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.  This article was originally published ​ October 7, 1973.​

Many years ago when the pace of life was less hurried and pleasures more simple in nature, a favorite pastime of residents along the Hudson River was steamboat watching.
 
A Saturday summer's evening in the late 1890's or early 1900's was a particularly good time, for the "Mary Powell" and the "James W. Baldwin" of the Kingston night line would both arrive off Rondout light-house at about the same time. Old time residents of Port Ewen have told me how they would go out on the river bank to watch the sight and how many citizens of Rondout would gather along the water front to observe the hustle and bustle on the docks.
 
The "Mary Powell" would be returning to Rondout from her daily round trip run to New York. The "James W. Baldwin" would be ending her Saturday afternoon run up river with vacationists seeking the cooler air of Catskill Mountain resorts.
 
Both steamboats would try and get to Rondout lighthouse first, for the one which arrived last would have to wait out in the river for the other to enter Rondout Creek, turn around and land. Both used adjacent docks on the creek along Ferry Street between the foot of Broadway and Hasbrouck Avenue. Although the "Mary Powell" would leave New York later, invariably she would be first at Rondout.
 
What a sight it must have been! A lot of older folk around Port Ewen have told me how they would look down river and frequently the two steamers would be coming around Esopus Meadows light, one right behind the other.
 
Off Port Ewen, they would both clean their fires before going in the creek. Both steamboats had their boilers right aft of the paddle wheels out on the wide overhanging guards. The firemen would simply rake the ashes out of the boilers and dump them through a deck scuttle right into the river. As the ashes and hot coals would hit the water, a cloud of steam would momentarily envelop the middle portion of the steamboats.
 
One time several years ago, Miss Hilda Smith, who then resided at West Park, told me an interesting incident of steamboat watching that occurred at the turn of the century when she was a very young girl. At the time, her home was adjacent to that of John Burroughs, the famous naturalist.
 
She told me how she would be sitting with her father and John Burroughs on the lawn of their home high on the river bank. Frequently, it would be one of those summer evenings when the Hudson would be like a piece of glass, with not a ripple on the water and very warm. Mr. Burroughs and Mr. Smith would be talking of flowers,  birds and events of the day.
 
Then, below them, the "Mary Powell" would appear on her up river trip to Kingston. Her walking beam would be going up and down with its rhythmic motion, a white wake from her paddle wheels sending the water away from her like a great inverted letter "Y." Mr. Burroughs then would invariably remark, "There goes Mary rustling her skirts" — like a woman of those days with her ground length dresses.
 
Then he would look down towards Krum Elbow and say, "now here comes Jimmy chasing Mary home" — meaning, of course, the "James W. Baldwin."
 
If the "Mary Powell" made a  landing at Esopus, it would be the "Baldwin's" last chance to overtake the "Powell" and beat her to Rondout.
 
It must have been a wonderful sight to see, those two great paddlers going up river with the setting evening sun making their white paint glisten, with all their flags and pennants flapping in the breeze and passengers all around the decks. And the thump, thump, thump of their paddle wheels beating the water was a pleasant sound that is now stilled forever.
 
The nightly parade of the up river night boats on their journeys to New York was also a sight that enthralled many an old time area steamboat watcher. Shortly before dusk, the night boat from Saugerties would paddle by. Sometime later, the down steamer of the Catskill Evening Line from Coxsackie, Hudson and Catskill would glide past, followed by the night liner from Troy. Then, as sort of a grand climax, the largest steamboat of all, the night boat from Albany, would come out from behind Kingston Point and pass down river.
 
The Albany night boats in particular were huge, the largest steamboats ever built for service on the river. They would be illuminated by hundreds of lights. In the early years of this century, when electricity onshore was still relatively new, the Albany night boats carried their names emblazoned in lights in large signs on their top decks. As they glided into the distance, their myriad number of lights would blend into what appeared like a glittering diadem reflecting on the waters of the Hudson.
 
Back in the 1920's, the old New York Herald Tribune used to run a series of cartoons on the editorial page by T.A. Webster. One series was entitled "The Thrill that comes Once In a Lifetime," and one showed two boys standing on a river bank at night watching a steamboat pass by. The caption read, "The first sight of genuine glory — a steamboat at night."
 
