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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!
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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!
On March 16, 1893 the Saugerties Weekly Post recounted a freshet on Rondout Creek. Freshets are spring flash floods caused by quick melting of snowpack in the mountains. Usually, the quick thaw comes while there is still ice on the larger creeks and rivers, causing ice dams. The meltwater builds up behind the ice, until the ice finally breaks, and a wall of water with huge chunks of ice rushes down the creek. Rondout Creek has an enormous watershed, draining most of the eastern Catskill mountains. Lower Rondout Creek also contains the entire watershed of the Wallkill River, which flows north from northern New Jersey, through Orange County up into Ulster County. Because of this, lower Rondout Creek was frequently plagued by floods. Freshets were common in the 19th century, and caused much damage. In the 20th century, many tributaries and creeks were dammed for hydroelectric power. The upper ends of Rondout Creek are curtailed by the Rondout Reservoir, part of the Catskills Aqueduct system, as well as smaller dams left over from industrial mills, such as the Eddyville Dam near Lock 1 of the D&H Canal. Two dams located near the confluence of the Wallkill River and the Rondout Creek greatly curtail the amount of water that flows naturally into the Rondout. Sturgeon Pool hydroelectric dam sits at the confluence of the two bodies of water. Just northwest of Sturgeon Pool, the Dashville Hydroelectric station was installed at the naturally-occurring Dashville Falls. Both hydroelectric stations are some of the earliest in the region, completed in the 1920s. Combined with climate change, which has limited the buildup of snowpack in the Catskills, these dams have helped mitigate catastrophic flooding in the modern era. The Freshet of 1893 was a doozy, like other freshets in 1878 and more famously in 1936. Captain William O. Benson also recalled both the 1893 and 1936 freshets in his 1978 article. Catherine Murdock also recalled the Flood of 1878. "Freshet in the Rondout"The following is a verbatim transcription of "Freshet in the Rondout," originally published on March 16, 1893 in the Saugerties Weekly Post. Many thanks to researcher George Thompson for finding and transcribing this article. The freshet in the Rondout creek Monday did great damage. The great ice gorge below the dam at Eddyville broke about 3:30 p. m. The immense body of water behind it rushed down the creek, carrying thousands of tons of ice with it. This struck the Cornell fleet, which winters there, and swept almost every steamboat and forty or fifty other boats into the river. The ropes which moored the boats between the Delaware and Hudson coal dock and the mainland were snapped like thread, and even heavy anchor chains were broken. In the course down the creek many boats were badly stove, and the Pittston, valued at $10,000, and the Adriatic, at $8,000, are thought to be so badly damaged that they will sink. The news of the great flood spread over the town, and in a very short time the docks were crowded with people. The screams of the men on the helpless boats and the crunching of the big steamers and canal boats as they were stove, added to the rush of water, caused the most intense excitement. Ropes thrown out to hold the boats availed nothing. The large side wheeler Norwich and the tug C. D. Mills, the only boats with steam up, could not save the drifting boats. They had great difficulty in saving themselves. Besides about twenty-five steamboats, thirty Northern canal boats loaded with ice and twenty-five Delaware and Hudson boats were swept away. Many of these were crushed and sunk on the way down the creek. Some of these canal boats were occupied by families, and they were rescued with great difficulty. The sight of the women wringing their hands, and the frantic men, was witnessed with horror by the people on shore. Those in the boats either jumped ashore as the craft swung in or escaped over the immense cakes of floating ice. The ice dam below Eddyville formed Saturday. The heavy rain that night caused the water to raise fully eight feet. A large part of Eddyville was inundated and families have had to leave their houses for higher ground. The damage there will amount to many thousand dollars. The Lawrence Cement Company had 18.000 barrels of cement, valued at $22,000, stored in their Eddyville mill. This is a total loss. In 1825, the Erie Canal was completed with the hopes of improving and expanding economic opportunity between the areas surrounding Lake Erie and the Hudson River. Having proved to be a great success, the state of New York seized many opportunities to further develop the waterway. As such, they undertook multiple enlargement projects. The final project integrated the Erie Canal into the New York State Barge Canal system. Finished in 1918, the system also includes the Cayuga-Seneca, Champlain, and Oswego canals. All of which were originally built within a few years of the Erie Canal’s completion. The project not only enlarged the dimensions of all four canals but also altered their original routes. The Barge Canal era is represented in a shipwreck located in Kingston’s Rondout Creek, the Frank A. Lowery. Constructed in Brooklyn, New York the same year that the Barge Canal was completed, the Lowery was likely built to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the new-and-improved waterway. The barge Frank A. Lowery, then registered as OCCO 101, began operation under the ownership of the Ore Carrying Corporation. According to the 1921 publication of the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Works for New York State, “the Ore Carrying Corporation … engaged in the transportation of iron ore from Port Henry on Lake Champlain, to Elizabethport, N.J.”