The newest collection of Hudson River Maritime Museum material on the New York Heritage website is the Tracey Irving Brooks photograph collection. See all of the Hudson River Maritime Museum collections here:

Tracey Irving Brooks was a professional quality photographer based in the Capitol Region of New York State's Hudson River Valley. Born in 1888 Mr. Brooks photographed Hudson River steamboats during the first half of the 1900s. The collection covers an extensive variety of steamboats on the upper portion of the Hudson River.

The collection includes photographs, postcard images and glass plate negatives of steamboats, tugboats, and ferries from the Tracey I. Brooks collection. In addition, museum volunteers Carl and Joan Mayer have compiled a list of publications with background information about many of the boats.

Hudson River Maritime Museum is able to contribute to New York Heritage thanks to the work of the Southeastern Regional Library Council. New York Heritage enables the museum to share a sample of the thousands of Hudson River images in the museum's collection with viewers around the world.

About New York Heritage:
New York Heritage Digital Collections features a broad range of materials that present a glimpse into our state’s history and culture.  Over 350 libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural institutions make their collections available in our repository.  These primary source materials span the range of New York State’s history, from the colonial era to present.  Our stories are told through photographs, letters, diaries, directories, maps, books, and more.

New York Heritage is a collaborative project of eight of the nine Empire State Library Network library councils: Capital District Library Council, Central New York Library Resources Council, Long Island Library Resources Council, Northern New York Library Network, Rochester Regional Library Council, Southeastern New York Library Resources Council, South Central Regional Library Council, and Western New York Library Resources Council.

​Take a historical tour of New York State here.

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Especially during this time of year, as Halloween approaches in the Hudson Valley region. Rondout Lighthouse is home to one of these ghostly tales.

The Legend of the Widow’s Watch tells the tale of a young bride who haunts the Rondout Lighthouse, forever searching for her lighthouse keeper husband who perished on their wedding night in a tragic boating accident. On certain autumn nights, lucky (or perhaps unlucky) people may catch a glimpse of this ghostly woman in white watching over the dark waters for her beloved groom to return.

Well, I hate to be the Grinch of Halloween, but this tale, like most legends, has taken tiny bits of truth and spun them into myth.
​
Catherine (Parsell) Murdock Perkins, the presumed subject of this ghost tale, was no weak maiden fair left pining for her groom. While it was her first husband, George Murdock, who was initially hired as the keeper of the Rondout light, she obtained the position after his death and (wo-)manned the lighthouse for over fifty years. 

Catherine, now widowed at age twenty-eight with three young children in her care (the youngest just eight months old and the oldest only four years), took over running the lighthouse and the many difficult tasks that included. Fuel oil for the light would have to be hauled, wicks would need to be trimmed precisely, the glass lens carefully shined. The light was to be lit punctually at sundown, and kept burning until sunrise.  Logs were kept detailing the supplies used, with different monthly and quarterly reports to be filed. The entire lighthouse, even the bedrooms, were to be meticulously kept and subject to inspection.

Catherine married a second time, to Jeremiah Perkins, probably sometime before the 1861 birth of the first of their two children together. Instead of passing the keeper position to her new husband, she continued in the role herself. The 1865 New York State census indicates that Jeremiah worked as a laborer, while Catherine’s occupation was lighthouse keeper.

Catherine was widowed for a second time a few months after that census was enumerated. In August of 1865, details of Jeremiah’s death were published in the Albany Argus:
​
Jeremiah Perkins…. deck hand on the steamer "Santa Claus", had occasion one day last week to go on board the barge "Humboldt", in tow of the steamer.  He had been in the hold of the vessel, and on attempting to ascend, and when he had taken a couple of steps on the ladder, it fell over backward with him, causing him to fall heavily upon the floor.  He was so much injured that he was not able to extricate himself, and he lived but a couple of hours after the accident.[1]

​Catherine, now thirty-six years of age, persevered with her work keeping the lighthouse marking the mouth of the creek illuminated. The sailors that plied the waters of the Hudson River and Rondout Creek relied on her for their safety.