Now, the last night boat has long since passed around the last bend in the river for the last time. Although almost everyone in today's affluent society tells us we are all better off, there is one delightful pleasure of old none of us in all probability will never experience again — steamboat watching.

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 Contributing Scholar Carl Mayer. This article was originally published July 17, 1977.

​In the long ago days of Hudson River steamboating, almost every city and larger village along the river had its own steamboat line to New York. Each line would have at least two boats to maintain daily service —each boat going down one day and back the next.
 
The steamers of the lines north of Newburgh were known as night boats, since they usually departed in the late afternoon or early evening and arrived at their destination in the early morning. All would carry freight on their main decks, and on the deck above were staterooms which offered sleeping accommodations for passengers.
 
Generally, travelling on the night boats was an extremely pleasant way to make a journey to or from New York. The river was always attractive in the evening and almost always one could count on a good night's sleep. The exceptions were when the steamer ran into fog and the pilot had to blow the boat's whistle, or if one had a stateroom right next to the paddle wheels.
 
Saugerties was one of those towns that had its own steamboat service. The company's name was the Saugerties and New York Steamboat Company and it was operated by mostly hometown men. During its last 20 years or so of service it was promoted (and known) to the travelling public as the Saugerties Evening Line.
 
Shortly after World War I, the outfit had two small, smart sidewheelers named Ulster and Ida. On one particular trip the Ulster left Pier 43, North river, in New York at her regular time. She had freight for all her landings, which in those days were at Hyde Park, Rhinecliff, Barrytown, Ulster Landing and Tivoli. She ended her journey at Saugerties. Most of her staterooms were also occupied.
 
She made very good time until she reached Crum Elbow, just south of Hyde Park, when it started to get foggy. At the time, she was overtaking the Catskill Line freighter Storm King. Of course, the fog signals had to be sounded on both steamers. A Cornell tow was  also on its way down the river, blowing the one-long-and-two-short whistle signal indicating they had a tow underway. The helper tug back on the tow, as a matter of courtesy, was also blowing its whistle, since it was back a good 500 feet from the towing tug.
 
What a racket of steam whistles that must have been in those early morning hours off Hyde Park! I suppose Franklin D. Roosevelt, if he was at home, the Vanderbilts and the great naturalist John Burroughs were awakened by all those steamboat whistles. Then, on top of all that, the big night boats out of Albany and Troy came along, sounding their whistles in the fog.
 
The passengers on the Ulster sure had a tough time trying to sleep. Some were up complaining about all the whistling. Others just stayed in their staterooms and put up with it. Then, a short while later after things got reasonably quiet again, came the landing at Rhinecliff with the organized confusion of unloading freight. There would be the sound of the hand freight trucks going on and off the gangplank, and the mate sounding off to the freight handlers to get the freight off so they could get out on time.
 
After leaving Rhinecliff, all was serene for a few moments except for the periodic blowing of the fog signal. However, off Astor's tunnel they met a canal tow which was crossways in the channel and this caused more whistle blowing. After the tow was cleared came the landing at Barrytown with the noise of the freight trucks and an argument between two freight handlers, which was brought to a stop by the authoritarian voice of the mate.
 
The Ulster then headed across the river to Ulster Landing. As was the custom on the night boats, a hallman would knock on the door of the stateroom of a passenger getting off at a particular landing about 10 minutes before docking, and announce the landing. Sometimes, a passenger would have to listen pretty closely, for some of the hallmen were like some of the conductors on the old West Shore Railroad — they had an odd way of pronouncing the names of the stations or landings.
 
In any event, the hallman knocked on the door of the stateroom of an Ulster Landing passenger and called out, "Ulster Landing, Ulster Landing." A lady passenger bound for Saugerties, in a stateroom or two away, also heard the knocking and the announcement "Ulster Landing." After all the whistle blowing since Hyde Park and the noise at Rhinecliff and Barrytown, she in all probability had been sleeping fitfully and in her half-awake state thought the knock was at her door.
 
When the lady heard the announcement "Ulster Landing," she may have reasoned that she was on the Ulster, and if the steamer was landing it was time to get off. In any event, she got up, got dressed and when the steamer ghosted through the fog. into the dock at Ulster Landing, she was at the gangway. As soon as the gangplank was put out, she walked ashore.
 