. The report also notes that in terms of the amount of ore shipped per season, the company was substantially more productive in 1920 than it was in 1919. In fact, the company shipped over three times the amount of ore in 1920 than it did the previous season. Having joined the company’s fleet in 1918, the OCCO 101 likely assisted the company in achieving this feat. Ownership was transferred to the L. & L. Canal Line in 1926 and the vessel was renamed L & L. 101. As shown in the 1930 publication of Inland-waterway Freight Transportation Lines in the United States, the L. & L. Canal Line shipped steel and pig iron on the New York State Barge Canal. Based in New York City, the line had six wooden barges that could be found traveling the waters to and from Buffalo, New York. Finally, Frank A. Lowery purchased the vessel and renamed it after himself in 1929. Though much about Lowery remains unknown, the Merchant Vessels of the United States publications for the years 1930 and 1936 list Lowery as living in Creek Rocks, New York. However, in the publication for the year 1951, he is listed as living in Athens, New York. The later record also notes that he owned six vessels, including the Frank A. Lowery. While it is unclear who initiated the renovations, the vessel was refit with an engine in 1929. This renovation distinguished the Lowery from other canal boats and allowed for its classification as a Hoodledasher, or a powered canal boat. As such, it could move itself through the water with two hundred and forty horsepower and could be used to both tow and carry cargo. Following these renovations, the Lowery measured 104 feet in length, 21 feet in beam, and had a tonnage of 195 net tons. Surely, such a vessel was viewed to be a more efficient option. The Frank A. Lowery was put to use as the leading vessel of the Lowery flotilla, which also included the six barges it towed. A 1955 New York District Court case, further discussed below, provides a glimpse into the history of the vessel under the ownership of Frank Lowery. This includes what was transported in the vessel’s cargo hold as well as the routes it covered: “The Lowery flotilla . . . sailed the waters of the Hudson River and Barge Canal for a considerable number of years. It was old in the service of carrying cargo, well known to the trade and canal and river people, and on many… occasions it carried scrap iron west from New York City to Buffalo, and grain east from the terminal at Buffalo to the City of Albany.” In 1953, the Frank A. Lowery was involved in an incident that resulted in a district court case. According to the case report, the Lowery flotilla was on its way to the Port of Albany when a steel barge collided with the last vessel in the flotilla tow, the Marion O’Neill. The steel barge was being pushed by the Ellen S. Bouchard of the Bouchard Transportation Company. Having caused a chain reaction, the Marion O’Neill then collided with yet another barge in the tow, the Mae Lowery, and both vessels subsequently sank. The Mae Lowery’s misfortune continued when it was struck by the unsuspecting Clayton P. Kehoe of the Kehoe Brothers Transportation Company nearly two hours after the initial collision. The day’s events resulted in one presumably fatal casualty, the captain of the Marion O’Neill. The Lowery was abandoned east of Rondout Creek’s Sunflower Dock following an accident in 1953, perhaps the one mentioned here, and her valuable effects were salvaged five years later. The vessel’s tell-tale hanging and lodging knees, half-round bow, and parallel sides allowed for the easy identification of the wreck for many years. However, the structure continues to deteriorate with the erosive nature of weather and ice. Soon, only her keel will remain. AuthorLauryn Czyzewski is a Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer. Her interests include twentieth and twenty-first century maritime history and shipwrecks. She graduated from SUNY Potsdam with a bachelor’s degree in Archaeological Studies. Lauryn would like to thank the editors of this article, Sarah Wassberg Johnson and Mark Peckham. 