Safety is at premium. As it moves through New York's crowded harbour, the Molinari carries an electronic life preserver, the collision avoidance system. In real time it constantly tracks the name, position and course of every vessel in the harbor, life saving data when the fog grows in and the harbour turns to peace soon. It keeps this critical link from sinking. Within half an hour the ferry connects with the subway at the tip of Manhattan and puts commuters back on track. For most of its history, lower Manhattan was as isolated as Staten Island. The oldest part of New York, it was an island under itself, roomed between the Hardson River and the East River, cut off from the other boroughs. Today a network of bridges and tunnels links Manhattan to the rest of the city and extends the reach of the subway to the farthest corners of the Big Apple.