Editor's note: The following engraving and text were originally published in the New-York Evening Post June 28, 1817. Thanks to volunteer researcher George A. Thompson for finding, cataloging and transcribing this article. The language of the article reflects the time period when it was written. For more information see Dr. Jonathan Daniel Wells' presentation for the HRMM lecture series, of his book "The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War" here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chjcZEQR9iY KIDNAPPING -- This most odious, and I might even say, worst of crimes, which has hitherto been principally confined to the southern states, has of late found its way among us. On Thursday last, information was lodged with the Manumission Society, that a gang of scoundrels were engaged in seducing, and decoying free men of color, on board a small schooner, called the Creole, then lying up the North River, a little distance above the state-prison, with the intention of transporting them abroad and selling them as slaves for life. Assistance was procured from the police-office, the schooner boarded, and a search took place, when behold, on opening the hatches, 9 poor unfortunate sons of Africa, who were huddled together in her hold, half suffocated, leaped upon deck, and disclosed to their deliverers the scene of villainy which had been practiced upon them. One of the owners of the schooner, James H. Thompson, who belongs to Virginia, attempted to make his escape in the long-boat, but was overtaken, secured, and together with the people of colour were taken to the police-office. Upon examination it appeared that one Moses Nichols, who keeps a brothel in Love-lane, in the vicinity of this city, and one Royal Bowen, were accomplices of Thompson in his odious traffic in human flesh. They have likewise been taken into custody and all three sent to Bridewell. The following are the names of the blacks who were kidnapped: -- Stephen aged 12, Jacob aged 19, Hannah aged 23, Mink aged 18, Mary aged 8, Harvey aged 10, Henry James aged 20, Caty aged 20 and Ann Freedland. Two of the above were brought from Albany, six from Poughkeepsie, and one belonged to this city. Various were the strategems used to deceive these poor ignorant creatures, and keep them in the dark as to the hard fate which awaited them. At one time they were told that they would be employed as gentlemen’s servants; at others they were to be hostlers. They were conveyed to the schooner in a coach last Thursday afternoon, in a violent rainstorm, and soon after put under hatches, and would, in all probability, have been taken to sea that night, had not the authority interposed. One of the colored women was brought to this city in a sloop from Poughkeepsie, by one of the above named fellows, (Nichols,) who pretended to be her master, and during the whole passage was observed to read frequently in the bible, and at other times to weep, and refuse all sustenance offered her. On the captain of the sloop inquiring of her the cause, she told him she was apprehensive that there was a scheme on foot to transport her out of the country. Thompson, the principal actor in this disgraceful traffic [had claimed last winter to have been] knocked down in Warren street and robbed of a large sum of money. We understand from the police officers he is an old offender, and was concerned with a couple of fellows who were indicted last winter for kidnapping. It would, perhaps, be no more than fair to state, that the captain of the schooner, who was supposed to be implicated, has been examined and discharged. It is therefore presumable that he had no knowledge of the nature of the voyage he was about to enter upon. KIDNAPPERS TAKEN. It gives great pleasure to state that a number of villains, engaged in the atrocious crime of kidnapping people of colour, have lately been discovered in this city, through the benevolent exertions of Mr. S. Kelly, of Poughkeepsie, who suspecting the plot, came to this city on Thursday last, and communicated the intelligence to the Manumission Society. Immediate measures were taken to secure them and rescue the unfortunate victims that had fallen into their clutches. The principal of the gang is a man calling himself James H. Thompson, who last fall purchased some slaves of a Captain Storer, who sailed from this port in a vessel called the Alligator, with four blacks on board kidnapped here, touched at Philadelphia and procured two more, and then proceeded to Baltimore, where they were sold. Thompson undertook to convey them to Georgia, but in passing through North Carolina, the blacks procured an opportunity to communicate their situation to some travellers, who interceded on their behalf. On reaching the town of Winton, Thompson was seized, and bound to appear at Court. Having got bail, he came on to this city, for the purpose of procuring testimony concerning his slaves. During the winter, he was knocked down in Warren-street, by Arthur Miles, Captain Storer's mate, and robbed, as he stated, of rising one thousand dollars. After this he went back to Georgia, where he resides, being, according to his own story, a farmer in King's county, and has a family of seven children. Some time ago, he took passage in a vessel at Savannah, & came to this city, accompanied by a fellow who calls his name Crabtree. Here the nefarious combination was formed. Their head quarters was at a notorious gambling house, occupied by Moses Nichols, in Love‑Lane, a road but little travelled, about two and a half miles from the city. Nichols was supplied with funds, and sent out on a Northern tour -- at Albany he procured two, and at Poughkeepsie six