Bob Williams, a Negro deckhand on the Hudson River Day Line steamer "Robert Fulton", put himself on the roll of heroes on Wednesday, September 13, when he was cheered by eighteen hundred passengers on that boat who witnessed his thrilling rescue of two students from Maryknoll Seminary, Ossining, who were clinging to a capsized canoe in the Hudson off from Ossining.

The students, Christian Fuss and Harold Dunn, had been canoeing, and when they started to change seats in the boat, the canoe shot from under them and they were precipitated into the water. They were in the water an hour and a half, when the "Robert Fulton" passed at full speed. the big steamer was a half mile beyond the struggling men before Captain Magee could stop and reverse engines.

In the meantime, Williams, with two other deckhands, had lowered the stern lifeboat and in the teeth of a strong tide Williams swiftly rowed back to the men. When the two students were pulled into the lifeboat, the eighteen hundred passengers made the highlands on both sides of the river echo with their cheers.

Dunn and Fuss were attended by a physician for ninety minutes before they were put ashore at Yonkers. Dunn paid a tribute to his rescuer by declaring that "I never thought a boat could be launched and rowed such a distance in such a short time. That man Williams is a wonderful oarsman."

​Tired from the toil of the trip [from Philadelphia, through New Jersey] and having
formed some acquaintances in New York, I thought I would visit Boston and then return
to New York, whence I would embark for England.  The harshness of the winter held me
suspended for some time and finally made me change the plan.  The sound and the
rivers remained frozen for a long time, obstructing all navigation, and the roads,
although covered with snow, became impassable with the frequent thaws -- neither
sledge nor wheels could attempt them.  So I decided to remain here until the weather
improved and I moved to better lodging, at Maiden Lane No. 9, the home of Mr.
Ellsworth and an excellent private inn, paying seven pesos fuertes weekly (not including
fire and liquor) for myself.  The servant I had brought from Philadelphia, who was
obligated to serve me for two and a half years, escaped a few days after my arrival
here.  I had bought him for ten guineas in Philadelphia, on board an Irish ship bearing a
cargo of more than three hundred male and female slaves.  John Dean (his name) was
born in Scotland and was about sixteen years old; he seemed to me honest and without
mischievousness, but the event proved the contrary.

On the twentieth of February I set out on another foray, this one to West Point, with the intention of seeing this celebrated place and the neighboring areas, scenes of military actions in the recent war.  At two o'clock in the afternoon, provided with letters of recommendation given me by Governor Clinton, my friend Colonel Hamilton, General McDougall, Mr. Parker, etc., I started out on my sledge, accompanied by Cornet Taylor.  At three o'clock we reached the country house of Colonel Robert Morris, ten miles from New York, one of the handsomest and most pleasing of its type that I have seen in America, as much for its location as for the neatness and taste with which it was built.  Two miles farther are Land Hill and Laurel Hill, where we stopped and climbed up to Fort Washington, situated on the former, where I had the pleasure of viewing again
the famous British lines I have mentioned.  Three miles ahead we crossed Kings Bridge,
and traveling another mile, we arrived at Courtland House, where we were very well
received and were lodged for the night of the General and her two younger sons,
       
Early in the morning we sallied forth and, covering the distance of fourteen miles
over extremely broken and hilly ground, reached White Plains, where we had breakfast
in a small tavern, the only house remaining there, and then proceeded to visit the posts
and positions of the American and British armies that operated on said ground in
September, 1776.  
       
Four miles farther is another small river, the Sawmill, over which there is a wooden bridge, and one mile farther the small town of Tarrytown, on the North River.  On the highway near Tarrytown is a large tree marking the spot where Major André was arrested by three young, rustic militiamen, an incident that produced so much clatter afterwards.  From there they took him to New Salem, ten miles distant, and thence to West Point, ten miles farther on.  Nine miles from Tarrytown is New Bridge, a well-built wooden structure over the Croton River, the waters of which are quite abundant.  Here we ate middlingly in a rural tavern  and, following our route on a road that is everywhere broken, hilly, and covered with rocks, at sunset reached Peekskill, a village of some twenty or thirty small houses on the North River ten miles farther on.  Here we came upon a mediocre tavern and a most comical scene between a squire of the locality, a justice of the peace, and a drunk who thrust himself into the tavern and insulted them in a thousand ways.  Nobody dared to restrain or throw him out, notwithstanding said insulted personages comprised the police of the town and manifested a desire to do so.
       
The next day we continued our journey over the ice of the North River, the surface of which had the appearance of a very handsome and polished lamina.  The ice must have been two feet thick, and the snow on top of this one and a half feet; we did not have the least misgivings about danger, for, although it has broken many times in those places where the wind introduces itself between the surface of the water and the mass of ice, the way was already so beaten with the multitude of sledges which came and went on the river that there was no basis for the least care.  I assure you ingenuously that this entire spectacle seemed to me one of the strangest one can see in nature.  Both shores of the river are extremely elevated and the surface of its waters quite extensive, so that to look at the height of the mountains while one is traveling on the river, or, on the other hand, to observe from the heights the carriages on the ice, is a magnificent and extraordinary scene; the objects look so small in the midst of these majestic strokes of mature that the sledge and horses seemed to me the playthings of a child drawn by a pair of lap dogs.
       
At ten o'clock in the morning we arrived at West Point and directed our steps to
the tavern there, without anybody investigating or caring to know who the newly arrived
strangers were -- one of the most pleasant circumstances enjoyed in a free country. 
 At eleven o'clock, after a second breakfast, Mr. Taylor and I went to visit the commander of the post, to whom we presented our credentials and who received us with the greatest hospitality and attention, obliging us to take lodging in his own house.  [They tour the facility.]