There was very little freight for Ulster Landing, so the gangplank was taken in and the Ulster was on her way for Tivoli in but a few moments. As the steamer disappeared into the fog, it must have come as a rude shock to the lady to find herself virtually alone on a river dock before dawn. It sure wasn't Saugerties!
 
After the Ulster left the dock, there was only one kerosene lantern for light and everything was so dark and still. The only other person around was the dockmaster who was an elderly man and very hard of hearing. He got all shook up with this well dressed lady alone in the freight shed. Finally, she got him to understand the mistake she had made. The dockmaster then got a chair for her to sit in until daylight, when he got a friend of his with a horse and wagon to take her on to Saugerties.
 
I often wondered if she ever made the trip to Saugerties again by steamboat.

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[Editor's note: To get out on the Hudson River and Rondout Creek in the 2024 season lighthouse tours and Solaris solar powered boat rides are offered by HRMM here: ​

Limited edition souvenir commemorative cover produced by Jerry Mastropaolo.

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​Experiences While on Early Morning Drive From Saugerties-New York Boats.
(By The Freeman's Mysterious Mr. Fox.)
           
Like girls freshly primped, charming in their spring suits and out for the first holiday of the season, so the popular steamers of the Saugerties & New York Steamboat Company, go into commission this season spotless and faultless, gay and gorgeous.  These belles of the river, as handsome in their way as dainty feminines in theirs, are sticklers for style.  And Roxbury of New York, the recognized artist in that line has given these gay sisters new attire this year, prettier than ever.
           
"We take pride in refitting our steamers and keeping them in perfect condition though it swallows much of the dividends." said Capt. Robert A. Snyder.  "This winter we spent $5,000 overhauling and decorating." Mr. Snyder and James T. Maxwell, founders and sole owners of the Saugerties & New York line of boats, put the river business for Dutchess and Ulster counties on a secure footing when It was gasping for life, 28 years ago; giving reliable transportation service for passengers and commodities, absorbing a steamboat line that was falling to pieces and two freight barge lines.  Both are men of large responsibilities.  Extensive property owner and together owners of several large Saugerties enterprises.  They put on new and palatial passenger steamers with large freight capacity, giving express service to fruit and merchandise, and cheap, adequate river service for getting berries and apples into market.  There is no way for these boats to sidetrack and delay merchandise.  Receiving it at their New York pier, No. 43 Christopher street, at 6:30 p. m., they deliver it to the consignees at their stopping points along the river before 7 the next morning.
           
The steamer "Ulster" opened this season's trips, leaving Saugerties Tuesday night cheered by crowds gathered to see her off.  The next morning the five cars of freight received dally from Saugerties during the close of navigation, in the West Shore yards in this city failed to arrive.  They had gone with the "Ulster." On calling at her dock before she sailed I found Daniel N. Finger, general agent, picking up the ends of the first business to be forwarded by the line to New York this year.  He has been with the company from its beginning, and knows how to get things started without fuss or labored effort.  He inherited the genius for it from his father, Henry L. Finger who was one of the company until the present owners bought it all up.
           
​Walking on to the boat we found Capt. George Post directing preparations for departure.  The "Ulster" glittered and shone from scrubbing, painting and decorating.  Like her sister steamer "Ida" now in Hiltebrant's ship yard at South Rondout, she had been made new in every part that was in any way worn.  The stateroom hall showed panels gleaming brightly in buff, green and pink with gold penciling, in pleasing harmony with white ceiling, red figured Brussels and dark blue plush upholstery.  This boat was fully overhauled and in perfect condition; and the men were all happy to get back on their jobs. 

The "Ida", still In her winter quarters, I subsequently visited.  I found Capt. Charles B. Tiffany enthusiastic over her trim and dress.  The boat never looked better or was in better form than now, he said.  Not differing greatly in general from her sister, the "Ida" this season dresses more summery in old ivory with slender gold trimmings, her fluted pillars lightly touched with gold lines; her ceiling immaculately white, and carpets, radiators and general equipments comparatively new.  Each of the two boats carries about 200 passengers in berths.  Their salon decks are girdled with glass giving abundant daylight into the halls that at night are brightly illumined with electric lights.  Their staterooms are roomy and well lighted, with toilet conveniences and freshened up by painters.  Steam heat warms the boats when required.  Each carries an orchestra and piano.  Course meals are served in the dining rooms forward, giving views of both sides of the river, at the popular price.  The "Ida" makes her first trip Decoration Day.  Passengers taking these boats year after year have absolute confidence in their management.  The officers of both boats have been in the service of that company several years, Capt. Tiffany nearly 25 years.  They are steady and reliable.  During the whole period of this company's service it hasn't injured or lost a passenger.  The owners do not allow liquors to be served in the boats.  They keep no employee who indulges in it.  The boats leave New York at 6:30 p. m. and Saugerties at 6 p. m. daily, except Saturday in July and August when the "Ida" leaves at 1 p. m. Excursionists for over Sunday trips and business men rejoining their families in the Catskill resorts make up the passenger lists of this boat on these weekly afternoon trips up to now.
           