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 featuring stories by Captain William O. Benson (1911-1986). Beginning in 1971, Benson, a retired tugboat captain, reminisced about his 40 years on the Hudson River in a regular column for the Kingston (NY) Freeman’s Sunday Tempo magazine. Captain Benson's articles were compiled and transcribed by HRMM volunteer Carl Mayer. See more of Captain Benson’s articles here. This article was originally published March 14, 1972. Up until the time the Cornell Steamboat Company acquired the diesel tugboats “Lion’’ and “Jumbo” in 1924, all of their tugboats were steam propelled. As steamers, all the tugs burned coal and taking on coal - or coaling up - was a regular event of day to day operations. For many decades, Cornell maintained a coal pocket at the easterly end of its property on East Strand. Coal would be transferred by conveyor from railroad cars on an adjacent siding into large bins in the coal pocket. The coal pocket itself was located right next to the dock and the tugboats would berth at the coal pocket and take on coal from large shutes direct from the bins. When I was a boy growing up along Rondout Creek, it was quite a sight watching the big Cornell tugs taking on coal at the coal pocket. As the tug would come in the creek, she would tie up at the coal pocket and first take coal on the starboard side. As the coal went aboard, the tug would lay over on her side and it seemed the large smokestacks would be only a few feet from the upper part of the coal pocket. Then seeing the tugs turn around with their starboard guards and main deck rail part under water, one would think they were going to turn over on their sides and sink. Always Wondered There I used to watch the “Pocahontas,” “Osceola,” “George W. Washburn,” “Edwin H. Mead,” “Perseverance” and the smaller helper tugs take on coal and wonder what kept them from rolling over. Always I would watch, thinking in my young mind I was going to see something happen that no one had seen before. But, they always got around, took coal on their port side, came back to an even keel, and went back out to the river. As the years rolled on, the day came when I was to do the same thing with many of the same tugboats at the same coal pocket that the men of my youth had done. Now, however, the steam tugs are all gone as is the coal pocket. Once, in May 1935, one tug did sink at the coal pocket and as far as I can recall this is the only time it happened. The small tug ‘‘Empire’’ was coaling up. Her starboard guard caught on a broken spile [sic] under water which held her up. The men in the engine room and the pilot house thought she could take a little more coal and put some more aboard. Then, when they went to turn her around, she slipped off the spile and really lay over on her side. They wound her around and when the port side hit the dock, she went over just enough more for the water to pour in her deck scuttles — and down she went. In a few days a Merritt, Chapman and Scott derrick was brought up from New York and raised her. The Cornell Steamboat Company tug “Pocahontas” was built in 1884 and acquired by Cornell in 1901. The “Pocahontas” had a sister tug, the “Osceola.” This large and handsome tug operated on the Hudson River until 1939. The Hudson River Maritime Museum has a nameboard from the “Pocahontas.” Donald C. Ringwald Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum Always A Hazard Since coal burns, fire was always a hazard to a coal pocket. The Cornell Steamboat Company lost two of theirs by burning, the first time in 1907 and the second time in 1936. The fire in 1907 — on November 3, a Sunday — totally destroyed the coal pocket, several hundred tons of coal, and almost destroyed the big tugboat “John H. Cordts.” The “Cordts’’ was tied up at the dock adjacent to the coal pocket. The fire broke out in the coal pocket and got a good start before it was discovered. The fire spread rapidly and soon the forward part of the “Cordts” was also aflame. The burning coal in the coal pocket made an incredibly hot fire. Although the coal pocket and most of its contents were total losses, the Kingston Fire Department was able to save the “Cordts” — not however before the forward half of the tugboat had been burned away and the tug had been purposely sunk at the dock. The “Cordts” was subsequently raised, rebuilt and continued in service for nearly another 20 years. After the 1907 fire, Cornell built a new coal pocket at the same site, somewhat smaller in size. Once during the mid 1920’s, the big tugboat “George W. Washburn” came into the Cornell shops and tied up at the coal pocket dock. During the night a fire broke out on the tugboat and spread to the coal pocket. Prompt action by the Kingston Fire Department, however saved both the “Washburn” and the coal pocket. Thanksgiving Disaster Finally, at 2 a.m, on Thanksgiving morning 1936, this coal pocket again caught fire and this time the fire got such a start it was impossible to save it. The fire which was a two alarmer, completely destroyed the coal pocket and about 50 tons of coal. The 1936 fire marked the end of steamboat coal pockets on Rondout Creek. By this time, the Cornell fleet was considerably reduced in size due to a decline in towing on the Hudson River and diesel tugboats were taking the place of steam tugs. And so another era — the age of coal — came to a close along the banks of the Rondout. AuthorCaptain William Odell Benson was a life-long resident of Sleightsburgh, N.Y., where he was born on March 17, 1911, the son of the late Albert and Ida Olson Benson. He served as captain of Callanan Company tugs including Peter Callanan, and Callanan No. 1 and was an early member of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. He retained, and shared, lifelong memories of incidents and anecdotes along the Hudson River. 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!