From here we ascended the near-by mountain which commands Fort Clinton and
the plain in which is located the main buildings, that is, the quarters, the house of the
commandant, store houses, etc.; there I saw Fort Putnam (also takes its name from the
colonel who began its construction), which follows Fort Clinton in solidity and strength,
although it is much smaller, and is the work of the American General Kosciusko, a Pole
by birth, who came to this continent at the time of the revolution.  A series of mountains
which mutually dominate one another make these positions seem very precarious
defenses, to which one adds that the productions of art in fortifying them are neither
ingenious nor of much soundness.
       
Having finished the visit of all these positions, we retired, around three o'clock to
the house of the commander, Colonel Hull, who gave us a good meal.  In the evening
we enjoyed the company of the ladies of the garrison, who, because of the
novelty of foreigners, came to have tea with Mrs. Hull.

The next day, after breakfast, we resumed our military visit . . . , ascending the mountain with no little difficulty and toil, for it is quite high and perpendicular and was covered with snow and ice, we reached Points No. 1, 2, 3, and 4, in a circumference of five miles around the entire post.  These are still more redoubts, the ramparts of which can barely support light artillery.  A series of commanding grounds surrounding this post have produced such a number of weak advance works that the higher parts, which ought to be the strongest, are the weakest.

Our visit this day ended at a wooden blockhouse on the river, very well built and the most advanced work in that part, and at three-thirty, not a little tired, we reached the lgyodging of Major of Artillery Doughty, who gave us a very good meal.  In the evening we
drank tea and had supper at the house of the artillery commander, Major Bauman, who
likewise treated us very well.

Early the next day we crossed the river in a sledge and visited the fortifications on Constitution Island, which consist of three very strong redoubts (very well built and
located in dominant places) protecting the great chain and the passage of the river in
that spot.  We made an observation there: cutting the ice in the middle of the channel,
we found it to be two and a half feet thick.  We crossed the river to the location called
the Ferry and, ascending a mountain extremely high and difficult of access, visited
North and South Forts, medium redoubts located in very dominant places; from them an
immense prospectus over vast lands and the North River is revealed. 

At the foot of these heights and two miles from West Point is the house of
General McDougall (formerly of Colonel Robinson), and here we alighted at three
o'clock.  His son the Colonel, at the time the only one there, gave us a very good meal;
certainly the best apples I have ever tasted, I ate there that day (called pippins, and
those of this area are very special). 
       
West Point is the most advantageous position that could be selected to cut off the
navigation of the river, because, in addition to the narrowness of the latter at that spot, it
turn it makes forces every vessel to shift sails and consequently reduce its speed, at
which time the obstacles and batteries already mentioned can destroy it very easily.  An
attack upon the post by land would have been of more probable success, but, as the
army always maintained such a position of coming to its aid in case of necessity, this
was not possible either.  The location is extremely romantic and majestic in the higher
parts.  Butter Hill, contiguous to it, rises twelve hundred feet above the surface of the
river.  One also sees from West Point the Catskill Mountains, the highest in this part of
the continent.
  
Early on the twenty-sixth, after a light breakfast, we started out on our return to
New York by way of Jersey, with the intention of seeing the Passaic cascade.  Major
Doughty, Mr. Taylor and I accommodated ourselves very well in two sledges and went
down the river over the ice, like lightning.  Five miles from West Point, on the west bank,
are the ruins of Fort Montgomery and on the opposite bank, the extremity called
Anthony's nose, upon which had been fixed a chain in order to cut off the navigation of
the river, protected by said fort, the loss of which resulted in the Americans forming the
idea of fortifying and establishing West Point.
       
Continuing our Laplandish route over the ice, we arrived at Verplancks Point,
seven miles farther down, where we went on land.  Going about two miles, we reached
Kings Ferry, opposite Stony Point, where there is a redoubt, capacious and very well
built (perhaps the best I have even seen of its kind), called Lafayette.  Also in this
vicinity is the encampment the American and French armies occupied in 1782 upon
their withdrawal from Virginia, after the capture of Cornwallis, etc.

From Kings Ferry we crossed the river over the ice, with no slight misgiving, for in some places the water penetrated and the ice was known to be quite thin, but comforting us were a good guide we had in front and stick in the hand to support ourselves should our feet open a large hole.  So we all crossed on foot, sending before us the sledge and horses for greater safety.  The river in this spot is something more than a mile wide.  In a poor tavern there we found some fresh fish (just caught in the river through a hole made for this purpose in the ice), from which we asked them to prepare something to eat while we visited the place.
       
Stony Point is on the west bank of the North River, exactly in front of Fort Lafayette, and is by its shape and location one of the most advantageous positions for fortifications that nature has formed.  It completely commands what ground there is within (p. 91) the reach of cannon and by its configuration naturally flanks all the avenues by which it can be attacked.  So with very little help from art one can erect there the strongest fortification that can be imagined.  At present there is only a small fort of earth and wood there, which was what the Americans reduced it to after having taken it and ruined its fortifications, but one still sees very distinctly the lines, moats, etc. of these as they were built by the British, and I assure you ingenuously that, having examined them well and meditated upon the matter, I cannot conceive how the operation of the capture was effected, and with such little cost.  The garrison consisted of eight hundred well-regulated troops, a number sufficient for its defense.  We should not resort to the subterfuge of saying they were taken by surprise, knowing that the advance posts gave the alarm in time and fired upon the attacking American parties.  The strength of the latter amounted in all to twelve hundred men, selected and led by General Wayne.
       