In 1867, a second Rondout Lighthouse was constructed. This second lighthouse was Catherine’s home until her retirement at age seventy-nine in 1907, after more than fifty years of dedicated service. James Murdock, her son who had been born in the lighthouse, was the next family member to take on the lighthouse keeper position.

Catherine died at son William Perkin’s home in Ponckhockie in 1909 at the age of eighty-one years, after a long illness.

The lighthouse that had been Catherine’s home was left boarded up after being replaced by a third Rondout Lighthouse in 1915. The lighthouse that had been Catherine’s home was eventually demolished in 1954.

While a spooky tale of a heartbroken, widowed bride haunting the Rondout Lighthouse might be appealing to those looking for a fright, the actual facts show little resemblance to the legend. While Catherine was widowed twice, and both husbands’ deaths did, in their own way, involve boats, she was far from a newlywed at the time of either of their deaths.

​The Rondout Lighthouse that stands today was constructed years after Catherine’s death, and was not a building she would have known in life. Given the season, however, if you dare to check out the legend for yourself, a few evening lantern cruises remain available through Halloween night! ​https://www.hrmm.org/all-boat-tours.html

                                                            No. 86- Shady Side
                                                                   ———--
Little is known of the steamboat “Shady Side” in this section of the Hudson Valley, as the territory she served on the Hudson river was within short distances of New York city.

The wooden hull “Shady Side” was built at Bulls Ferry, New Jersey, in 1873 and she was powered by-an engine produced by Fletcher, Harrison and Company of New York. Her dimensions were listed as: Length of hull, 168 feet, one inch; breadth of beam, 27 feet, five inches; depth of hull, nine feet, five inches; gross tonnage, 444, net tonnage 329. Her engine was the vertical beam type with a cylinder diameter of 44 inches and an eight foot stroke.

The “Shady Side” was a remarkably swift and handsome steamboat of medium size. She was built for the New York and Fort Lee passenger day line, running in line with the steamboat “Pleasant Valley.” Later she was purchased by the Morrisania Steamboat Company and in 1874 she was running in line with the steamboats “Morrisania” and “Harlem between Morrisania and New York. This line was in competition with the regular Harlem boats, “Sylvan Dell,” “Sylvan Stream,” and “Sylvan Glen,” which were in service until 1879 when the elevated railroad system in New York city began to make inroads into the steamboat passenger business and finally forced the steamboats to cease operation- being sold in 1881 under the foreclosure of mortgage. The “Shady Side” was then used in and around New York harbor until 1902 when she was placed in service on the New York-Stamford, Connecticut route.

The “Harlem” and “Morrisania” were also used in New York harbor, chartered to excursion parties, and saw service on short routes from the metropolis. In the spring of 1895 the “Morrisania” was taken to Hoboken to have some repairs made. While there she caught fire and her joiner works were damaged to such an extent that it was decided not to rebuild the vessel. Her hull was then taken to Harlem and converted into a coal barge. The “Harlem,” the other vessel which ran in line with the “Shady Side” for the Morrisania Company, was sold in 1903 to a Boston concern and placed in service in Boston Harbor where she was destroyed by fire about a year later.

The “Shady Side” ran on the Stamford route until 1921. Later she was sold to Marcus Garvey of the Black Star Steamship Line, who used her for excursions until the fall of 1922 when she was completely worn out. The “Shady Side” was then taken to Fort Lee on the west side of the Hudson River and beached on the mud flats- a short distance from where she had been launched a half-century before. Here she slowly decayed, the last of the great fleet of fast steamboats which ran between Harlem and New York until the elevated railroad forced the steamboats to cease operation.

​On Friday 25th Jan. last, about 3 o’Clock Mr. Brookman of this town, one Thomas Slack, and a Negro of Mr. Remden’s, went off in a boat in order to shoot some water fowl, which during this hard weather have come in great numbers into the open places in the harbour, and having wounded some, pursued them till they got entangled in the ice, so that they were not able to get to land.  

