Riesenberg was hired by Walter Wellman to be a part of the support crew in an unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole by airship in the summer of 1906.
[1] He was rehired by Wellman as the navigator aboard the three-man airship America in a second failed attempt to reach the North Pole in 1907.
Riesenberg was the superintendent of the New York Nautical School on two occasions, from 1917 to 1919 as captain of the barkentine "Newport" and again from 1923 to 1924.
Riesenberg was also a prolific author, publishing a textbook, Standard Seamanship for the Merchant Service that became commonly used,[2] as well as several maritime historical works and novels.
Present-day cadets are still taught the "Riesenberg Saying": "The sea is selective; slow at recognition of effort and aptitude, but fast in sinking the unfit."
[12] In the 1940s, a sail training schooner at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, New York, was renamed Felix Riesenberg, having previously been named Rhine.