The losses were sixty dead and forty wounded on the part of the British, thirty dead and seventy wounded for the Americans. These circumstances leave me in no doubt that this was one of the most brilliant feats of its kind one can find in military history.  Our military investigations completed, we returned to the tavern, where we found the meal we had ordered already prepared with the addition of potatoes, good butter, and abundant cider.  Our appetites were well disposed and so we are grandly, in the country style.  Soon afterward we took to the road, for it was already two o'clock.  Our friends and companions recrossed the river, to take their sledge (which had remained in Fort Lafayette) and return to West Point; Mr. Taylor and I took ours and continued our journey to Passaic Falls.
       
About two miles farther on, near the riverbank, is the house of Mr. Smith, where Major André stopped off and held his final conference with General Arnold, it is quite capacious, new, and of good architecture.  Three miles further on we found the small town of Haverstraw, situated exactly on the bank of the North river, where we noticed an enormous quantity of firewood; this was to be sent to New York whenever the ice should desist and permit the navigation of the river, because so great a shortage was being experienced there that a cartload of firewood was worth twenty or thirty pesos.  We continued seven miles to Clarkstown, which has about fifteen houses in its vicinity; here we stopped to give food to the horses and warm ourselves a bit, for the cold pressed upon us like a demon.  As darkness came, having traveled seven miles farther, we reached Orangetown (some call it Tappan, from the name of the district), the inhabitants of which are contained in sixteen houses.  We spent the night in a Dutch inn there.
       
Here one can see the position where the American army was encamped in 1781 where the unfortunate André was hanged.  I have seen the room where he was imprisoned, people who gave him assistance, and the site of the execution.  His body was buried at the foot of the gallows, and his sepulcher remains there, with two ordinary flat stones without inscription or mark indicating the least remembrance of his fame.  I do not doubt, having examined the matter thoroughly and gathered the most authentic information, that the plan of the project which led him to the mentioned punishment was his production entirely, based on the intimate friendship he had formed in Philadelphia with Mrs. Arnold (then Miss Shippen), which channel seemed to him, and without doubt was, the most suitable for managing the conspiracy.  The result revealed very clearly that he did not lack ability for closet machination and intrigue, but at the same time lets us know he was not the man for its execution, for he did not have that presence of mind which is indispensable for handling critical moments.  The way that Arnold played his role (that is, knowing through a letter that André had been arrested, he escaped, without the loss of a moment, from the midst of all his enemies, over a million hazards) forms a quite singular and characteristic contrast of the temper and spirit of both men. 

​May 28, 1784.  At five thirty in the afternoon, I set sail from Albany Pier, New York, on the sloop Schuyler, Captain Willet, for Albany.  The passengers were two Frenchmen, three American men, and two American women of fairly good manners and not unsociable.  With a lazy wind from the south we went up the North River and passed several delightful and very well situated country houses, outstanding among them those of Mr. Lespenard, Mr. Montier, Mr. Eliot, Mr. W. Bayard, Mr. Oliver DeLancey, etc.  The wind having changed to the north, we cast anchor in Tappan Bay, thirty-six miles from New York, at seven o'clock in the morning.
        [
May] 29.  We remained here the entire day, with the sole recourse of our small
society and some books, for the wind was blowing too strongly for us to venture to
disembark for a walk on land.
       
[May] 30.  The wind having calmed a bit, we set sail at four o'clock in the morning and, aided by the tide, arrived at eight o'clock at Haverstraw, four miles farther on, where it was necessary for us to drop anchor again, the wind having increased too much.  Around nine-thirty most of us went on land and took a good walk.  The Frenchman and I ate in a poor but clean tavern, and I had an adventure with a shepherdess in the manner of the shepherd Phido, but with greater success.  The wind having fallen and the tide rising in our favor, we set sail at four o'clock, in the afternoon.  At the setting of the sun we were off Stony Point and Fort Lafayette, helped by the tide. for the wind was adverse; thus we passed Peekskll and finally reached Horse Race, where we anchored at eleven o'clock, six miles up river from where we had set sail.
       
[May] 31.  At seven-thirty in the morning we set sail with a lazy wind from the north and at ten o'clock anchored about a mile farther up, in front of a beautiful cascade created by nature on the east bank.  We disembarked to take a walk with the ladies and in the shade of the trees had a colloquy somewhat gallant and amorous.  At four o'clock we set sail with the current and at the setting of the sun passed Fort Montgomery opposite Anthonys Nose.  At nine o'clock we passed by Buttermilk Falls, one mile from West Point on the West Bank, and by all the works of this post, Constitution Island, etc., having travelled seven miles.  Here we came upon a fresh wind from the south, with which we soon reached the spot they call Blowing Hole (for the reason that the wind always blows here extraordinarily).  This point is the limit of the Highlands, six miles from West Point.  Three miles up river on the east bank is the town of New Windsor, and a little before the chevaux-de-frise, in front of Polopels Island, of the same type as those on the Delaware.  Here we were becalmed, and with the tide and a light wind we continued, passing the town of Newburgh about two miles farther, exactly on the bank, and two miles farther on the opposite bank, the town of Fishkill, where we anchored at three o'clock in the morning.
       