blacks, pretending he purchased them for his own use, and had them conveyed to his brothel, where they were kept secure by the rest of the gang. While Nichols was busy to the North, Thompson, Crabtree and others were to work here. In the whole ten blacks had fallen into their hands, This being a tolerable cargo, and delays dangerous, they were preparing to depart with their booty, and would no doubt have left this port on Friday last, had not a discovery taken place. On Thursday, the standing committee of the Manumission Society watched their manouvres. In the night, while the rain fell in torrents, the blacks were conveyed in a carriage by Thompson, from the house of Nichols, and put on board a small schooner called the Creole of New‑York, then lying in the North River, about a half a mile above Fort Gansevoort. On Friday morning, information was given to the Police, who promptly afforded assistance. The vessel was boarded, and eight blacks found on board, secured in the hold and cabin. On enquiry of Thompson, who appeared as the owner of the vessel, he stated that two of the blacks were his own property, the rest were passengers, put on board by Nichols, who were to be landed at Poughkeepsie and Albany, where the vessel was bound for a load of cheese, and from thence to Baltimore. The schooner was seized by the Custom House Officer, and Thompson and his accomplices conveyed to Bridewell. On Saturday Thompson was brought before the Police for examination -- in the course of his evidence he stated he had purchased the schooner for coasting, and that the blacks were bought for his relations in Baltimore. He denied having any connexion with Nichols, and pretended he knew no such man as Crabtree, but being more closely questioned, acknowledged they came passengers together from Savannah. After his affidavit was drawn up, it was handed him to read, and notwithstanding he stated it to be correct, refused to sign it. The following is Mr. Stilwell's affidavit, who was employed to navigate the vessel, but who it appears had no knowledge of the villainy going on. He was accordingly discharged. CITY OF NEW-YORK, ss. William Stilwell of No. 22 Hester-street, being duly sworn, says that eight or ten days since he was employed by James H. Thompson, the man now here, to act as captain of the vessel called “The Creole of New-York” -- That deponent obtained coasting licence, and was to sail yesterday to a place called Darien, [Georgia] about 60 or 70 miles from Savannah, in South Carolina* -- that said Thompson said that he was to take nothing but passengers out, together with a few blacks, their servants, and he was to return to this port with a cargo of wheat. WM. STILLWELL. Sworn the 27th day of June, 1817. J. HEDDEN, Police Justice. When this villainous conspiracy shall have undergone a full examination, we have no doubt other actors will be discovered, and that it will be found to have consisted of a gang of BLOODY THIEVES who have long been engaged in kidnapping this unfortunate race of people. We thank God that through the exertions of the friends of Africans, they have at length been taken, and are about to suffer the just sentence of the law for their atrocious crimes. Names of the blacks and their ages -- Stephen aged 12, Jacob 19, Hannah 23, Mink 18, Harvey 10, Henry James 20, Caty 20, Jane Freedland, and one other. New‑York Daily Advertiser, June 30, 1817, p. 2, cols. 1‑2 If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
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Happy Fourth of July! For today's Media Monday, we thought we'd share this amazing series of videos with leading historians on the American Revolution in the Hudson River Valley, centered on Dobbs Ferry. Two major turning points of the American Revolutionary War occurred in the Hudson River Valley - the American victory at Saratoga (October, 1777) and the bold decision of Washington and Rochambeau to march from Westchester County, NY, to Virginia (August, 1781). In 2009 the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society received a grant to record a series of interviews with leading historians of the American Revolution as part of the creation of the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail (now known as the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route). These excerpts are just a few of the ten part video series! Interview with Pulitzer Prize winning historian, David Hackett Fischer: During the American Revolutionary War Washington and Rochambeau, while encamped in Westchester County, NY, made the decision that would win the war. Dr. Fischer speaks about this decision and about Dobbs Ferry, starting point for Washington's 1781 march to victory at Yorktown, Virginia. Congress recognized the great historic significance of the march by establishing the Washington Rochambeau National Historic Trail in 2009. Dr. Fischer explains why Washington chose lower Westchester (Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Hartsdale, Edgemont and White Plains) for the side-by-side encampment of the American and French armies and why he deployed the light infantry and light dragoons in Dobbs Ferry. In this interview Thomas Fleming, past president of the Society of American Historians, speaks about the 1781 encampment of the American and French armies in lower Westchester (Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Hartsdale, Edgemont and White Plains) and about the the march of the American army from Dobbs Ferry to victory at Yorktown, Virginia. Dr. Mary Sudman Donovan, author of George Washington at 'Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry', discusses topics relating to the Washington Rochambeau encampment of the allied American and French armies in Dobbs Ferry and neighboring localities (July and August, 1781). You can watch all ten videos on the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society YouTube Channel! To learn more about the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, visit the National Parks Service. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Welcome to Sail Freighter Fridays! This article is part of a series linked to our new exhibit: "A New Age Of Sail: The History And Future Of Sail Freight In The Hudson Valley," and tells the stories of sailing cargo ships both modern and historical, on the Hudson River and around the world. Anyone interested in how to support Sail Freight should also check out the Conference in November, and the International Windship Association's Decade of Wind Propulsion. NOTE: This week's post is a guest post from the Royal Museums Greenwich in the UK about the Cutty Sark, one of the most famous of the Tea Clippers. To learn more about the Cutty Sark check out the Royal Museums Greenwich website. Cutty Sark is the sole surviving tea clipper ship in the world. It wasn’t the first or the biggest; it wasn’t the fastest or most successful; it wasn’t even its owner’s favourite. But it is the last one left. And it is because of its survival that it has become one of the most iconic ships in the world: a symbol of the romantic ‘age of sail’; of the peak of clipper ship design; of Britain’s identity as a nation of tea-drinkers; of the exploitation and wealth of the British Empire and vital importance of merchant shipping to Britain, both then and now. Cutty Sark was launched in 1869, in Dumbarton, Scotland. It was built exclusively for the China tea trade, in which a fashion had developed for consuming the first of the season’s fresh tea. Thus it paid to be fast and as one of the last tea clippers to be built, Cutty Sark had some claims to be the pinnacle of a design, already at its apex. It is an ‘extreme clipper’, having all the design characteristics of clipper ships but with extra abundance. Clippers, typically, have three main design traits: a long, narrow hull; a sharp bow at the front of the ship for cutting through the waves rather than riding atop and a huge sail area. By the 1860s, composite construction, combining wood and iron to make a ship strong but lighter and with greater cargo space, was the favoured method of construction. Cutty Sark was one of these composite ships. Clipper ships were pioneered by the Americans in the early nineteenth century. These small, fast and agile ships, able to zip along ‘at a clip’, put an emphasis upon speed rather than cargo space. The gold rushes in California and then Australia in the middle of nineteenth century meant that orders for vessels flooded the American market. Spurred by the need to obtain even a slight advantage in speed, American designers were bold and inventive, developing clippers which seemed to turn ship design on its head. Across the Atlantic, British shipping was at risk of stagnation. A series of reforms, including the end of the East India Company’s monopoly on trade in the east prepared the scene. The first British clipper ship, Stornaway, was built in Aberdeen in 1850. Tea first came to Britain in the middle of the seventeenth century. Initially hailed for its medicinal qualities, it was mainly enjoyed by the wealthy. But thanks, in part, to an extensive smuggling network, tea soon became a popular beverage for all. Little more than one hundred years after its introduction, tea was embedded in the very fabric of British life. As a tea clipper, Cutty Sark played its role in converting tea from exotic leaf to national staple. It would deliver over 4.5 million kgs of tea to Britain in just eight years. Yet it never lived up to its promise. In a somewhat poetic twist of fate, the Suez Canal was opened just five days before Cutty Sark was launched. These two feats of engineering, one which would seal the fate of the other were inextricably linked, providing a marker in time, almost a ‘before and after’ in the world of shipping. The canal provided a ‘short-cut’ out to China and back. Rather than having to sail all the way around the continent of Africa, ships could now cut through the Mediterranean and Red Sea reducing the voyage by over 3,000 miles. But the challenging navigation of the Mediterranean and relative windless conditions and expensive tolls on the canal itself meant that it was only viable for steam ships. Ships like Cutty Sark would have to stick to the long route. In 1870, the year of Cutty Sark’s maiden voyage, there were over fifty other sailing ships heading out to China and back. By 1878, there were just nine. Unable to compete, Cutty Sark was forced from the trade for which it had been built after just eight voyages, a tea clipper without any tea. After leaving the tea trade, Cutty Sark spent the next few years tramping: taking whatever cargo it could from port to port. It is not without irony that in this period the ship regularly transported coal for steamships’ coal stations. In fact, in total it transported more coal than tea in its career. While the network of coal and water stations required for the efficient passage of steamers developed around the world, the quickest and most reliable method of getting their fuel to them was by sail. When John ‘White Hat’ Willis, the ship’s owner, elected to place Cutty Sark in the Australian wool trade, it was as if Cutty Sark had found its calling. The trade, at the time, too far away for steamers to contend in, suited Cutty Sark. The route home took the ship around Cape Horn and the ‘roaring