​Their distress being seen from the shore here, a boat with several hands put off to their assistance, but night coming on lost sight of them, and returned. – Mean while the people in the ice drove with the tide as far as Red-Hook, and fired several guns as signals of distress.  The guns were heard on shore, but no assistance could be given them.  And as the weather was extreamly cold, it was thought they would all have perished, -- which they themselves also expected.  

​In this extremity they had recourse to every expedient in their power: There happened to be an iron pot and an ax on board – they cut off a piece of the boat roap and pick’d it to oakum, and putting it in the pan of a gun with some powder, catched it on fire, which with some thin pieces cut from the mast, they kindled in the pot, and then cut up their mast, seats, &c. for fewel, and making a tent of their sail, wrapt themselves as well as they could; when they found themselves nearly overcome with the cold, notwithstanding their fire, they exercised themselves with wresting, which proved a very happy expedient, restored their natural warmth, and no doubt greatly contributed to their preservation.

In this manner they passed the whole night, in which they suffered much cold, but happily escaped with life, and without being frost bitten: Next morning, by firing guns, they were discovered in the ice by Mr. Seabring on Long Island, who, by laying planks on the ice for near a quarter of a mile, which otherwise was not strong enough to bear a man’s weight, they all got safe on shore, without the least hurt, and returned the same day to York.

The Hudson River Maritime Museum recently received a set of black and white photographs documenting the work of the Kingston Shipbuilding Corporation during World War I. Clyde Bloodgood worked at the shipyard located on Island Dock. Shipbuilding has been going on for the last couple of hundred years along Rondout Creek. William duBarry Thomas writes in the 1999 Pilot Log: "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)"
 
The museum is grateful for the donation of these fine photographs. They are a wonderful addition to the museum's collection and aids in our ability to tell the history of the Hudson River and its tributaries.

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!​

Since the Hudson River was first navigated by steamboats in 1807, there have been hazards- natural and man-made- that have plagued the captains and pilots of these vessels. Fog, low water level, treacherous currents and ice have all taken their toll over the years, as have the occasional cases of inattention to duty, confusing or misunderstood whistle signals between steamers- not to mention fires, boiler explosions or mechanical failure of engine or steering gear.
 
Some of these accidents are well known, such as the loss of the steamer Thomas Cornell when she ran up Danskammer Point, north of Newburgh, in the fog on 27 March 1882 as she was making her regular trip from Rondout to New York.
 
Many years later, the Hudson River Day Line’s flagship Washington Irving was lost as a result of a collision just after she left her pier in New York on 1 June 1926. She was struck on the port side by an oil barge in tow of the tug Thomas E. Moran and sank after she was hurriedly run across the river to shallower water on the New Jersey side.
 
Most of the accidents or incidents have never had the dramatic impact of losses such as that of the Thomas Cornell or Washington Irving. Many of them didn’t result in the loss of the vessel. The Cornell tug G.W. Decker was an example. This small tug was for many years employed as a “helper” tug on Cornell’s tows- picking up or dropping off individual barges at intermediate points on the journey to or from New York. Many years ago, the many brickyards at Haverstraw sent their production to New York on barges, with the helper tug shuttling between the brickyard wharves and the tow. The depth of the river at Haverstraw Bay is not particularly deep, and the fact that the Decker’s bottom plates were eventually found to be very thin was ascribed- in part at least- to the cumulative action of Haverstraw Bay sand on her bottom. We shall never know for sure, but it is a reasonable theory.
 
The river’s depth is very shallow on the wide reaches of Haverstraw Bay outside of the main channel, and on the upper river where dredging had to be accomplished to allow ships to reach the port of Albany. In March 1910, long before the upper river was dredged, the very large and powerful steel-hulled Cornell tug named Cornell- accompanied by her helper Rob- was sent to Albany to break up an enormous ice jam in order that the river might be opened for traffic. It was found that her draft was so great that she grounded from time to time on the northbound trip, but she eventually accomplished her task with no small measure of hazard to Cornell and her crew. It was never attempted again.
 
Over most of the river’s course from New York to the start of the dredged channel north of Hudson the channel is of moderate depth, but in the Highlands- from Peekskill north to Cornwall- there is a lot of water, sometimes extending almost to the shoreline because of the mountainous nature of the area. At Anthony’s Nose, the depth reaches about 90 feet, and under the Bear Mountain Bridge we may find nearly 130 feet of depth.
 