June 1.  At eight o'clock we set sail with a lazy wind from the south, passing the town of Poughkeepsie, twelve miles up river on the east bank; at eleven, Davis Store, Livingstons Store, Duers Distillery, Shenks Mills, North's Store, and various other buildings on one or the other bank.  Here we drank the river water, exceedingly good and drinkable.  Continuing up river, six miles farther on the west bank is Devoes Ferry; farther ahead, Esopus Island; eight miles ahead, Esopus Creek; ten miles farther, Mudlane Island (to the left of the river, in the interior of the continent, are the high Catskills, part of the Allegheny Mountains); two miles farther, Red Hook Landing and Island; one mile farther, Tory Livingston House, on the east bank; on the same bank two miles farther, Widow Livingston House and Manor; four miles ahead, West Camp and East Camp, two small towns opposite each other on the banks of the river, founded by Germans; four miles up river, Livingston Upper Manor and House; four miles farther, Claverack and Lansingburgh Landing Places, the former on the east, the latter on the west bank; eight miles farther on the east bank, the remarkable Kinderhook Landing Place, nine miles up river, Coeyman's Overslaugh, a bar which not vessel drawing more than nine feet an pass; nine miles up river, Upper Overslaugh, another
bar, which at high tide only has seven and a half feet of water; here we cast anchor at
two o'clock in the morning, because it was dark and we could not see the pickets which
serve as marks.
       
June 2.  At four o'clock in the morning, the day already bright, we set sail and half an hour later tied up at the Albany wharves three miles up river on the east bank.  Half a mile from Albany is the house of Mr. Henry Cuylar, large and of good architecture; on the opposite bank and almost in front is that of General Schuyler, better in every respect.  In the northern extreme of the town, also on the river, is another famous house (not as well situated as the two previous ones, but larger), belonging to Mr. Stephen Van Rensselaer.  After disembarking, I took a long walk through the city in the company of Dr. Eliot, one of the passengers, and then obtained lodging at the Hollenbake Inn.

[June] 3.  At three o'clock in the afternoon I left Albany, with my servant, on two very good horses rented for two pesos daily.  The weather was very good and the road so pleasant that it was with the greatest delight I continued my journey on the banks of the North River as far as the spot where the Mohawk River joins its waters, about seven miles from Albany.  From here I traveled over the banks of the Mohawk to Cohoes Falls, five miles farther up, where I arrived at five o'clock.  The grasses of the fields exuded such an aromatic odor, the forests presented a sight so fertile, the grains and other crops appeared so beautiful and luxuriant, and the land so rich that I thought I was in Puerto Rico, Cuba, or part of our American continent.  The entire region is middlingly populated, and proportionately there is sufficient agriculture, but the inhabitants seem to be poor.  The women commonly walk without shoes, and the number of Negroes is large.  The latter and the whites speak Dutch generally, so that the traveler imagines himself in the middle of a Dutch colony.
When I saw this very famous cascade I confess it surprised me and gave me such contentment as few objects in nature have produced in my spirit.  The height of the falls is about 40 varas [OED: A linear measure used in Spain, Portugal, and Spanish America, of
varying length in different localities, but usually about 33 inches long; a Spanish yard. and the width about 220, but this is not all that forms its beauty; the play of the waters among the irregularities of the rock and the harmony, union, and aggregate of the whole give it an
air of majesty and symmetry exceeding what the mind can conceive without having
seen it first.  Various other effects contribute to embellish the object; some of them is the
rainbow the rays of the sun form in the particles of water floating in the atmosphere
thereabout.  Having examined all this very well and admiring more each time the land
on the banks of this river, the most fertile and luxuriant region of all North America, I
rested a little in a house nearby, where two country girls gave me the freshest water to
drink and very good conversation.  It is a peculiar thing that almost all the inhabitants of
this region speak both Dutch and English!
       
At seven o'clock in the evening I arrived at Half Moon (the river forms exactly this figure there) on the banks of the North River, where I took lodging at the home of the widow Pepples.  Here I had very good tea, supper, etc., and a conversation with the daughter of said widow, about sixteen years old, to whom I offered to send some books from New York.
       
[June] 4.  At seven thirty in the morning I sallied forth, continuing on the west bank of the North River.  At four miles are the mills for sawing wood called Funday's Mills, and three miles farther the stream they call Stillwater, or Palmer's Mills, the former because here one begins to feel the rapidity of the current of the river, the latter for some mills for sawing wood, like the preceding ones.  It is incredible the quantity of sawed wood one sees, all the distance from Albany, upon this river on rafts, by means of which they transport the wood to New York at very little cost.

New York Age, July 6, 1911 On July 13, 1911, the Abyssinian Baptist Church and Sabbath School will go on their annual excursion to Empire Grove on the Hudson River, 33 miles from New York City.  The following are some of the features at this grove: Athletic playground, swings, boats, bathing, Etc.  All the friends of the church and Sabbath School who desire a nice quiet day's outing are cordially invited to go.  The beautiful steamer Rosedale has been chartered for the occasion.  The committee reserves the right to and will exclude any and all objectionable persons.  No dancing or games of chance will be allowed either on the boat or in the grove.  Tickets: Adults, 50 cents, children 12 years and under, 25 cents.  Tickets sold by the committee at the dock only.  J. H. Page, chairman.  Music by Excelsior Military Band.

Tattler, August 8, 1930 As soon as the mercury hangs around ninety, we Dark Harlemites get a sea-going fever, which expresses itself in navy blue and white flannels, berets and yacht parties. Among the activities of this group -- one which the younger set, and those of the older sets who still cling to their young ideas, count as par excellent - is the annual yacht party of the Harry Henley Osbiny Club.
​
Sailing orders this year designated Friday evening, August 1st, the Steamer Onteora. By the appointed hour, 7:30, a stream of merry makers overran the three decks of the Onteora, and settled themselves for a long summer's cruise up the Hudson River to Bear Mountain. The usual nautical sports were indulged in -- hand-holding, dining, eating, sipping. And a perfect sail was enjoyed by all.

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Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the Hudson River Maritime Museum's 2018 issue of the Pilot Log.