forties’, the fastest trade winds in the world, allowing the ship to make full use of its impressive spread of canvas to surge home. Under the confident leadership of Captain Richard Woodget, the ship’s longest serving and most successful master, Cutty Sark consistently broke records. Its best passage was just 73 days back to London, racking up speeds of up to 17.5 knots an hour and enjoying a new reputation as one of the fastest ships afloat. In 1895 an aging Willis, with no heirs to pass his fleet onto, sold Cutty Sark to a Portuguese firm. Renamed Ferreira, the ship became a general cargo carrier – carrying anything from coal to whale bone and fish guano - traversing the Atlantic between Portugal, the West Coast of Africa and the continent of America. In 1922, after departing London, Ferreira was damaged in a storm, had to call in at Falmouth for repairs and experienced astonishing good luck. There was probably not much more working life left in the ship, so when the local retired sea captain Wilfred Dowman, spotted Ferreira, the ship’s fortune was changed forever. In 1895, Dowman had been a 16 year old apprentice, who watched as Cutty Sark surged past his ship, leaving a lasting impression on the young man. Twenty-seven years later, Ferreira was a shadow of its former self yet Dowman’s memory had not dimmed. He knew it was a special vessel. Together with his wife, Catharine, the pair were committed philanthropists who paid well over the odds to bring the ship back to Britain, restore it and rename it Cutty Sark once more. Two years later, it reopened as a cadet training ship and visitor attraction. Following Dowman’s premature death, the ship was given to the Incorporated Thames Nautical College to serve alongside HMS Worcester as a cadet training ship in Greenhithe on the Thames. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the cadets were evacuated and Cutty Sark suffered from a terrible lack of maintenance. By the end of the war, sail-training was no longer deemed necessary and Cutty Sark’s future looked bleak. But befitting of the ship’s story, it was thanks to a passionate individual and a stroke of good luck that it is here today. HMS Implacable had fought at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 but by the late 1940s, like Cutty Sark, it was in very poor condition. Recognising the ship’s significance, a place in Greenwich was offered to it but its restoration costs were soon deemed to be too expensive in an age of austerity. Instead the ship was scuttled. Understandably, this caused an outcry which Frank Carr, then director of the National Maritime Museum, was able to utilise to save Cutty Sark. He persuaded the London County Council to give the Greenwich site to Cutty Sark; he engaged the support of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and together they formed a society which raised public funds to restore the ship and create a new dry dock for it. They were also keen that Cutty Sark adopt yet another identity: that of memorial to the Merchant Navy, the days of sail and the 44,000 from the merchant service lost in both world wars. In 1954 the ship was floated into its new dock and final resting place. Three years later, after an extensive restoration, the ship was opened to the public by HM The Queen. In total, more than 650 men from 30 different nations served on Cutty Sark during its years as a British ship. Most would do so only once. On average, just 28 men would serve per voyage but it could be as few as 19. The oldest to serve was 54 and the youngest 14. These men had eleven miles of rigging and 32,000 square metres of sail to contend with in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable. The ship has visited nearly every major port in the world and transported millions of kgs of goods around the globe. Built to last just 30 years, it now sits in Maritime Greenwich, more than 150 years old and an inspiration to a new generation of sailing cargo ships. To find out more, please visit: Cutty Sark AuthorLouise Macfarlane is the Cutty Sark Curator at Royal Museums Greenwich, UK. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
The Rondout Creek, upon which was situated the terminus of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, served the transportation needs of the village of Rondout- the one-time commercial hub of Ulster County. The Creek was destined to be a shipbuilding center for the mid-Hudson region for well over a century, and the Rondout area was the home of many waterside activities which were dependent upon a supply of steamboats, tugs and barges to move the region’s products to market. At one time or another during the past 150 years, wooden boats were built at Sleightsburgh, Ponckhockie, South Rondout, the Island Dock, Wilbur and Eddyville. Steel vessels were later built on the Island Dock and at Wilbur. The shipbuilder at Ponckhockie was Jefferson McCausland, at whose yard was built, among other vessels, the tugs John D. Schoonmaker, Harry and Frank for the late lamented Cornell Steamboat Company- a longtime Rondout icon- in 1888, 1892 and 1893 respectively. There was another obscure shipbuilder at Rondout in the person of Henry Pross who built the little tug Dr. David Kennedy in 1880. Certainly nobody today will remember “Dr. Kennedy’s Favorite Remedy,” a potent patent medicine that was Victorian Rondout’s version of penicillin. Morgan Everson operated a shipbuilding yard many years ago at Sleightsburgh, where he built the tug H.W. Hills in 1864 for service at Hartford, Connecticut. In 1872, he constructed two tugs for Thomas Cornell- Coe F. Young and Thomas Dickson- which the old-time boatmen invariably and collectively