​These boats laying up for the day at Saugerties give advantages to night travel for the Catskill mountain resorts not provided on other lines.  Occupants of berths need not be aroused before their accustomed hours for rising.  Those who enjoy the cool, pure break of day air, an invariable cure for the grouch and sullen temperaments, find themselves at their boat journey end in time for any hour of rising.  The Saugerties route to the Catskills is the most direct of all others.  The nearest to the mountains on landing from these boats.  Refreshed with the usual conveniences for their morning toilet, a good breakfast and pure mountain spring water served on these boats the early riser has an experience that makes a new man of him.  He takes a short drive to the mountains through the village with its rugged scenery and foaming Esopus where the first sight of the mountains is obtained.  He spins over the hard paved [illegible word] road that turns into the Catskills at Saugerties, the usual route of auto parties.  The highest summits topped with the big hotels loom up In mighty grandeur, lighted in magnified glory by the morning sun at his back showing wonderous topography — slopes riven with gorges, breasts of rocks, foliage and slides; each turn in the road drawing him nearer with fresh surprises in the unfolding of the range, showing odd shapes in the sky line, strange peaks rising unexpectedly to view in gaps and dropping out of sight as unexpectedly as he goes up and down with the easy rise and fall of the road; the valley falling from sight as in pieces as it is shut out of view on rounding each shoulder of the mountains.  That scenery on the road from Saugerties is the most glorious of all Catskill scenery.  Nowhere else is it rivalled.  It's so different from anything you can get on landing from the river boats at any other point, and it's all lost when travelling by train.  More than all, the pure mountain air at sunrise in a ride like that is alone worth the time and money of a trip to the Catskills. ​

HOW TOURISTS BEST ENJOY THE CATSKILLS.
At no other river point do conveniences for driving through this magnificent Catskill scenery give greater satisfaction, better sightseeing and a greater chance to get around to the most attractive places with the least distances to travel behind classy teams and autos than by going in from Saugerties.  The Van Buskirk stables for twenty-five years have assisted thousands of sightseers to reach the Catskills.  Their chauffeurs and drivers know all the country and the best roads to travel.  Tourists send word ahead mentioning the class of rig wanted, the number to be carried and the destination and are met at the boat with what they ordered ready to start without delay.  Many on more sightseeing trips each year hire teams or autos for the tour of the mountains, taking in the most picturesque sections.  With high class autos and a modern garage having convenience and supplies for auto touring parties going through with their own machines, with three large stables of fifty-five horses for driving and saddle and every class of vehicles in popular use for pleasure driving with those accustomed to Catskill travel, the Van Buskirk stables give as good outfits as any of the best New York stables.

CHRIST HUBERTS' ONLY RIVER FRONT HOTEL
 On leaving the boat at Saugerties, the "Scenic village of the Hudson," you'll observe the large stone hotel opposite, pretty with abundance of surrounding foliage and a little park of flowers.  It's Christ Huberts's South Side Hotel. You'll be interested In that remarkable elm standing guard over this house, the largest elm in the county, five trees springing up as one and casting shade over a circle of house and lawn measuring 100 feet in diameter. Christ Huberts is now entering his fourteenth season catering to summer pleasure seekers. He is popular with the German singing societies of New York who make up parties on the Saturday afternoon trips of the "Ida" during July and August, leaving pier 43 at 1 p. m. They take possession of the house and have a jolly time of It until the return boat several hours later. New York yachtsmen, bound for the lakes and returning, put in here for its good harbor and he gets their patronage. It's Bohemian, yet the rooms and dining parlors are large and attractively furnished. Christ Huberts is a genial, enterprising landlord, a good fellow to stop with.

