and New Jersey fought over the islands betwixt them.

Were they New York or were they New Jersey? To determine what was whose New York proposed a race,

all islands that could be encircled in less than 24 hours would belong to New York,

those not to New Jersey. Staten Island was the big prize, then described as the most commodious and richest land.

New Jersey wanted it, and given the island is huge and

back in the day boats were slow, New Jersey thought the island impossible to encircle

in under a day, and so it would be hers.

But young New York, determined to expand her empire state, thought she had the man for the

job, Captain Christopher Billop.

The clever captain lashed empty barrels to his ship to help catch the wind and make haste,

and twas this that made the difference, winning the race against time and encircling the most

commodious island of Staten for New York in just over 23 hours. This delightful deed earned

Billop historical immortality in books and articles and on Wikipedia, and the Ambiguan New York

gifted the captain and estate, on Staten Island, of course of course that still stands today a historical museum and park for the local Staten Island Yorkers that were it not for Billup would find themselves Jerseyites instead.

What a cute story, so perfect for the video about New York and New Jersey's border disputes I'm working on.

But wait, was the 24-hour race around each island individually or all islands at once?

This wording isn't clear.

Might as well ask the museum about the route.

I've always found that hometown historians happily honor hometown heroes.

Well, no reason to just sit around.

Let's follow the footnote trail.

New York Times, 1913. Okay, Billip gets inspired to put the barrels on his ship.

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