A remarkable family of African American river men participated in the transition from working sail to steam during America’s Industrial Revolution. Sometimes referred to as the Black Schuylers, the family began with one or more sloops early in the nineteenth century and seized the opportunity to acquire steamboats early in the 1840s. The Schuyler Steam Tow Boat Line figured prominently in the operation of steam tows on the Hudson River and by 1888 reportedly employed eighteen boats in Albany in the towing of canal boats on the river. The family acquired real estate in Albany’s south end between Pearl Street and the river, traded grain and coal, issued stock, and invested in railroading. Their wealth placed them in Albany’s elite business and charitable circles and their esteemed status led to their burial in Albany’s prestigious Albany Rural Cemetery alongside Albany’s other business and political leaders. That so little is known of this family and its accomplishments may be more a reflection of their race than of their accomplishments. The family’s identity as Black, while not a barrier to their early success in business, may have played a discriminatory role in their lack of prominence in the historical record. Ironically, the lighter skin of later generations may also have played a role in their lack of visibility in more recent Black History scholarship. While incomplete, it is hoped that this account may spur further research into the life and contributions of this Hudson River family.  
 
​Until the second half of the nineteenth century, Albany’s commerce and financial opportunities were almost entirely dependent upon the city’s position at the head of ship navigation on the Hudson River. The river served as New York’s “Main Street” well into the nineteenth century and Albany was strategically situated near the confluence of the upper Hudson River and the Mohawk River. Although Albany received larger ships, much of the freight and passengers coming in or out of Albany before the 1807 advent of steamboats was carried by single and double-masted sloops and schooners of 100 tons capacity or less. These sailing vessels continued to carry freight into the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century, even as steamboats soon attracted much of the passenger business. Captain Samuel Schuyler, the progenitor of the Black Schuylers, began and sustained his career with these boats and raised his sons Thomas and Samuel on them.
 
Albany grew rapidly in the 1820s and 1830s as a direct result of the surge in freight handling brought about by the much heralded completion of the Champlain and Erie canals in 1823 and 1825 respectively. Both canals terminated in Albany. Freight moving east and south from Canada, Vermont, the Great Lakes region and the interior of New York was shipped on narrow, animal-towed canalboats with limited capacity. 15,000 such boats were unloaded at Albany in 1831. These cargoes needed to be stockpiled and transferred to larger sloops and schooners for trip to New York City and other Hudson River towns. Over time, steamboats became more efficient and reliable, especially after Livingston-Fulton monopoly on steamboats in New York was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1824. 

One innovation with implications for canal freight was steam towing which presented an economical alternative to “breaking-bulk,” the laborious process of unloading and transferring cargoes at canal terminals. Steam-powered sidewheel towboats appear to have been introduced on the Hudson River in the 1840s and could tow long strings of loaded canalboats directly to their destinations without unloading. Captain Schuyler’s sons capitalized on this concept and transitioned from carrying freight on sloops to towing rafts of canalboats and other craft behind powerful steamboats. They were at the right place at the right time and had the experience and extensive business connections to make the most of this innovation. 

Captain Samuel Schuyler (1781-1841 or 1842) was one of Albany’s first African American businessmen.  His origins in Albany are obscure but his surname suggests that he was enslaved by the Dutch-American Schuylers who were among Albany’s wealthiest and politically most prominent families. Philip Schuyler (1733-1804), known for his role in the American Revolution and early advocacy for canals, held slaves in Albany and at his other properties. Slavery was practiced extensively in Albany County until gradually abandoned in the early nineteenth century.

Albany County manumission records report that a slave named Sam purchased his freedom in 1804 for $200 from Derek Schuyler. It is possible, but by no means certain, that Sam is the same man later referred to as Captain Samuel Schuyler.  The fact that Samuel married in 1805 so soon after this date lends further credence to this possibility.  
          
Samuel Schuyler is described as a “Blackman” in the Albany tax roll of 1809 and a “skipper” and free person of color in the Albany directory of 1813. He was involved in the Hudson River sloop trade and owned property in the area of the waterfront which appears to have included docks and warehouses at the river and a home on South Pearl Street. He married “a mulatto woman” named Mary Martin or Morton (1780-1847 or 1848) and had eight or more children with her including Richard (1806-1835), Thomas (1811-1866) and Samuel (1813-1894). Richard was baptized in Albany’s Dutch church on North Pearl Street. Captain Schuyler came to own a flour and feed store as well as a coal yard at or near the waterfront. His sons joined the business which was known as Samuel Schuyler & Company in the 1830s.
 
The elder Captain Schuyler died in 1841 or 1842. After his burial, or perhaps after their mother’s burial in 1848, the younger Schuylers erected an imposing monument in the new Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, established in 1844. The monument is a tapered, four-sided column resting on a plinth. It is significant that the column is engraved with a realistic bas relief anchor commemorating his sailing career and the three chain links denoting the fraternal organization Odd Fellows to which he apparently belonged. An inscription notes that the monument is dedicated to “OUR PARENTS.” That Schuyler and his family were accepted in a prominent location in the cemetery in spite of their African-American heritage is noteworthy because at the time the Albany Rural Cemetery had a separate section designated for African-American burials. ​