called “the Youngs and Dickson.” Everson’s yard was active during the Civil War and beyond, and later it was run by a man named McMullen. Later still, the proprietor was John Baisden, who built the renowned and handsome tug Rob for the Cornell Steamboat Company in 1902. Baisden rebuilt Cornell’s tug Victoria in 1908. The site of this yard, just downstream of the present Kingston Oil Supply Company, was later used as a repair facility by the Cornell Steamboat Company. At this location, the hull of the tug Harry, hauled out on the marine railway and her engine and boiler removed, literally fell to pieces in the 1940s. Upstream and across the creek in South Rondout (as Connelly was always known by the boatman), Jacob Fox had a small yard around the 1860s. Jake Fox built the tugboat George W. Pratt for Thomas Cornell in 1863, along with many barges and other vessels. Among the others was a tug named Thomas Cornell, and Fox also rebuilt the tug Greenwood in 1863 after she had suffered a boiler explosion. Long after Fox’s yard ceased to exist, George W. Pratt was rebuilt at Sleightsburgh in 1882 by McMullen. By this time, Conrad Hiltebrant was operating a barge-building yard at South Rondout. This later expanded to become the C. Hiltebrant Dry Dock Company, which built many vessels, including steam tug s for the Navy in 1918-20. The yard continued its activities between the wars. During World War II, the Hiltebrant yard produced minesweepers for the Navy, and in the post-war period was active in the construction of state-of-the-art non-magnetic minesweepers. After the closure of the D&H Canal at about the turn of the last century, the Island Dock (originally the Canal’s transshipment entrepot) lay fallow for a number of years. During World War I, the Kingston Shipbuilding Corporation constructed ocean-going wooden-hulled cargo steamships (the only vessels of the type ever built along the Creek), and, in the 1920s, patrol boats for the Coast Guard. The main mission of these was the interception of bootleg alcoholic beverages during prohibition; as a result, the patrol boats were known as “rum-runners” to the shipyard workers. Shipbuilding on the Island Dock was revived during and after World War II under the name Island Dock, Inc. The wartime activities included the construction of four large wooden-hulled naval steam tugs (known as “ATRs) and some minor craft. After the war, the company converted to steel construction, and during the decade of the 1950s turned out a flotilla of barges and other vessels for the Army, Navy and commercial owners. Seventeen LCU landing craft, a ferry for Shelter Island, New York, and barges for the City of New York and others were among the notable latter-day products of the yard. Today, nearly 40 years after the yard closed, the historic Island Dock is home to a forest of trees, the ghostly remains of its former activities barely visible under the umbrella of their leaves. In later days, the yard of W.F. & R. Boatbuilders, Inc., located across the slip on Abeel Street, was associated with Dwyer Lighterage, Inc., a Rondout tug-and-barge owner. The yard had formerly been the property of Jacob Rice (for whom the Cornell tug Senator Rice was named.) Many wooden barges were built on these premises over the years. The Dwyer family later operated a fleet of oil barges and the tug James F. Dwyer, none of which had been built at Rondout. The memorable gray-painted Dwyer covered barges, which carried bagged cement, stood out like beacons in Cornell’s tows during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Rondout was also the home of a shop. Operated under various names, which built boilers for many of the steam vessels along the creek. Boilers were also constructed for steamboats, tugs and shoreside industries elsewhere in the Hudson Valley. The steamboat Mary Powell, Rondout’s own “Queen of the Hudson.” had during her long life six sets of boilers, three of which were built at the Rondout shop, of which the successive proprietors were a man named McEntee, John Dillon, McEntee & Dillon and McEntee & Rodie. McEntee & Dillon built the engine for the tug George W. Pratt. Later the Cornell Steamboat Company built engines and boilers at their extensive shops which were located in large brick creekside buildings downstream of the Museum. Finally, we come to the Feeney yard at Wilbur. The Reliance Marine Transportation & Construction Corporation, still very much in existence, has been the sight of steel barge-building activity, and the home base of the Feeney tugs and barges, since the late 1940s. Looking at the Rondout Creek today, with its marinas and its vast flotilla of pleasure craft, it is difficult to imagine that, for a century, hundreds upon hundreds of commercial craft- mainly barges and tugs- were launched from local yards. Reliance Marine alone carries on the long and proud tradition of shipbuilding along the Creek, but the shadows of Morgan Everson and Jake Fox and the others keep a silent watch over this historic waterway. In fact, if you stand on creekside when all else is quiet, you might just make out “the Youngs” or “the Dickson” through a shimmering morning mist. AuthorThis article was originally written by William duBarry Thomas and published in the 1999 Pilot Log. Thank you to Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer Adam Kaplan for transcribing the article. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Earlier this month we profiled the Mayflower II for Sail Freighter Friday. So we thought we'd share a few British Pathe newsreels of this momentous occasion. We'll start with this short newsreel of her under sail, arriving in New York in 1957: Built between 1955 and 1957 in England the Mayflower II sailed across the Atlantic in 1957 and was welcomed to New York Harbor in June of that year. British Pathe also did this slightly longer account of her arrival: Of particular note is the U.S. Navy blimp flying overhead and the harbor fireboats blasting their hoses and turrets to welcome Mayflower II to New York. To learn more about the Mayflower II's voyage across the ocean in 1957, check out this short documentary film, which features captain Alan Villiers, who shepherded the square-rigged ship across the Atlantic. In 2020, a young sailor who was aboard the Mayflower II on her transatlantic journey recounted his experience for the Associated Press. He took a color film camera along and shared some of his footage below. To visit the Mayflower II in person (and to learn more accurate history about the original Pilgrims), visit plimoth.org. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Welcome to Sail Freighter Fridays! This article is part of a series linked to our new exhibit: "A New Age Of Sail: The History And Future Of Sail Freight In The Hudson Valley," and tells the stories of sailing cargo ships both modern and historical, on the Hudson River and around the world. Anyone interested in how to support Sail Freight should also check out the Conference in November, and the International Windship Association's Decade of Wind Propulsion. If you've been following Sail Freighter Friday, you'll have noticed last week was about a Fiji Government Vessel by the name of Na Mata-I-Sau. If you haven't read that article yet, you might want to catch up before you read this one. She was retrofitted with sails in 1984, but sank in January of 1985. Her rig was inherited by today's featured Sail Freighter, the Cagidonu. While the Cagidonu was larger than the Na Mata-I-Sau, the rig still proved useful, and the experiment in sail assisted propulsion continued. The Cagidonu was a similar ship to her predecessor, in that she displaced 338 tons (64 more than the Na Mata-I-Sau), and was on a similar route. However, the Cagidonu was originally designed as an auxiliary sail vessel. Due to lack of crew training and an overly heavy set of original rigging which destabilized the ship, her rig had been cut off soon after her launch in 1978. In 1985, she was equipped with a new, better designed rig and the crew training issue was also addressed. Logs from Na Mata-I-Sau were transferred to the new ship, and the experiment started earlier was continued with good results. Cagidonu used the modified rig for several years, saving around 21-36% on fuel, depending on her route and sail deployment. Since her engine-use strategy was to reduce port times, she rarely if ever sailed under wind power alone, so she wasn't a real Sail Freighter if we go by strict definitions. Despite pushing for the maximum speed instead of maximum fuel savings, she still performed well and encouraged research and expanded use of sail until the collapse of oil prices in 1986. However, she played a similar role to her predecessor, and proved that wind assist as a retrofit is effective in both cost and economic benefits on small vessels. This research and development can be critical to rapidly adopting sail freight in the present day, because many of the Pacific Island States are currently suffering from extremely similar forces to the Oil Crisis Era of 50 years ago: High oil prices, and an especially vulnerable exposure to the effects of climate change and sea level rise. The use of maritime transport in a nation defined by its dispersed island nature is non-negotiable and unavoidable, meaning the use of sail will be especially important to the survival of these regions for economic and ecological reasons in the coming years and decades. AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
In May of 2022, the Hudson River Maritime Museum will be running a Grain Race in cooperation with the Schooner Apollonia, The Northeast Grainshed Alliance, and the Center for Post Carbon Logistics. Anyone interested in the race can find out more here. This May, the Northeast Grain Race spanned the Hudson Valley: Two vehicles entered with impressive scores for each, pitting Solar against Wind power. There were far more shipments, and we'll get to those shortly. First, let's take a look at the shipments: Solar Sal Boats entered a cargo in the Micro Category of 550 pounds of flour and grains from Ithaca Mills, which they brought to the People's Place in Kingston. They picked up the grains with an electric car which was charged by an off-grid solar array, then transferred the load to a Solar Sal 24 solar boat at Waterford, NY. Then, down the canal and river they came to Kingston, docked at the HRMM docks, and unloaded to another electric car. This is when things get really great for this particular delivery: While the car was parked and the boat at the dock, there was some time before the stated delivery needed to arrive, so the car was plugged into the solar array of the boat. By the time they departed to make the final 2 miles of delivery, the car was charged enough to make it at least that far on just the boat's contribution. Everything about the entry was completely solar powered, and off grid, so no points were lost to fuel or energy use. Thank you to Dr. Borton of Solar Sal Boats for the video. The second entry was by Schooner Apollonia, running their usual May cargo run full of Malt and Flour. Technically, this was a few different entries spanning from Hudson NY to New York City, and used a similar combination of vehicles and methods. The Malt they carried was from Hudson Valley Malt, in Germantown, and moved to the