Hudson River Maritime Museum
  • Home
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Board
    • News
    • Facility Rentals
    • Opportunities
  • Visit
    • Hours And Directions
    • Parking
    • Docking
    • Book A Charter
    • Rondout Lighthouse
    • Area Attractions
  • Museum
    • RiverWise
    • Museum at Home
    • Exhibits >
      • Mary Powell
      • Online Exhibits
    • Lecture Series
    • Walking Tours
    • School Programs >
      • Field-Trips
      • Hudson River Stewards
      • YouthBoat
      • Sea Scouts
    • Museum Mates
    • Group & Bus Tours
  • Boat Tours
    • All Boat Tours
    • Meet Solaris
    • Lantern Cruises
    • Sunset Cruise
    • Dual Lighthouse Cruise
    • Industrial Waterfront Cruise
    • Ecology Cruise
    • Rondout Lighthouse Tours
    • Private Charters
  • Events
    • RiverWise
    • Events Calendar
    • Online Education
    • Lecture Series
    • Sailing Conference >
      • Sailing Conference Resources
    • Visiting Vessels
    • Black History Conference
  • Boat School
    • Instructors
    • YouthBoat
    • Boat Building
    • Woodworking
    • Maritime Training
    • RWBS Library
    • Restoration
  • Sailing
    • Sailing School
    • Adult Sailing
    • Youth Sailing Program
    • Sea Scouts
  • Rowing
    • Rowing School
    • Rowing Programs
    • Learn to Row
  • Research
    • Research Requests
    • Collections >
      • Digital Collections
    • History Blog
    • RiverWise
    • Submerged Resources Project
    • Pilot Log
    • Hudson River History >
      • Henry Hudson
      • The Hudson River
      • Sloops of the Hudson River
      • Robert Fulton
      • Hudson River Steamboats
      • New York Canals
  • Support
    • Member Login
    • Donate Now
    • Join
    • Give
    • Museum Store
    • Pilot Gala
    • COVID19
    • Wish List
    • Volunteer
    • Boat Donations
    • Artifact Donations
    • Planned Giving
    • Our Sponsors

History Blog

Coaling Up At Rondout

7/15/2020

0 Comments

 
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 volunteers Carl and Joan Mayer. See more of Captain Benson’s articles here. ​This article was originally published March 14, 1972.
Picture
The Cornell Steamboat Company tugboat fleet, left, ca. 1900 along the Rondout in early spring. On the right are passenger boats along Island Dock awaiting the start of the boating season. Saulpaugh Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum
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.
Picture
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.

Author

Captain 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!
Donate Now
Join Today
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    This blog is written by Hudson River Maritime Museum staff, volunteers and guest contributors.