In the region around West Point is where we may find the deepest point on the entire river. Between West Point and Constitution Island, in that part of the river called World’s End, a depth of 202 feet was recorded during one survey many years ago- and that is at mean low water during the lowest river stages.
 
A small steamboat- or “steam yacht” in river parlance- named Carrie A. Ward, built in New Baltimore in 1878, maintained a local service between Newburgh and Peekskill during the 1880s. In late July of 1882, she sank near Cold Spring and was raised. On Saturday, 29 July, she sank for a second time for reasons thus far unknown, again in the vicinity of Cold Spring. By Tuesday, 1 August, she had not been located. The Newburgh Daily Journal reported on that day under the headline “Is She Gone For Good?”:
 
“It is said that the river bed consists of rocks in the locality where she went down, and that the water is of varying depth. It may be fifty [feet] deep in one spot, and nearly twice that a few yards off. Some boatmen have doubts if the Carrie will ever be found. They say she may have settled into a hollow between some of the rocks and her presence may never be discovered.”
 
The situation was not quite as dire as the boatmen predicted. By the next day, she had been located in 60 feet of water. The Journal remarked, “Arrangements are under way to have the yacht raised again.” The Baxter Wrecking Company brought in their divers and equipment on 5 August, and in a short time, the Carrie A. Ward had been raised, repaired and back in service.
 
The Hudson hasn’t always been that kind to its vessels. There have been scores of sail and steamboats, barges and other craft that have sunk in the river never to be raised. We shall unfortunately never know the tales told by their crews.
 

During the early years of the 1900’s, there was a stone quarry at Rockland Lake, a few miles south of Haverstraw.  The Cornell Steamboat Company towed the stone from the quarry on scows to the metropolitan New York market.
 
The winter of 1912 was very severe with heavy ice in the lower river.  Cornell tugs, however, continued their efforts to break the ice so the stone could be towed to New York for use by the construction industry.
 
One one particular day that winter, the Cornell tugboats "S. L. Crosby” and "Hercules" were in the river off the quarry breaking ice — trying to get into the dock to break out the loaded scows that were frozen in.  First, one tug would slam into the ice, which at the time was seven to eight inches thick, until she was stopped cold by the solid ice.  Then that tug would back off and the other tug would slam into the track until she was stopped dead.  Gradually, the two tugs were working their way towards the dock.

Two Good Tries
 On one try the “Crosby” went ahead a short distance and stopped.  On this try, however, she made a good crack in the ice.  Next, the “Hercules" came up astern, hit the crack the “Crosby” had made, and plowed her way right up to the dock.
 
The general manager of the Cornell Steamboat Company was standing on the dock at the time.  And, admiringly, he said, “What a great ice breaker we have in the “Hercules”!”  Quite obviously, he had not noticed the crack in the ice made by the “Crosby.”
 
When spring came, Cornell had the "Hercules" sent to the Cornell repair shops at Rondout and ordered extra stout oak planking and steel straps put all around her bow.  From that point on, the “Hercules" was thought to be the greatest ice breaker of them all.  For years after, whenever ice was to be broken, the “Hercules” was sent out to do the job.
 
At the time of the ice breaking at Rockland Lake, Aaron Relyea of Bloomington was the captain of the "Crosby” and Mel Hamilton of Port Ewen was captain of the "Hercules.”  Nearly 20 years later, I worked for Captain Relyea as a deckhand on the "Crosby" and he was the one who related this incident to me.  Captain Aaron A l w a y s maintained the “Crosby” was the better tug of the two in breaking ice.
 
In later years, I also talked to Captain Hamilton about that day at Rockland Lake.  Captain Mel said, "Aaron was right.  Between the two tugs, the “Crosby” was the best in the ice.  But,” he added with a wink, "never argue with the boss.”