The younger Samuel Schuyler (1813-1894) and his brother Thomas (1811-1866) both began their careers in the sloop trade. Thomas began his career as a cabin boy in his father’s sloop and progressed in skill and responsibility. Samuel attended the old Beverwyck School in Albany and began his apprenticeship aboard the sloop Sarah Jane at age 12. He became the master of the sloop Favorite and later the Rip Van Winkle. He then purchased the Rip Van Winkle and together with his brother Thomas bought the sloops Anna Marie and Favorite. Samuel Schuyler married Margaret M. Bradford (1816-1881) and Thomas Schuyler married Ellen Bradford (1820-1900). The brothers appear to have bought their first steamboats, including the Belle, in 1845. The towboat enterprise was operating in the 1840s as the Schuyler Towboat Line and may have been incorporated in 1852. In that year the Schuylers financed and built the America, the powerful and iconic flagship of their fleet. Samuel became the company’s president and Thomas became the firm’s treasurer. Both men were active in Albany business and charitable circles serving as officers of bank, stock and insurance companies, trade organizations and charitable endeavors. Their business interests extended beyond towing as evidenced by a $10,000 investment in the West Shore Railroad built along the Hudson’s west shore through Newburgh, Kingston, Catskill and Albany. ​

​Schuyler’s towboat business clearly prospered. In 1848, Samuel bought a relatively new but modest brick house at the corner of Trinity Place and Ashgrove Place in Albany’s South End and greatly enlarged it. Among other changes, he added an imposing round and bracketed cupola at the roof, making the house one of the largest and most stylish in the neighborhood. The house still stands. Thomas appears to have been a driving force in financing and building a new Methodist-Episcopal church nearby at Trinity Place and Westerlo St. in 1863. The Albany Hospital and the Groesbeckville Mission also benefitted from his philanthropy. Thomas died in 1866 and was buried alongside his father beneath a Gothic-style tombstone. His brother Samuel published a tribute to his brother which memorialized his many contributions to the Albany community.

​Sources:
- Stefan Bielinski, The Colonial Albany Social History Project; The People of Colonial Albany, website hosted by the New York State Museum, exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov
- Howell & Tenney, History of the County of Albany, W.W. Munsell & Co., New York 1886.
- Abbott, Reverend W. Penn, Life and Character of Capt. Thomas Schuyler, Charles Van Benthuysen & Sons, Albany, 1867.
- Albany County Hall of Records, Manumission Register.

Scow Sloop LITTLE MARTHA
 
African Americans played a vital role both before and after slavery as skilled captains and boatmen on the Hudson River. Built circa 1870 to carry lumber, Little Martha was captained by African American Clint Williams and his two brothers. They were described by sloop historians Collyer and Verplank as “capital boatmen.”  The sloop was owned by William Bull Millard of the Millard Lumber Co. and operated principally between Chelsea, Dutchess Junction, Marlboro, Milton, Barnegat and Poughkeepsie. She was named for the builder’s daughter, Martha Hyer Millard.
 
Scow sloops and schooners were more easily and inexpensively built than their fully-molded counterparts. The shallow draft boats were surprisingly good sailers and appeared on the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, the Great Lakes and San Francisco Bay where they remained in use well into the 20th century.

​Editor's note: The following excerpts are from "A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper, from American Slavery" published 1838. Thank you to Contributing Scholar George A. Thompson for finding, cataloging and transcribing these excerpts. The language, spelling and grammar of the article reflects the time period when it was written. Learn more about Moses Roper here 

At that time, I had scarcely any money, and lived upon fruit, so I returned to Albany, where I could get no work, as I could not show the recommendations I possessed, which were only from slave states, and I did not wish any one to know I came from them. After a time, I went up the western canal as steward in one of the boats. When I had gone about 350 miles up the canal, I found I was going too much towards the slave states, in consequence of which, I returned to Albany, and went up the northern canal, into one of the New England states-Vermont. The distance I had travelled, including the 350 miles I had to return from the west, and the 100 to Vermont, was 2,300 miles. When I reached Vermont, I found the people very hospitable and kind; they seemed opposed to slavery, so I told them, I was a run-away slave. I hired myself to a firm in Sudbury. After I had been in Sudbury some time, the neighboring farmers told me that I had hired myself for much less money than I ought. I mentioned it to my employers, who were very angry about it; I was advised to leave by some of the people round, who thought the gentlemen I was with would write to my former master, informing him where I was, and obtain the reward fixed upon me.

Fearing I should be taken, I immediately left and went into the town of Ludlow, where I met with a kind friend, Mr. _______who sent me to school for several weeks. At this time, I was advertised in the papers and was obliged to leave; I went a little way out of Ludlow to a retired place, and lived two weeks with a Mr. ________ deacon of a church at Ludlow; at this place, I could have obtained education, had it been safe to have remained. [Author's note: It would not be proper to mention any names, as a person in any of the States in America found harboring a slave, would have to pay a very heavy fine. ]

From there I went to New Hampshire, where I was not safe, so went to Boston, Massachusetts, with the hope of returning to Ludlow, to which place I was much attached. At Boston, I met with a friend who kept a shop, and took me to assist him for several weeks. Here I did not consider myself safe, as persons from all parts of the country were continually coming to the shop, and I feared some might come who knew me. I now had my head shaved and bought a wig, and engaged myself to a Mr. Perkins of Brookline, three miles from Boston, where I remained about a month. Some of the family discovered that I wore a wig, and said that I was a run-away slave, but the neighbors all round thought I was a white, to prove which, I have a document in my possession to call me to military duty. The law is, that no slave or colored person performs this, but every other person in America of the age of twenty-one is called upon to perform military duty, once or twice in the year, or pay a fine. 