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    17th Century
    18th Century
    19th Century
    20th Century
    21st Century
    Accident
    Accidents
    African American
    African American Philanthropy
    African Americans
    Agriculture
    Albany
    Albany Rural Cemetery
    Algot J. Benson
    Alison Kraus
    American Revolution
    Amusement Parks
    Archeology
    Ashokan Center
    Ashokan Reservoir
    Atlantic World
    Automobiles
    Baldwin Shipyard
    Bannerman's Island
    Barge
    Beacon
    Bear Mountain
    Benjamin Wright
    Black History
    Boatbuilding
    Boat Christenings
    Boating
    Books
    Brickyards
    Bridges
    Britain
    Bud Atkins
    Callanan Road Improvement Company
    Canada
    Canalboat
    Canals
    Canal Workers
    Canoes
    Captain Benson
    Captain Benson Articles
    Captain Charles A. Tiffany
    Captain Samuel Schuyler
    Captain William O. Benson
    Capt. Eltinge Anderson
    Catskill And New York Night Line
    Catskill Evening Line
    Catskill Mountains
    Catskills
    Central Hudson Line
    Central Hudson Steamboat Company
    Chinese Exclusion Act
    Cholera
    Chris Mancuso
    Civil Engineering
    Civil War
    Claverack Landing
    Clean Water
    Clearwater
    Coal
    Coast Guard
    Cornell Steamboat Company
    Covered Barges
    Coxsackie Lighthouse
    Crew
    Crime
    Cross-head Engine
    Croton Aqueduct
    Danskammer Point
    Dar Williams
    Delaware Bay
    Delaware & Hudson Canal
    D&H Canal
    Disaster
    Documentary Films
    Dogs
    Drydock
    Duck Hunting
    Dutch
    Dutch East India Company
    Ed Carpenter
    Eddyville
    E. E. Olcott
    Elevators
    Environmental History
    Environmental Preservation
    Epidemics
    Erie Canal
    Erie Railroad Company
    Esopus Creek
    Esopus Island
    Esopus Meadows Lighthouse
    Excursion Boats
    Excursions
    Farmingdale
    Farmland
    Featured Artifact
    Ferries
    Ferryboats
    Fire
    Fishing Nets
    Floods
    Frances "Franny" Reese
    Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    Freight
    French And Indian War
    Freshets
    Fruit
    George Washington Bridge
    George W. Murdock
    Ghost Fleet
    Gradual Manumission Laws
    Greenport
    Half Moon
    Halley's Comet
    Halloween
    Harlem
    Harlem River
    Harper's Weekly
    Haverstraw
    Hay
    Hay Barge
    Henry Gourdine
    Henry Livingston Jr.
    Henry Tucker
    Historic News
    History Of Medicine
    Hoboken
    Holidays
    Homer Ramsdell Transportation Company
    Hospital Ship
    Hudson Athens Lighthouse
    Hudson Highlands
    Hudson River
    Hudson River Commercial Fishermen
    Hudson River Commercial Fishing
    Hudson River Day Line
    Hudson Riverescape
    Hudson River Fishermen's Association
    Hudson River Lighthouses
    Hudson River Night Boats
    Hudson River Revitalization
    Hudson Riverscape
    Hudson River School Paintings
    Hudson River Sloop
    Hudson River Steamboat
    Hudson River Steamboats
    Hungarians
    Hyde Park
    Ice
    Ice Barge
    Ice Barges
    Ice Boats
    Ice Breaker
    Ice Breaking
    Ice Fishing
    Ice Golfing
    Ice Harvesting
    Ice Houses
    Ice Skating
    Immigration
    Indian Point
    Indigenous
    Instruments
    Iona Island
    Island Dock
    Italians
    James Murdock
    Jay Ungar & Molly Mason
    Jim Malene
    John A. Roosevelt
    John B. Jervis
    Just For Kids
    Kingston
    Kingston Point Park
    Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge
    Labor
    Lighthouse
    Lighthouse Keepers
    Lighthouses
    Lilacs
    Livestock
    Long Dock Park
    Long Island Sound Steamers
    Lumber Barge
    Malden
    Marine Academies
    Marvel Shipyard
    Matton Shipyard
    Media Monday
    Merrygoround
    Mid-Hudson Bridge
    Milk
    MLK Day
    Mountain-houses
    Muddy Paddle Able Seaman
    Muddy Paddle On The Erie Canal
    Muddy Paddle's Excellent Adventure
    Music Monday
    Nantucket
    National Maritime Day
    New Baltimore
    Newburgh
    New Jersey
    New Rochelle
    New York
    New York City
    New York Harbor
    New York State
    New York State Barge Canal
    New York State Department Of Environmental Conservation
    Nightboat
    NY
    Nyack
    On The River
    Packet Boats
    Palisades
    Paper Mills
    Parks
    Passenger Boats
    Passenger Steamboats
    Paul Robeson
    PCB Cleanup
    Peekskill
    Peekskill Riots
    People's Evening Line
    People's Line
    Peter Tucker
    Pete Seeger
    Philadelphia
    Photo Contest
    Pleasure Barge
    Pleasure Groves
    Poetry
    Pollution
    Port Ewen
    Poughkeepsie
    Poughkeepsie Transportation Company
    Poultry
    Produce
    Race Tracks
    Railroad
    Ray Ruge
    Real Estate
    Rescues
    Revolutionary War
    Rhinecliff
    Riverkeeper
    Robert Boyle
    Robert Fulton
    Rockland Lake
    Rockland Lake Lighthouse
    Romer & Tremper Line
    Rondout
    Rondout Creek
    Rondout Lighthouse
    Rosendale Cement
    Safety Barge
    Sail
    Sailing
    Saugerties
    Saugerties And New York Steamboat Company
    Saugerties Evening Line
    Saugerties Lighthouse
    Scenic Hudson
    Schooner
    Schooner Vanda
    Schuyler Steam Tow Boat Line
    Scow
    Sea Shanty
    Shad Fishing
    Shandakan
    Sheet Music
    Shipbuilding
    Shipping
    Shipwrecks
    Skillypot
    Slavery
    Slaves
    Slavic
    Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse
    Sleightsburgh
    Sloops
    Sports
    Stagecoaches
    Steamboat Biographies
    Steamboat Clermont
    Steamboat Crew
    Steamboat Hendrick Hudson
    Steamboat Mary Powell
    Steamboat Onteora
    Steamboat Rensselaer
    Steamboat Thomas Cornell
    Steamboat Ulster
    Steamer Albany
    Steamer Alexander Hamilton
    Steamer Berkshire
    Steamer-concord
    Steamer C.W. Morse
    Steamer Homer Ramsdell
    Steamer Iron Witch
    Steamer James W. Baldwin
    Steamer Mary Powell
    Steamer Naugatuck
    Steamer Onteora
    Steamer-plymouth
    Steamer Point Comfort
    Steamer Poughkeepsie
    Steamer Washington Irving
    Storm King
    Sturgeon
    Sunday News
    Sunflower Dock
    Tappan Zee
    Tarrytown
    Tivoli
    Tourism
    Towboats
    Travel
    Tug Bear
    Tugboats
    Tug Cornell
    Tug Cornell No. 20
    Tug Cornell No. 21
    Tug Cornell No. 41
    Tug Edwin Terry
    Tug George W. Washburn
    Tug J.G. Rose
    Tug John D. Schoonmaker
    Tug Jumbo
    Tug Lion
    Tug Osceola
    Tug Perseverance
    Tug Peter Callanan
    Tug Pocahontas
    Tug R.G. Townsend
    Tug Rob
    Tug S.L. Crosby
    Tug William S. Earl
    Ulster Park
    U.S. Coast Guard
    US Merchant Marine
    Water
    Westchester County
    West Point
    Whaling
    Wharf
    Wildlife
    Winter
    Winter Sports
    Women
    Women Lighthouse Keepers
    Women's History
    Women's History Month
    Women's Sports
    Wooden Ships
    Wood Pulp
    World War I
    World War II
    Yellow Fever

