Homeless migrant busted for taking historic NYC fireboat on wild joyride: cops

Now he’s up a creek.

A 22-year-old migrant was busted taking a historic fireboat on a wild journey down the Hudson River — before getting stuck and hopping onto a sailboat in Manhattan early Thursday, cops and sources said.

Juan Hernandez, who is homeless and hails from Ecuador, began his aquatic joyride on the former FDNY-owned John J. Harvey vessel at around 2:30 a.m., cops and other sources said.

The alleged boat bandit untied ropes tethering the decommissioned, now-privately-owned 130-foot vessel to Pier 66 at West 27th Street in Chelsea and floated downstream, cops said.

He drifted aimlessly for about a half-hour then got stuck near Pier 64 at West 25th Street, according to police.

The sketchy skipper then jumped ship — plunging into the 46-degree water and swimming to land before jumping onto a 25-foot sailboat, cops and sources said.

Hernandez tried to lower the sails of the second vessel, a J/80 sailboat owned by the Hudson River Community Sailing School, but failed, according to the sources.

He continued his bizarre odyssey by drifting for roughly for another half-hour to Pier 51, near Jane Street in the West Village, cops said.

Someone spotted him on board and called 911, police said.

The NYPD’s Harbor Unit responded and boarded the boat, where they found Hernandez lying down on the ground, police said.

He was busted around 3:40 a.m. and charged with two counts of grand larceny auto, cops said.

Police then returned the J/80 sailboat to the sailing school, according to Robert Burke, executive director of the non-profit organization.

“HRCS was glad nobody was injured during this incident,” Burke said in a statement. “As an education non-profit, we work hard to get people on the water and boats in a safe and inclusive way. Incidents like this highlight the challenges of operating in a public space. This individual put himself and others in harm’s way. We are fortunate no one was hurt and our boat only sustained minor damage.”

The red and white John J. Harvey fireboat, which is not owned by the school, was tied up at Pier 66A, Burke said.

The fireboat was named for an FDNY firefighter who was killed during a ship fire. It launched in Brooklyn in 1931 and is famed for returning to service following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Hernandez has no prior arrests and no history with the NYPD as an “emotionally disturbed person,” authorities said.

Sources said he initially entered the US illegally through El Paso, Texas in 2022 and told federal immigration authorities in Boston that he had family there.

He then allegedly skipped out on immigration court proceedings in Boston, the sources said.