Rondout Creek is a deep water tributary of the Hudson River. As the bird's eye and water level views above show, boats of many varieties have taken advantage of the deep water port for centuries. As the terminus for the Delaware & Hudson Canal (1828 -1898) Rondout Harbor saw lots of activity as canal boats came off the 108 mile long canal (Honesdale to Rondout) with loads of coal. Rondout Harbor was also the home of the Cornell Steamboat Company founded in 1847 by Thomas Cornell. The Cornell fleet grew to 62 tugboats transporting coal and other goods to the New York City markets. Hudson River steamboats, including the Mary Powell, and Hudson River Day Line carried passengers up and down the Hudson River. Smaller steamers provided transport to communities along Rondout Creek. More information about tugboats and steamers can be found here. 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 featuring stories by Captain William O. Benson (1911-1986). Beginning in 1971, Benson, a retired tugboat captain, reminisced about his 40 years on the Hudson River in a regular column for the Kingston (NY) Freeman’s Sunday Tempo magazine. Captain Benson's articles were compiled and transcribed by HRMM volunteer Carl Mayer. See more of Captain Benson’s articles here. This article was originally published April 8, 1973. Photographer capturing the Cornell Steamboat Company tug and towboat fleet after the freshet of 1893 washed the fleet out into the Hudson River. The freshet is a flood due to melting snow and rain. This one caused a late winter flood that broke an ice dam on the Rondout Creek and pushed the boats out into the Hudson River. Donald C. Ringwald Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum The month of March has frequently been known for its capricious pranks of weather. On two occasions in particular —March 13, 1893 and March 12, 1936 — madcap March weather brought considerable excitement locally. On both dates, freshet conditions in Rondout Creek caused the ice covering the creek’s surface to go out with a rush, carrying everything in its path out towards the Hudson. On both occasions, the conditions were similar. The preceding winter months had been severe with heavy ice. During early March the weather turned warm causing runoffs from melting snow into the Wallkill River and upper Rondout Creek. Water and broken ice cascading over the dam at Eddyville backed up behind the solid creek ice creating considerable pressure. Finally, the solid ice below Eddyville began to crumble. Once the ice started to move, its movement accelerated rapidly, rushing down the creek with great force and speed. Anything in its path was swept along downstream. In both instances, this was mostly the fleet of the Cornell Steamboat Company. Those who witnessed the moving ice described it as an awesome sight. Mooring lines were snapped like strings. Vessels in the path of the grinding ice moved like ghosts down the creek and out into the Hudson River where they came to a stop in a jumbled mass against the solid ice of the river. In both instances, despite damage to the vessels involved, surprising there was only one reported personnel injury in 1893 and none in 1936. More Spectacular The freshet of 1893 was probably the more spectacular since more vessels were involved, including at least eight big side-wheel towboats. All told, approximately 50 vessels were swept out of the creek. In addition to the big side-wheel towboats, these included at least 15 Cornell tugboats and two dozen canal boats and barges. In 1893 melee of ice and boats set adrift occurred in the late afternoon on Monday, March 13. At about 4 p.m. a huge ice jam above Wilbur let go and the uncontrolled movement down Rondout Creek commenced. A Freeman reporter described the scene as follows: “It was a scene that will never be forgotten by those who witnessed the outgoing vessels, as they jammed against one another and against the docks, the noise of parting lines and cracking timbers being plainly heard a block or more away. The shouts of the men on the boats who like maniacs hauling in the lines, endeavoring to make the boats fast, and the cries of warning from people on the docks to the boatmen added to the excitement and the scene was one that words cannot picture.” At the time, the ferryboat ‘‘Transport’’ was coming across the river from Rhinecliff and was just inside the dikes of the creek when she was met by the outgoing ice and army of drifting vessels. She was enveloped by the advancing fleet and swept back into the river. Some of the ferry’s passengers were reported to have been panic stricken and to have leaped across floating blocks of ice to the solid ice of the Hudson. Apparently, they all successfully made it. Captain Injured The only reported injury was to Captain Charles Post of the Cornell tugboat “H. T. Caswell." His right foot was broken when caught between a mooring line and a cleat. A Dr. Smith