CARTING AT SAUGERTIES BY LARGE CONCERN.
All express, freight and baggage to and from the Saugerties & New York boats and the West Shore railroad are handled by one of the largest trucking and carting enterprises along the river.  Owners of baggage coming to Saugerties by boat or car may be assured that it will be delivered safely and promptly by Doyle's baggage wagons.  During the many years William Doyle has engaged in the business not a piece has been lost or delayed while in his hands.  Shipments of supplies and furnishings for summer homes may be consigned to the care of William Doyle, Saugerties, who will take them from car or boat and deliver them promptly to their destination uninjured.  With forty horses, all sized trucks, tackle and other equipments for light or heavy work in which he employs experienced workmen Doyle can move anything that's moveable.  All freight, baggage express, machinery, boilers, engines, safes, pianos, furniture moved in Saugerties go through his hands.  Supplies for the big mills and their products are carted by his teams.  He has full charge of the enormous cartage of the Martin Cantine Co., paper mill business.  Mr. Doyle began a poor boy, afterwards trucking with one rig.  His success is marvelous.  His business amounts to many thousands of dollars annually.  It proves that all Mr. Doyle undertakes he accomplishes and to the satisfaction of his patrons.

NEW YORK PAPERS AT UP TO DATE STATIONERS.
The New York daily and Sunday papers reach Saugerties early in the day and you'll not need to go without your favorite paper when you come up there on a trip.  They are served by N. Van Steenberg, the stationer in the new store next to the Exchange Hotel.  You can get your stationery there with selections from the most delicate styles you are accustomed to get in New York.  If you want calling cards or printed stationery he'll do the printing.  Magazines and reading matter, souvenir cards, cigars, playing cards, useful articles, such as are sold by up to date stationers are to be obtained at Van Steenberg's and if there is anything in his line not commonly in stock he'll get it for you.

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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                                                           Oseola
      
The steamboat “Oseola” was one of the Hudson river vessels which were in service in the early days of steam navigation on the river and were then taken to other rivers, passing from the pages of Hudson river steamboats. Records of river-craft contain little information about the “Oseola,” but one fact that is evident throughout the sparse recordings of this vessel was her ability to sail up and down the river at a faster pace than most of the other steamboats of her size at that particular time in the river’s history.
           
The wooden hull of the steamboat “Oseola” was constructed by William Brown at New York in the year 1838. She was built for the celebrated Alfred DeGroot, at that period a brilliant figure in the activities of the Hudson river, and was scheduled for service on the waters discovered by Henry Hudson in his quest for a short route to India.
           
Known to rivermen as one of the “clippers of her day,” the “Oseola” was placed in service between New York and Fishkill- running as a dayboat and making landings at intermediate points along the river. The only indication as to the size of the “Oseola” comes from a recorded observation that she was “one of the fastest small boats on the river,” but her actual dimensions have been lost in the maze of steamboat histories that have come down through the years of steamboat navigation.
           
After making numerous trips on the New York-Fishkill route, the “Oseola” established a name for herself as a fast vessel, and her trips were extended up the river to Poughkeepsie. She plied the waters between New York and Poughkeepsie for the balance of her first season.
           
In the spring of 1839 the “Oseola” was placed in service between the city of Hudson and New York, under the command of Captain Robert Mitchell. She left New York at the foot of Chambers street every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at four o’clock for Hudson, and made landings at Caldwell’s, West Point, Fishkill, New Hamburgh, Milton, Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Thompson’s Dock, Kingston, Red Hook, Bristol and Catskill. On her trip down the river the “Oseola” left Hudson every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 6 o’clock, and made the same landings on her return trip. At Hudson she landed at the old State Prison wharf at the foot of Amos street where both freight and passengers were discharged or taken aboard.
           
​The steamboat “Oseola” plied the waters of the Hudson river for several years and was then taken to the Delaware river. The length of her service on the Hudson river, or how long her career continued. after she appeared on the Delaware river, is unknown, as the record of her service closes with her transfer to the Delaware river.

Back in 1929 when I was a deckhand on the steamer “Albany” of the Hudson River Day Line, I thought maybe I’d like to go quartermaster on one of the boats of the Saugerties Evening Line.
 