docks with a vegetable oil powered truck. Then, of course, the Apollonia sailed the entries south, delivering the last mile by solar-charged cargo bike. The flour they carried was from Wild Hive flour, and made it to the dock in an electric car charged at the farm's off-grid solar power system. The flour was only about 425 pounds in total, but there were over three tons of malt on board. The malt and flour got dropped off at various locations, making score calculations complex, but the impressively low use of the engines on Apollonia meant points against for fuel use were minimal: The engine only got used for 105 minutes, and burned under 2 gallons of fuel. In total, there were 7 entries onboard Apollonia. Now to the big question: Who won? For the Micro Category: Solar Sal Boats, Ithaca Mills, and The People's Place, with 21.5 points. For the ½ TEU Category: Schooner Apollonia, Hudson Valley Malt, and Sing Sing Kill Brewery, with 212.5 points. Overall, Apollonia wracked up 245 points, an impressive score to beat next year. The ingenuity of the Solar Sal entry in using a solar boat to charge an electric car sets the bar high for future competitors, and even points out another use for solar boats and vehicles which I don't think has been looked at very closely thus far: How they can directly contribute to balancing each other's energy needs. Planning for next year's Grain Race is underway, and I'm looking forward to more entries and greater ambitions in the coming year. Until then, keep an eye out for more developments on Sail Freight, Sustainability, Resilience, and Climate Change here at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Last week we explored the Poughkeepsie Regatta, so this week we thought we'd take a look at how wooden rowing sculls were built in the past. This short film from British Pathe shows one family of boatbuilders in Eton, England, famous for the Eton College crew team. You can see examples of 19th century rowing sculls and more modern (1960s) wooden sculls in the Hudson River Maritime Museum's rowing exhibit. Although rowing sculls are not built (yet) at the Hudson River Maritime Museum's Wooden Boat School, you can build kayaks, rowboats, and even carve your own paddles or oars. If you're interested in building your own boat, check out available classes. And if you'd like to learn how to row, check out our traditional rowing classes, or join the Rondout Rowing Club. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Welcome to Sail Freighter Fridays! This article is part of a series linked to our new exhibit: "A New Age Of Sail: The History And Future Of Sail Freight In The Hudson Valley," and tells the stories of sailing cargo ships both modern and historical, on the Hudson River and around the world. Anyone interested in how to support Sail Freight should also check out the Conference in November, and the International Windship Association's Decade of Wind Propulsion. The Na Mata-I-Sau isn't strictly speaking a sail freighter, but she is important to the story of sail freight's revival in the Pacific during the 1970s Oil Crisis, as well as to some modern efforts such as the SV Kwai, so we're giving her the time she deserves in this blog. She was originally a motor vessel belonging to the Government of Fiji, but six years after her launch she was selected for an experiment in sail assist propulsion due to the extraordinary rise in oil prices which had crushed the economy of many Small Island States in the Pacific. As a result, she was equipped with a Fore-&-Aft sailing rig to reduce the amount of fuel she burned on a government-subsidized packet route to many remote islands. Displacing only 274 tons and carrying as many as 60 passengers, she was involved in a mixed trade involving mostly undeveloped ports, and had a large crew of about 18, to assist with loading and unloading cargo using ship's gear. She saved on average about 30% on fuel when using the rig as intended for assistance to the engine, and she saved up to 60% of fuel when she sailed by wind power alone even just 10% of the time. She became popular with passengers because the sails reduced rolling and other movement when underway. She was very popular, except for one bad review from a passenger on a voyage back to Fiji from Rotunga, which had a cargo of vegetables, fruit, copra (coconut husks), and one pig: As one of the best short academic footnotes ever written states, "The pig was very seasick." Na Mata-I-Sau served for about a year until she foundered in the height of Tropical Cyclone Eric. This resulted in the loss of two crew members. Remarkably, her engine had failed on the way to her destination in the face of the storm with the Prime Minister of Fiji, a full complement of nearly 60 passengers, and her full crew on board. She sailed under wind power alone to the island of Moala, which was a significant distance to windward. The crew was able to bring all passengers and the majority of the crew to shore before the storm struck, saving the lives of all the passengers involved. Without the sail power which had been only recently added, it is likely all hands would have been lost at sea. After the wreck, the rig was salvaged and placed on the Cagidonu for further experimentation, but that is a story for another blog post. The rig and the adaptation of a motor vessel to sail with dramatic gains in efficiency not only saved a number of lives, but provided the evidence and model for other ships such as the SV Kwai which is still operating today in the Marshall Islands. AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Editor's Note: The following text is a verbatim transcription of an article written by George