and a Dr. Stern made their way across the ice in the river to the tugboat where they treated the injured boatman. He was later carried in a blanket across the ice to shore. In 1936 freshet was probably the more damaging since the Cornell tugs “Rob,” "Coe F. Young” and “William E. Cleary” were sunk and eight others fetched up along the south side of the creek opposite Ponckhockie, whereas in 1893 virtually all of the boats involved had floated out into the Hudson. The 1936 marine spectacular started at about 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 12. At that time, the ice started to move out of the creek below Eddyville and rapidly built up force and momentum as it moved toward the Hudson. As the ice surged past the C. Hiltebrant Shipyard at Connelly, it took along with it a small passenger steamboat, two tugboats, a derrick boat, and three or four barges and lighters that had been in winter quarters at the yard. Two scows tied up at Island Dock were swept away by the grinding ice and joined the growing armada of vessels moving downstream. The tug “Rob” had been tied up west of the Rhinecliff ferry slip on Ferry Street. A drifting barge caromed off the side of the “Rob,” heeled her over and sent her to the bottom of the creek. Eleven Cornell Tugboats that had been moored at Sleightsburgh all were set adrift by the advancing ice and started on their way down by the Rondout Creek. The Foggy Mark At the Cornell shops at Rondout, eleven out of twelve tugs tied up there were swept away. Snapping mooring lines sounded like guns going off. A heavy fog enveloped the area: and added to the ghostly appearance of the scene. At that point, some 30 tugs, barges and other vessels were moving down the creek and disappearing from sight into the foggy murk enveloping the creek and river. At the Sunflower dock at Sleightsburgh — further down creek — lay nine more Cornell tugboats and a steam derrick. The ice and moving vessels swept by these tugs and miraculously they remained in place. The outboard tug at the head of this group, however, the “Coe F. Young,” was holed and sunk and possibly this saved the remaining tugs from also moving along with the others. Two days later, the tug “William E. Cleary’’ — tied up with this group — rolled over and sank. When the fog lifted shortly before noon on March 12, eight of the tugboats that had been swept along from the neighboring Baisden shipyards at Sleightsburgh were strewn grounded along the south shore of the creek opposite the old Central Hudson gas house. All of the others were jumbled together out in the Hudson River off the Rondout lighthouse against the solid river ice. By a quirk of fate, the Cornell tugboat ‘‘J. C. Hartt” was the “hero” of both the 1893 and the 1936 freshets. In 1893 she was swept out into the Hudson and was one of the first tugs to get steam up and return the others to their berths. In 1936, after being set adrift, she moved down the creek stern first close along the Rondout docks. At Gill’s dock in Ponckhockie she hit a brick scow moored there. Ended Voyage The scow captain jumped aboard the “Hartt,’’ ran forward and was able to get a line ashore and end her unscheduled voyage at that point. Fortunately, at the time the “Hartt” was being made ready for the coming season. In short order, steam was raised on the tug and she soon was able to get underway and start the task of corralling the run-away fleet. By March 15, virtually all of the run-aways were back at their berths. The sunken “Rob” and “William E. Cleary” were subsequently raised. The sunken “Coe F. Young,” however, never was — and to this day what is left of the old tug is still on the bottom of Rondout Creek off the old Sunflower Dock where she met her end in the freshet of March 12, 1936. AuthorCaptain William Odell Benson was a life-long resident of Sleightsburgh, N.Y., where he was born on March 17, 1911, the son of the late Albert and Ida Olson Benson. He served as captain of Callanan Company tugs including Peter Callanan, and Callanan No. 1 and was an early member of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. He retained, and shared, lifelong memories of incidents and anecdotes along the Hudson River. 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 featuring stories by Captain William O. Benson (1911-1986). Beginning in 1971, Benson, a retired tugboat captain, reminisced about his 40 years on the Hudson River in a regular column for the Kingston (NY) Freeman’s Sunday Tempo magazine. Captain Benson's articles were compiled and transcribed by HRMM volunteer Carl Mayer. See more of Captain Benson’s articles here. This article was originally published in Tempo on June 25, 1972. During the early 1920's, when I was a boy growing up in Sleightsburgh, church services used to be held every Sunday afternoon at the little Sleightsburgh chapel on First Street. The Rev. Mr. Anthony of Rondout would conduct the service and be assisted by Mr. Arthur S. Flemming, who later became the president of Ohio Wesleyan University and Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in President Dwight Eisenhower’s cabinet. Mr. Flemming at that time had graduated from Kingston High School, but he had graduated so young that his father, Judge Harry Flemming, thought he should wait a year before going on to college. During that period, he used to assist Rev. Anthony almost every Sunday, being very active in church work. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, the bell in the belfry of the chapel would toll shortly before the service was to begin at 3 p.m. My mother would take my sisters and me with her to the service. Three Long Blasts At 3:25 p.m., the steamer “Poughkeepsie” of the Central Hudson Line would blow three long blasts on her whistle, announcing her impending departure at 3:30 p.m. from Rondout for New York. Almost always, Rev. Anthony would be giving his sermon at that time. When the "Poughkeepsie" would blow her whistle, Rev. Anthony's sermon would come to a dead stop. How that whistle would echo through the hills surrounding the Creek! Especially on one of these hot, lazy summer Sunday afternoons when the windows would be open. The "Poughkeepsie” would blow … and I'm afraid I would lose all interest in the sermon. At that time, how I wished I were the lookout on the “Poughkeepsie” and could be aboard her as she started out the creek. It is my understanding that much the same thing used to take place at Malden during the late 1930's and 1940's. At that time, Ellsworth Sniffen of Malden was a pilot on the “Alexander Hamilton’’ of the Hudson River Day Line. As was the custom on steamboats, most captains and pilots would blow a three blast salute on the whistle to their families as their steamer passed their home ... a steamboatman’s way of saying “hello.” During the 1930's and ‘40’s, the “Alexander Hamilton” almost always was the up boat to Albany on Saturdays. This, of course, would mean she would be the down boat on Sunday. The schedule at that time called for the down boat to leave Catskill at 11:40 a.m. and Kingston Point at 1 p.m. This would put her past Malden at about 12:15 noon. A Momentary Halt. As the “Hamilton” would come down along the west shore of the River off Malden, Pilot Sniffen would blow the customary three blast salute on the whistle. Services would be in progress in the church of the hill. As the “Alexander Hamilton" blew lustily, there would be a momentary halt while the pleasant whistle echoed through the valley. Now the steamboat whistles are all gone. So are many of the churches, such as the little chapel at Sleightsburgh. Progress is wonderful, but in its fast-paced course forward so many things of yesteryear are lost in the wake — like the sound of a steamboat whistle on a summer Sunday afternoon. AuthorCaptain William Odell Benson was a life-long resident of Sleightsburgh, N.Y., where he was born on March 17, 1911, the son of the late Albert and Ida Olson Benson. He served as captain of Callanan Company tugs including Peter Callanan, and Callanan No. 1 and was an early member of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. He retained, and shared, lifelong memories of incidents and anecdotes along the Hudson River. 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 working in the archives today with volunteer G.M. Mastropaolo, we discovered this delightful timetable in the Donald C. Ringwald collection. Outlining travel times and locations for steamboats, steam yachts, ferries, stages/stagecoaches, and railroads in Rondout, Kingston, "and vicinity." Among the many time tables is that of the ferry boat Transport. To learn more about the Transport, check out our past blog post about its history and use. Of particular interest to the collections staff and volunteers at the museum was this time table for the steamboat Mary Powell, the star of our 2020 exhibit, "Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson," opening April 25, 2020. "Handy Book of the Catskill Mountains" was designed for those traveling to the Kingston area for access to the Catskill Mountains and mountain houses. Measuring just 4 by 2.5 inches, this tiny little handbook would fit perfectly in a pocket or lady's reticule. The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to make this handbook available to the public. If you would like to view the entire book, chock full of both traveler's information and period advertisements, click the button below to download a PDF. If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to support the work of the Hudson River Maritime Museum, please make a donation or become a member today!
March, 2020 is March Membership Madness here at the museum. If you join in the month of March, you can receive 20% off (for 2020) any membership level. Learn more. |
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