I walked from the 42nd Street Pier of the Day Line down to Pier 43, North River, at the foot of Christopher Street—where the Saugerties boat would be tied up during the day.  I wanted to talk to an old friend of my brother’s from their days on the “Onteora.’’  He was pilot on the steamer ‘‘Robert A. Snyder” and his name was Harry Grough.
 
As we sat in the Snyder’s pilot house talking and looking out over the harbor, we could hear all kinds of steam whistles from all sorts of floating equipment— including  tugboats, ferries, ocean liners and sidewheel steamboats.  I told him I thought I would like a quartermaster’s position if one was open.

Captain Absent
He said I would have to see, the captain, Richard Heffernan. The captain, however, was not aboard that afternoon as he had gone downtown to get the boat’s papers renewed, and would not be back until just before sailing time.
 
Harry said to me, “If I were young like you, Bill, I would go over to Jersey and get a job on the railroad tugs.  That’s where the business is.  This business is dying out every day.”
 
Then, we went down on the freight deck.  Harry said, “Look, here it is almost 3:30 p.m. and we only have a few boxes and bags on board.  A few years ago at this time, this deck would have been piled right up to the carlings with all kinds of freight.”
 
Harry continued, “Tonight, we’ll be lucky if we have a half dozen passengers.  The passengers used to start to come on board at 2 p.m. and, by now, the staterooms would be sold out.  Tonight, you could take your pick of almost anyone you’d want.  This Line can’t go on like this very long.  When the company doesn’t make a dollar, then we don’t have a job either.  No, Bill, you will be better off going on the tugboats.”

He Was Right
Over the years, I found out for myself Harry was right.

The Saugerties Evening Line boats were the ‘‘Robert A. Snyder’’ and the ‘‘Ida.” Every night, one would leave Saugerties, sail out Saugerties Creek and make landings at Tivoli, Barrytown, Rhinecliff and Hyde Park on its sail to New York.

When the “Snyder” and “Ida” were operating back in those long ago days, every night at about 7:30 of 8 p. m. one would hear one or the other blow three long whistles for the Rhinecliff landing to take on freight and passengers.  Between 1 and 2 a.m. in the lonely morning hours the up boat would be heard blowing her whistle for Jim Conroy, the dock master at Rhinecliff, to take its lines.

To the tugboatmen, the night boats were like old friends.  During the long night and early morning hours, it was indeed pleasant to see the night boats approaching in the distance and hear the slap, slap of their paddle wheels in the stillness of the night. 

A Glittering Crown
Then, as they passed by, they would often blow a low salute on their whistle.  As they faded into the night, their deck and cabin lights would blend into a glittering crown of light reflecting on the water.

I remember on several occasions Dan McDonald, the pilot on the “Osceola,” telling me how he would be coming down river with a large tow off Germantown, and on a clear night look down the river at about 3 a.m. and see one of the Saugerties boats coming up off Crugers Island; then turn and show her green starboard light as she went into Saugerties Creek.  He would remark how nice it must have been at that hour to get tied up and go to your room in the pilot house block and sleep until you felt like getting up and then look out on the quiet and peaceful dock at the fine little village of Saugerties.  No worries about morning fog, how the tow was going to follow, or old leaky brick or stone scows in the tow.

The “Robert A. Snyder” was layed up for good in 1931 at her dock on Saugerties Creek.  As there was only enough business for one boat, the “Ida,’’ since she had a steel hull and was the younger boat, continued for one more year.  Then in 1932 she was quietly layed up.
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Strangely, the Saugerties Evening Line, serving Saugerties and small villages on the upper Hudson, outlasted all the other night lines on the river except the big night boats to Albany.  The Central Hudson Line, serving Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh went out in 1929 and the last boat of the Catskill Evening Line stopped for good in 1931.  Finally, in 1932, the automobile and the Great Depression took their tolls of the last night boat from Saugerties.

SPOONING PARTIES.
How These Commendable Aids to Matrimony Should Be Conducted.
“Spooning” parties are popular in some quarters. They take their name from a good old English word which was intended to ridicule the alleged fantastic actions of a young man or a young woman who is in love. For some reason, which no one ever could explain, everybody pokes fun at the lover. In fact, that unhappy character is never heroic in real life, no matter what great gobs of heroism are piled about him on the stage, and in all the romantic story books. The girl in love and the boy in love are said to be “spoony.”