W. Murdock, for the Kingston (NY) Daily Freeman newspaper in the 1930s. Murdock, a veteran marine engineer, wrote a regular column. Articles transcribed by HRMM volunteer Adam Kaplan. For more of Murdock's articles, see the "Steamboat Biographies" category. Known by rivermen as a “hard luck steamboat,” the “Saratoga” plied the waters of the Hudson river for 33 years, and during that time was responsible for some loss of life as well as doing a great deal of damage to the vessel itself. She played a foremost part in the coincidences which labeled steamboats whose names began with the letter “S” as “hard luck vessels.” John Englis and Son of Greenpoint, N.Y., built the wooden hull of the “Saratoga” in 1877. Her keel was 285 feet long with an overall measurement of 300 feet, the breadth of her hull was 56 feet (over the guards she was 70 feet), and she was listed for 1,438 gross tons and 1,281 net tons. Her vertical beam engine came from the “Sunnyside” and was a product of Secor Iron Works of New York city- built in 1866. The cylinder diameter measured 56 inches with a 12 foot stroke. She had two steel return tubular boilers, and her wheels were 32 feet in diameter with 26 buckets to each wheel with a dip of 30 inches. The "Saratoga" and the "City of Troy" ran in line between New York and Troy, forming the Citizen’s Line; the “Saratoga” having replaced the steamboat “Neversink” which had seen service on this route for a year, having replaced the “Thomas Powell” which was discarded in 1876. The month of June, 1877 makes the first trip of the “Saratoga” to Troy, sailing under the command of Captain Thomas Abrams, with Abram Parsell as chief engineer [editor's note - Abram Parsell was a relative of Rondout Lighthouse keeper Catherine Murdock]. She boasted sleeping accommodations for 550 people, a large freight carrying capacity, and a speed of 16 miles per hour. She was built at a cost of $175,000. The first accident recorded in the history of the “Saratoga” occurred on September 29, 1886. She left Troy on Monday evening, bound for New York with 230 passengers and 80 tons of freight aboard. About 2 o’clock in the morning, when the “Saratoga” was a mile south of Tivoli, she suddenly came in contact with something with such force that her joiner work was cracked and the vessel halted. It developed that her pilot had miscalculated his whereabouts and had run at full speed on the flats between Little Island and the tracks of the Hudson River railroad. Soundings showed that the steamboat was embedded in the mud in only five feet of water- and it was not until October 11, 1886 that she was floated again. On March 26, 1897, the “Saratoga” left her wharf at Troy for New York at 7:30 o’clock. Upon turning around she refused to obey her rudder, with the result that she smashed into the Congress street bridge at Troy. The river was high and the current swift, and she was thrown against the pier on her starboard side, carrying away much of her upper wood-work. Distress signals were immediately displayed which brought the steamer “Belle Horton” and a tugboat to her aid, and she was towed to the dock where she was later repaired. July 29, 1897, the “Saratoga,” while steaming up the river bound for Troy, collided with a large steam yacht, the “Hermonie.” She almost went to the bottom on this occasion- the accident occurring near Stony Point. The “Hermonie” struck the “Saratoga” on the starboard side, destroying her barroom, injuring one passenger and tossing many sleeping passengers from their bunks. Other accidents are recorded in which the “Saratoga” was a factor, but she continued on the New York-Troy line until sunk in a collision with the steamboat “Adirondack” on Friday, October 12, 1906, off Crugers Island, 60 miles below Troy. She was carrying a large number of passengers when this accident occurred, and was running in a light fog. Two lives were lost and several were injured. Clarence Sherman, an oiler on the Saratoga, was crushed to death, and George E. Horton, a freight clerk on the “Adirondack,” was knock overboard and drowned. The “Saratoga” was struck on the port side, being torn up from a point just aft of the wheelhouse almost to the stern. The port boiler was torn from the guards and dropped overboard. The “City of Troy” came along at this time and took off the passengers before the “Saratoga” went to the bottom. The “Saratoga” was raised, repaired, and sold, and was then taken to the Jamestown Exhibition (1907), where she was used as a hotel during the summer. The “City of Troy” burned in 1907 and her boilers were installed on the “Saratoga” which was then placed on the route between New York and Albany (the summer of 1908), as an opposition vessel in line with the steamboat “Frank Jones” and running under the banner of the Manhattan Navigation Line. The “Saratoga” plowed the waters of the Hudson river until the fall of 1910 when she was deemed worn out and dismantled. Her hull was purchased by Charles Bishop of Rondout, in 1911, and taken to Port Ewen and broken up. AuthorGeorge W. Murdock, (b. 1853-d. 1940) was a veteran marine engineer who served on the steamboats "Utica", "Sunnyside", "City of Troy", and "Mary Powell". He also helped dismantle engines in scrapped steamboats in the winter months and later in his career worked as an engineer at the brickyards in Port Ewen. In 1883 he moved to Brooklyn, NY and operated several private yachts. He ended his career working in power houses in the outer boroughs of New York City. His mother Catherine Murdock was the keeper of the Rondout Lighthouse for 50 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
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