    RSS Feed

Hudson River Maritime Museum
50 Rondout Landing
Kingston, NY 12401

​845-338-0071
fax: 845-338-0583
info@hrmm.org

​The Hudson River Maritime Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and related industries. ​

Members Matter!

Become a member and receive benefits like unlimited free museum admission, discounts on classes, programs, and in the museum store, plus invitations to members-only events.
Join Us!

Support Education

The Hudson River Maritime Museum receives no federal, state, or municipal funding except through competitive, project-based grants. Your donation helps support our mission of education and preservation.
Donate Today
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Board
    • News
    • Facility Rentals
    • Opportunities
  • Visit
    • Hours And Directions
    • Parking
    • Docking
    • Book A Charter
    • Rondout Lighthouse
    • Area Attractions
  • Museum
    • RiverWise
    • Museum at Home
    • Exhibits >
      • Mary Powell
      • Online Exhibits
    • Lecture Series
    • Walking Tours
    • School Programs >
      • Field-Trips
      • Hudson River Stewards
      • YouthBoat
      • Sea Scouts
    • Museum Mates
    • Group & Bus Tours
  • Boat Tours
    • All Boat Tours
    • Meet Solaris
    • Lantern Cruises
    • Sunset Cruise
    • Dual Lighthouse Cruise
    • Industrial Waterfront Cruise
    • Ecology Cruise
    • Rondout Lighthouse Tours
    • Private Charters
  • Events
    • RiverWise
    • Events Calendar
    • Online Education
    • Lecture Series
    • Sailing Conference >
      • Sailing Conference Resources
    • Visiting Vessels
    • Black History Conference
  • Boat School
    • Instructors
    • YouthBoat
    • Boat Building
    • Woodworking
    • Maritime Training
    • RWBS Library
    • Restoration
  • Sailing
    • Sailing School
    • Adult Sailing
    • Youth Sailing Program
    • Sea Scouts
  • Rowing
    • Rowing School
    • Rowing Programs
    • Learn to Row
  • Research
    • Research Requests
    • Collections >
      • Digital Collections
    • History Blog
    • RiverWise
    • Submerged Resources Project
    • Pilot Log
    • Hudson River History >
      • Henry Hudson
      • The Hudson River
      • Sloops of the Hudson River
      • Robert Fulton
      • Hudson River Steamboats
      • New York Canals
  • Support
    • Member Login
    • Donate Now
    • Join
    • Give
    • Museum Store
    • Pilot Gala
    • COVID19
    • Wish List
    • Volunteer
    • Boat Donations
    • Artifact Donations
    • Planned Giving
    • Our Sponsors