When a “spooning" party is given, the committee in charge of the event receives a spoon from each person who attends, or else presents each guest with a spoon. These spoons are fancifully dressed in male and female attire, and are mated either by the similarity of costume or by a distinguishing ribbon. The girls and boys whose spoons are mates are expected to take care of each other during the continuance of the social gathering.

Of course the distribution of the spoons is made with the greatest possible carefulness, the aim being to so place them as to properly fit the case of the young people to whom they are presented. The parties are usually given by the young people of some neighborhood where the personal preference of each spoony is well known, and they are the source of no end of fun. It is possible also that they serve as aids to matrimony as well, and are therefore commendable, since an avowal is made more easy to a diffident swain after he feels that his passion is not a secret, but that his weakness for a ‘‘spoony'’ maiden is known to his friends and enemies on the committee which dispenses the spoons. It may be mentioned that after the spoons have been distributed among the guests, each couple retires for consultation regarding the reasons which caused the award of mated spoons in their case. This consultation is known by the name of "spooning.’’--St. Louis Republic .via The Yonkers Herald, June 24, 1895

“Don't love in Gotham--
You've got no place to go;
You can't hide in the subway
Or on the roofs, you know!
The cop that's on the corner
Has got his eye on you--
Don't love in Gotham--
You'll be ‘pinched’ if you do!"
 
SO sang Tom Masson—or, in words to that effect—some ten years ago, but the tragi-comic warning is just ten times as true this summer. For one of the problems of 1920 in merry old Manhattan is the H. C. of L., which in this connection should be translated the High Cost of Loving!

Cupid knows it always has been a dilemma for New Yorkers. In all the side streets, east or west, there isn’t a piazza with rambler roses curtaining it and a hammock swung across one comer, there isn't a circular seat built around a drooping elm or broad spreading maple, there isn't a lovers' lane or a Ben Bolt “nook by a cool running brook.” No got. No can do.
But now courting must be conducted between the devil of the profiteering landlord and the deep sea of propriety. For the simple truth is that almost no New Yorker can afford have a parlor for his daughter's beaux, that daughter herself can't find a house with a parlor in it, if she ls boarding. The rent laws passed at Albany do not prevent anybody from ejecting Cupid. And he is quite literally put out on the sidewalk—or into the park.

The easiest way for the “new poor” —the thousands with stationary salaries—to pay their rent is simply to let an outsider pay rent for that extra room, once the courting parlor. The tenements long ago learned to use the “roomer" to cope with the landlord. The flats and apartments are profiting by the lesson. As for the boarding-house landladies, who can blame those harassed women for filing every room under their roofs to help pay the butcher and the baker?

President Hibben of Princeton was complaining recently about the frankness and lack of reserve between the young men and women of to-day, but even these candid souls have not reached the point where they'll do their courting in the bosom of their families. If the parlor and solitude a deux is not for them, then neither is the family living room!

Hence it is that there never were so many spooners in Central Park as there are to-day—I mean to-night. Every bench is a kissing bench. And the rush is such that two loving couples often are forced to seek accommodations on the same bench! Not even the rain drives them off. When it pours too hard they simply seek refuge in the tunnels. The Park cops are being worn out by their job as civic chaperones [sic]; the Park squirrels, from being interested, and then shocked, are now merely bored.

And the deep sea of propriety is much vexed. “How can nice girls make love so publicly!” indignantly exclaim the old maids of either sex. "Nothing like that goes with us," declares the Hudson River Day Line, or, to quote exactly its recent announcement, “All spooning is tabooed from the decks of the boats. We request that the conduct of the young people shall be above criticism. The young women can help largely to control the situation.”

Maybe they can—if they take Mr. Masson's advice and "don't love in Gotham.” But if a nice young clerk is so ill advised as to fall in love with a nice young stenographer, will you tell me just how they can do their courting?

He can't “say it with flowers.” Theatre tickets, candy—nice candy. There articles are in the luxury class, nowadays, even for ardent lovers. She has no parlor in which she can receive him. They can't afford to go to a decent restaurant and buy enough lemonades, after dinner, to give them the privilege of spending the evening there.

