July 5, 1986

Seven-year-old Josh Curtis wondered aloud yesterday what in the world the Statue of Liberty would say if she could speak. His question was lost in the roar of thousands of boat engines and the blare of their horns. The boy had just entered New York Harbor, uttering a ''Wow!'' as the family motorboat emerged from a tributary. He beheld more boats than he had ever imagined existed - indeed, perhaps more than have ever been assembled - as they swirled about the statue's feet and swarms of blimps, skywriters, helicopters and fighter planes buzzed around her head.

Nearly 2,000 black mineworkers have gone on strike at four diamond mines to demand the release of detained labor leaders, their employer said today. The stoppage at the De Beers mines, which started Thursday, was the first known protest in the economically crucial mining industry since the newest state of emergency was imposed June 12. South Africa's gold, diamond and other mines account for more than half the country's export earnings. The police, meanwhile, said a bomb explosion, the 13th since the declaration of the emergency, wounded 20 people in a white suburb of Pretoria, the capital. #11 Blacks and 9 Whites Hurt The Bureau for Information, the sole source of authorized news under the emergency decree, said the explosion was caused by a device left between two parked cars.

A procession of tall ships joined an armada of mighty warships in New York Harbor yesterday, and an enormous fireworks show turned the night sky to blazing color in a salute to the Fourth of July and the centennial of a rekindled Statue of Liberty. As darkness fell on a day of stately nautical maneuvers, the biggest fireworks display in American history - a booming, 28-minute barrage of skyrockets - burst like supernovas over the harbor and bathed millions of awed spectators and much of the metropolitan region in eerie light. It was, to many, the highlight of a Fourth of July filled with delights, especially the spectacle of tall ships joining warships in the harbor, with President Reagan reviewing the fleet aboard the battleship Iowa and a parade of sail from Governors Island. ''We expected the best fireworks since Nero set Rome on fire, and we got them,'' Mayor Koch said after the fireworks. #40,000 Shells From a necklace of 30 barges around the tip of Manhattan, stretching from the Brooklyn Bridge to the World Trade Center, more than 40,000 pyrotechnic shells shrieked skyward in a computer-controlled, nonstop cannonading, with smoke and blasts reminiscent of a battlefield.

People moved about more lazily. Faces were less taut and many wore radiant smiles. Even the sky was flawless - blue, then a starry black. . In short, New Yorkers and out-of town visitors yesterday were in a mood appropriate not only to the Fourth of July, but to a singular Fourth, one that celebrated their roots and their unabashed pride in their country. ''It's a custom-made day,'' said Gabriel De Los Rios, a 64-year-old Chilean-American pianist standing amid a light-hearted and relaxed throng on the Riverside Park promenade watching the tall ships glide up the Hudson.

President Reagan blended politics and patriotism yesterday in what aides described as one of the most exuberant days of his Presidency. Celebrating Independence Day and the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, Mr. Reagan flew by helicopter in the morning to the battleship Iowa and steamed south on the sun-drenched Hudson River to pass an international flotilla of warships. Many of the vessels fired guns in salute as the Iowa, a recommissioned World War II vessel, cruised down the Hudson at 8 knots. As Mr. Reagan left the viewing booth, moments after F-16 Thunderbirds flew over and left a red, white and blue trail in the cloudless sky, he said to Capt. Larry Seaquist, the ship's commanding officer: ''Absolutely brilliant. No word to describe my pride.'' Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said the President was ''exuberant for sure'' during his visit to New York, which ends this morning. ''There have been other days like these - inaugural days, the release of the Iranian hostages,'' Mr. Speakes said. ''This ranks with them.'' By nightfall Mr. Reagan and his wife, Nancy, ended their celebration on the deck of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, where they watched perhaps the largest fireworks display in the nation's history.