Launched in an era of public health epidemics ranging from cholera to smallpox, with orphans and homeless boys and girls working as child laborers and immigrant families living in slums and cramped tenements, The Floating Hospital began as NYC’s first not-for-profit pediatric clinic.

Sadly, today’s urban realities of fleeing domestic abuse, going to bed hungry and having no money to secure a safe place to sleep outside of the City’s shelter system have created a vast new generation of homeless NYC families who need the health care services we provide now more than ever.

Founded as part of the St. John’s Guild of Trinity Church, this philanthropic effort to offer relief to the sick children of the poor is dedicated to serving all those in need without regard to creed, color or nationality.

The New York Times asks wealthy New Yorkers to support this meaningful mission by helping poor children (including their own newsboys) temporarily escape the crushing heat, filth and diseased conditions of a NYC summer. In the first year alone, 18,600 impoverished children and caretakers enjoy these free chartered ferry rides and countryside picnic excursions and experience for the first time in their young lives the benefits of "fresh air and healthy food."

The Floating Hospital “Summer Sails” continue to gain in popularity and prompt the St. John’s Guild to commission its own vessel to help significantly expand the number of trips and scope of health services offered. The “Emma Abbot,” named for an opera star (and early benefactor), is christened and hosts 909,104 mothers and children over a 14-year period.

The need for health care for NYC’s poor exceeds the resources available on the Ship’s Main Clinic. St. John’s Guild establishes the Seaside Nursery on the sea shore in Staten Island with patient transportation provided by the Ship. In 1887, a 200-bed hospital facility for children is built along side the nursery and this extension of The Floating Hospital continues to operate until 1939, serving 79,902 patients.

The second TFH Ship, the “Helen C. Juilliard” launches in 1889 to replace the “Emma Abbott.” The “Helen C. Juilliard II” launches in 1916, followed by the “Lloyd I. Seaman” in 1935 and the “Lila Acheson Wallace” in 1973. To generations of New Yorkers, each individual “Ship of Health” is a treasured symbol of hope and promise for a better future, and collectively remains fondly remembered by all as THE FLOATING HOSPITAL.

In 1980, St. John’s Guild dissolves and The Floating Hospital incorporates under New York State law and continues to provide Ship-based health care services while anchored near Wall Street. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, The Floating Hospital is unable to secure affordable and accessible dock space, and makes the decision to sell the Ship in 2004. TFH continues to provide uninterrupted health care services at its network of clinics located within the family shelter system – and “drops anchor” at its new and-based main clinic site in Long Island City (Queens) in October 2006.