There remain the park, the seat on top of the bus, the Coney Island boat —public enough, heaven knows, but at least populated by strangers and not by a too observant family. There is also the sapient scheme of the rookie who took his girl to the Pennsylvania Station, rushed to the gate with her when a train was announced, bade her a fond, an osculatory farewell—then sneaked back to the waiting room and encored the performance when the gates were opened for the next departing train and the next and the next!

Who knows but the much criticized cheek-to-check dancing is not merely a pathetic attempt to make love in the face of a cold and hostile world? “Romance is dead, but all unseen romance jazzed up at nine-fifteen, to paraphrase Mr. Kipling.
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But don't let anybody think he has solved the housing problem until he brings back the beau parlor or gives us a just-as-good substitute. From the New York Evening World, July 14, 1920

DAY LINE TABOOS SPOONING - Hudson Boats to Have Community Song Services.

Beginning yesterday, “spooning" was tabooed on the boats of the Hudson River Day Line. Thousands of circulars will be distributed today setting forth the new "directions" of Ebon E. Olcott, the President.

"We have said many times that some share of the comfort and enjoyment of the Sunday boat rides rests with each and every one on board.” says the circular. "Will you help us make the memory of these trips wholesome and full of enjoyment? We request that the conduct of the young people shall be above criticism. ... ." 

There will be a "community service" on the boats each Sunday and a religious service at Pavilion No. 2, at Bear Mountain.  From The New York Times, June 13, 1920.

Find a summary of this topic here. 

Editor's Note: This article, "'Companionship and a Little Fun': Investigating Working Women’s Leisure Aboard a Hudson River Steamboat, July 1919," written by Austin Gallas and published in Lateral 11.2 (2022). https://csalateral.org/issue/11-2/companionship-and-a-little-fun-investigating-working-women-leisure-hudson-river-steamboat-1919-gallas/#:~:text=The%20investigator's%20written%20account%20offers,Hudson%2C%20and%20how%20Progressive%20reformers​

​Article Abstract: This article provides an in-depth consideration of a single report penned on the night of July 27, 1919 by a private detective employed by New York City's Committee of Fourteen (1905-1932), an influential anti-vice and police reform organization. A close reading of the undercover sleuth's account, which details his experiences, subjective judgments, and general observations regarding moral and social conditions while aboard the "Benjamin B. Odell", a palatial Hudson River steamboat enables us to enrich our grasp of the courtship and pleasure-seeking practices popular among working women and men active in New York City's heterosocial and largely segregated amusement landscape during the so-called "Red Summer". Specifically, the report reveals how wage-earning women articulated femininity and sought individual freedoms, companionship, pleasure and romance via Hudson River steamboat excursions.

                                                                  Daniel Drew
               
The “Daniel Drew” was another of the wooden-hull vessels constructed by Thomas Collyer of New York city, built in 1860, with a hull measuring 224 feet The engine of the “Daniel Drew” was from the steamboat “Titan.”
               
On June 5, 1860, the “Daniel Drew” appeared on the Hudson river and was placed in regular service between New York and Albany. She was an exceptionally fast vessel, making one run in October of the same year, of six hours and 31 minutes traveling up the river and making nine landings. She was a very narrow boat when she first appeared on the river and was at times rather cranky, but this factor was one of the reasons for her ability to attain such high speed. In 1862 she was widened five feet.
               
James Collyer and other boatmen controlled the “Daniel Drew” until September 25, 1863 when she was sold to Alfred Van Santvoord and another group of steamboat men. On October 7 of the same year, Van Santvoord and company also purchased the “Armenia,” and so was laid the foundation of the present Hudson River Dayline. In 1864 the “Chauncey Vibbard” was built to run as a consort to the “Daniel Drew,” and then the “Armenia” was used as a spare boat and for occasional excursions.
               
For many years the “Daniel Drew” and “Chauncey Vibbard” plied the waters of the Hudson river on regular schedule, and then it became necessary to have a new boat. The “Albany” was then placed in service on July 2, 1880, and the “Chauncey Vibbard” was retained to run as the new boat’s consort. The “Daniel Drew” was placed in reserve and the “Armenia” was sold for service on the Potomac river where she was destroyed by fire in 1886.
               
On a Sunday afternoon, August 9, 1886, as the “Daniel Drew” was laying at Kingston Point, she caught fire from the engine house of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and was totally destroyed. Thus ended the career of another of the famous steamboats of the Hudson river.