COPY OF THE DOCUMENT. 
"Mr. Moses Roper, You being duly enrolled as a soldier in the company, under the command of Captain Benjamin Bradley, are hereby notified and ordered to appear at the Town House in Brookline, on Friday, 28th instant, at 3 o'clock P. M., for the purpose of filling the vacancy in said Company, occasioned by the promotion of Lieut. Nathaniel M. Weeks, and of filling any other vacancy which may then and there occur in said Company, and there wait further orders. By order of the Captain, E. P. WENTWORTH, Clerk." Brookline, Aug. 14th, 1835."* 

I then returned to the city of Boston, to the shop were I was before. Several weeks after I had returned to my situation two colored men informed me that a gentleman had been inquiring for a person whom, from the description, I knew to be myself, and offered them a considerable sum if they would disclose my place of abode; but they being much opposed to slavery, came and told me, upon which information I secreted myself till I could get off. I went into the Green mountains for several weeks, from thence to the city of New York, and remained in secret several days, till I heard of a ship, the "Napoleon", sailing to England, and on the 11th of November, 1835, I sailed, taking with me letters of recommendation to the Rev. Drs. Morison and Raffles, and the Rev. Alex. Fletcher. The time I first started from slavery was in July, 1834, so that I was nearly sixteen months in making my escape. 

On the 29th of November, 1835, I reached Liverpool, and my feelings when I first touched the shores of Britain were indescribable, and can only be properly understood by those who have escaped from the cruel bondage of slavery. 

When I reached Liverpool, I proceeded to Dr. Raffles, and handed my letters of recommendation to him. He received me very kindly, and introduced me to a member of his church, with whom I stayed the night. Here I met with the greatest attention and kindness. The next day, I went on to Manchester, where I met with many kind friends, among others Mr. Adshead, a hosier of that town, to whom I desire, through this medium, to return my most sincere thanks for the many great services which he rendered me, adding both to my spiritual and temporal comfort. I would not, however, forget to remember here, Mr. Leese, Mr. Childs, Mr. Crewdson, and Mr. Clare, the latter of whom gave me a letter to Mr. Scoble, the Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society. I remained here several days, and then proceeded to London, December 12th, 1835, and immediately called on Mr. Scoble, to whom I delivered my letter; this gentleman procured me a lodging.

I then lost no time in delivering my letters to Dr. Morison and the Rev. Alexander Fletcher, who received me with the greatest kindness, and shortly after this Dr. Morison sent my letter from New York, with another from himself, to the Patriot newspaper, in which he kindly implored the sympathy of the public in my behalf. The appeal was read by Mr. Christopherson, a member of Dr. Morison's church, of which gentleman I express but little of my feelings and gratitude, when I say that throughout he has been towards me a parent, and for whose tenderness and sympathy I desire ever to feel that attachment which I do not know how to express. 
​
I stayed at his house several weeks, being treated as one of the family. The appeal in the Patriot, referred to getting a suitable academy for me, which the Rev. Dr. Cox recommended at Hackney, where I remained half a year, going through the rudiments of an English education.

Fearing the "Fox" would not sail before I should be seized, I deserted her, and went on board a brig sailing to Providence, that was towed out by a steamboat, and got thirty miles from Savannah. During this time I endeavored to persuade the steward to take me as an assistant, and hoped to have accomplished my purpose; but the captain had observed me attentively, and thought I was a slave, he therefore ordered me, when the steamboat was sent back, to go on board her to Savannah, as the fine for taking a slave from that city to any of the free states is five hundred dollars. I reluctantly went back to Savannah, among slaveholders and slaves. My mind was in a sad state; and I was under strong temptation to throw myself into the river. I had deserted the schooner "Fox", and knew that the captain might put me into prison till the vessel was ready to sail; if this had happened, and my master had come to the jail in search of me, I must have gone back to slavery. But when I reached the docks at Savannah, the first person I met was the captain of the "Fox", looking for another steward in my place. He was a very kind man, belonging to the free states, and inquired if I would go back to his vessel. This usage was very different to what I expected, and I gladly accepted his offer. This captain did not know that I was a slave. In about two days we sailed from Savannah for New York. 

I am (August, 1834) unable to express the joy I now felt. I never was at sea before, and, after I had been out about an hour, was taken with sea-sickness, which continued five days. I was scarcely able to stand up, and one of the sailors was obliged to take my place. The captain was very kind to me all this time; but even after I recovered, I was not sufficiently well to do my duty properly, and could not give satisfaction to the sailors, who swore at me, and asked me why I shipped, as I was not used to the sea. We had a very quick passage; and in six days, after leaving Savannah, we were in the harbor at Staten Island, where the vessel was quarantined for two days, six miles from New York.

The captain went to the city, but left me aboard with the sailors, who had most of them been brought up in the slaveholding states, and were very cruel One of the sailors was particularly angry with me because he had to perform the duties of my place; and while the captain was in the city, the sailors called me to the fore-hatch, where they said they would treat me. I went, and while I was talking, they threw a rope round my neck and nearly choked me. The blood streamed from my nose profusely. They also took up ropes with large knots, and knocked me over the head. They said I was a negro; they despised me; and I expected they would have thrown me into the water. When we arrived at the city these men, who had so ill treated me, ran away that they might escape the punishment which would otherwise have been inflicted on them. When I arrived in the city of New York, I thought I was free; but learned I was not, and could be taken there. I went out into the country several miles, and tried to get employment, but failed, as I had no recommendation.