                                                              City of Kingston
The “City of Kingston” was a 246 foot, iron hull, stern-propeller steamboat constructed for the Cornell Steamboat Company of Rondout in 1884 at Wilmington, Delaware. She was constructed to replace the ill-fated “Thomas Cornell,” which was wrecked in the spring of 1882, was the first stern propellered steamer built for hauling freight and passengers on the Rondout line, and was capable of making 19 miles per hour.
               
The “City of Kingston” proved unsatisfactory for service on the Rondout line due to the necessity of many landings, and while she made good time while under way between stops, too much time was consumed in endeavoring to bring her into the dock.
               
Despite this deficiency, she remained in service here for five years and was then sold, in October, 1889, and was taken to the Pacific coast for service on Puget Sound. She left New York on November 22, 1889, for her long journey to the west coast.
               
An April 24, 1899, the Northern Pacific Oriental liner “Glenogle,” outward bound, collided with the City of Kingston” inward bound from Victoria. This accident occurred during a light fog at 4:35 o’clock Sunday morning off Brown’s Point. The “City of Kingston was struck on her starboard side, aft of her boiler room, and was cut in two by the liner’s iron bow. Three minutes later her hull was resting on the bottom of Puget Sound and her upper works, divided in two parts, was floating about the bay.
               
At the time of the accident the “City of Kingston” was the property of the Northern Pacific Railroad and was valued at $150,000. Confusion reigned aboard the stricken vessel but finally the 12 passengers and 60 members of her crew were gotten aboard the “Glenogle” without any loss of life. Thus the career of the namesake of this old Colonial city was brought to a close.

 FACILITIES FOR TRAVEL.
            The facilities for travel along the Hudson next season will, by the addition of the trains of the West Shore road, be very large.  We have only to refer to some of them to show that travel must indeed be very large in order that all the lines can be made to pay.  In the lower Hudson there will be three lines of steamers between Peekskill, Nyack and New York, a steamer will run as usual between Haverstraw and Newburgh, a steamer will run two or three times a day between West Point and Newburgh, a steamer will run between Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, two steamers will run between Newburgh and Albany, three steamers will run between Poughkeepsie and New York, three steamers will run between Rondout and New York, one steamer will run between Saugerties and New York, two between Catskill and New York, two between Catskill and Albany, two between Coxsackie and New York, four between Troy, Albany and New York, also in addition the two day boats between New York and Albany.  These make twenty-seven steamboats that will run night and day, saying nothing about handsome barges.  Add to these twenty six trains on the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R., and twenty trains on the West Shore R. R., making forty-six trains in all.  The twenty seven steamboats have a carrying capacity of 10,000, and the trains, taking six cars to a train, a carrying capacity of 10,560, making a grand total of carrying capacity, by both cars and boats of 26,650 people. — Poughkeepsie Eagle.
            Rockland County Journal (Nyack, N. Y.), February 24, 1883

THE TRAVEL INCREASING. COMMUTERS ARE NOW COMING BACK TO NYACK.
The Saturday Half Holiday Train Will Be Put on the Latter Part of May.
            Traveling is steadily increasing to and from Nyack, and in a few weeks at the most the trains and boats will be carrying their full quota of passengers.  "The travel on the Northern Railroad," said Mr. William Essex, station agent at Nyack, to a reporter, "is now slightly increased over that of last year at this time, and I think the prospects are good for an increased number of passengers during the season.  A number of commuters are already back from the city in their Nyack homes, and most of them travel up and down daily.  A little later more cars will have to be put on the trains to accommodate the passengers.
            "I have not yet heard of any change in the time-table," continued Mr. Essex, "and I do not anticipate any.  The present time table appears to give general satisfaction.  The Saturday half-holiday train will be put on the latter part of May."
            Travel in other directions is also on the increase.  The Chrvstenah carries a goodly number of passengers to and from the city daily, and the number is steadily growing larger. There are more daily passengers to and from the West Shore station at West Nyack than there have been during the past season, and the Nyack and Tarrytown ferry is also doing an increased business.
            Soon the tide of Summer travel will set in in every direction, and Nyack will probably have its full share of those who come and go.
            Rockland County Journal (Nyack, N. Y.), May 4, 1895