​I then returned to New York; but finding the same difficulty there to get work, as in the country, I went back to the vessel, which was to sail eighty miles up the Hudson River, to Poughkeepsie. When I arrived, I obtained employment at an inn, and after I had been there about two days, was seized with the cholera, which was at that place. The complaint was, without doubt, brought on by my having subsisted on fruit only, for several days, while I was in the slave states. The landlord of the inn came to me when I was in bed, suffering violently from cholera, and told me he knew I had that complaint, and as it had never been in his house, I could not stop there any longer. No one would enter my room, except a young lady, who appeared very pious and amiable, and had visited persons with the cholera. She immediately procured me some medicine at her own expense and administered it herself; and, whilst I was groaning with agony, the landlord came up and ordered me out of the house directly. Most of the persons in Poughkeepsie had retired for the night, and I lay under a shed on some cotton bales. The medicine relieved me, having been given so promptly, and next morning I went from the shed and laid on the banks of the river below the city. Towards evening, I felt much better, and went on in a steamboat to the city of Albany, about eighty miles. When I reached there, I went into the country, and tried for three or four days to procure employment, but failed.. 

Experiencing maritime travel during the reign of the steam engine in the Hudson River Valley was a vastly different experience for women than it was for men. Especially during the 1800s, it was quite rare to find both men and women traveling in the same spaces, such was the case in most forms of transportation, including steamboats on the Hudson River. The standard for the time was that men and women, when traveling, should be separate from each other. Matthew Wills on JSTOR Daily writes,
 
“The Victorian segregation of men and women into separate spheres was quite rigorous in hotels, trains, and steamboats by the 1840s. Escorted and unattached ladies – ladies being very much a middle and upper class designation – were kept apart from unattached men (whatever their social status) via separate entrances, rooms, cars, and cabins.”[1]
 
Mind you that the vast majority of these women traveling on steamboats on the Hudson River were of moderate to high wealth. To find steamboats or any other form of transportation without separate spaces for men and women was rare. It was very common to see women traveling with a suitable male escort, and rare to see women traveling without one. While women and men could meet each other in saloons and dining rooms, women would not permanently stay in these areas, and had access to their own separate space that only women could access. These separate spaces, at least on a Hudson River steamboat, were called “Ladies Cabins.” These spaces acted as their own separate saloon or parlor for women to relax and socialize with each other on journeys up and down the Hudson River, including everything women would need right down to their own bathroom facilities. Even the Rondout’s hometown steamboat, the Mary Powell, “Queen of the Hudson,'' had a ladies cabin.

These ladies cabins would be managed by a female member of the steamboat’s crew. Such was the case with a Miss R. White, who was in charge of the ladies department on the steamboat L. Broadman.[2] Another example that depicts a woman being in charge of a ladies department of a steamboat is the story of the steamer Chief Justice Marshall. This unfortunately unnamed woman became a hero during a trip along the Hudson. The Newburgh Gazette reported on May 7th, 1830 that during a routine trip on the Hudson a boiler aboard the steamer Chief Justice Marshall exploded leading to boiling hot steam spreading across the ship. Immediately reacting, the unnamed woman quickly shut the door leading to the ladies cabin, and thoroughly secured it. This prevented the boiling hot steam from entering the cabin and scorching the women within the cabin alive.[3] While it is quite unfortunate that this woman was left unnamed, she is nevertheless responsible for saving the lives of all the women who were located in the ladies cabin of the steamer Chief Justice Marshall.

Another woman that worked aboard a steamboat was Fannie M. Anthony, a stewardess aboard the famous steamer Mary Powell in its “ladies cabin.” As a woman of color, Fannie would clean and maintain the cabin, along with assisting passengers with requests. As a stewardess, her job would be similar to that of a housekeeper of a wealthy family. She would serve aboard the Mary Powell for decades before retiring in 1912. Interestingly, she was celebrated in local newspapers, uncommon at the time due to the fact that she was a woman of color, whose experiences are usually disregarded and forgotten throughout history.

 For example, an 1894 issue of the Brooklyn Times Union, quoting the Newburgh Sunday Telegram, celebrates Fannie Anthony in an article titled “Compliments for a Jamaica Woman.” It reads,
​
“Mrs. Fannie Anthony, the efficient and obliging stewardess on the steamer Mary Powell, is about concluding her twenty-fifth season in that capacity. Mrs. Anthony enjoys an acquaintance among the ladies along the Hudson River that is both interesting and highly complementary to the amiable disposition and cheery manner of the only female among the crew of the favorite steamboat. Mrs. Anthony travels over 15,000 miles every summer while attending to her duties on the boat. She seldom misses a trip and looks the picture of health and happiness.”[4]
 
You may notice that the article refers to Fannie as a Jamaican woman, they are not saying she is from the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean, she is actually from Jamaica, Queens in New York City. There are many other articles just like this one that reference Mrs. Fannie Anthony and talk about her in a positive way. While she was only a stewardess aboard the Mary Powell,  it seems that through her enjoyable personality, the excellence of her service, and longevity in the time she served aboard the Mary Powell, she managed to overcome many of the immovable obstacles that faced most women of color at the time. Like the steamboat Mary Powell herself, Fannie achieved a measure of fame not usually afforded ordinary people, much less a woman of color.
         
These three women all played vital roles in ensuring the successful, enjoyable, and safe travel of steamboats along the Hudson River. These women dedicated themselves to the people they served in their respective “ladies cabins.” In the case of Miss R. White and Mrs. Fannie Anthony, that was to serve their passengers with distinction and dignity. In the case of that unfortunately unnamed woman who worked in the “ladies cabin” of the steamer Chief Justice Marshall, she was a hero who saved the lives of everyone in the ladies cabin from being boiled alive from the steam that escaped the engines of that steamer.

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Editor's note: The following articles were originally published in the New-York Evening Post and the New-York Daily Advertiser in June 1817. Thanks to volunteer researcher George A. Thompson for finding, cataloging and transcribing this article. The language of the articles reflect 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. - New-York Daily Advertiser, June 30, 1817

 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.