Launching of Steamboat Hendrick Hudson - 1906

Editor's Note: Article text is from a former museum exhibit at Hudson River Maritime Museum.

Katharine Olcott christening the steamboat "Hendrick Hudson" in 1906. Hudson River Maritime Museum collection

The Launching of Hendrick Hudson March 31, 1906 was a festive day in Newburgh. That morning, that shipbuilding city would witness the launching of the magnificent steamer Hendrick Hudson for the Hudson River Day Line. At the T.S. Marvel Shipbuilding Company's yard, the new flagship of the Day Line would make her initial plunge into the waters of the Hudson at eleven o'clock.

She was the line's flagship for only seven years, relinquishing it in 1913 to the slightly larger Washington Irving, but she regained her title and her former position of eminence in 1926 after the unfortunate sinking of Washington Irving in New York harbor.

Little Katharine Olcott, the daughter of the line's owner, performed the duties of the sponsor admirably when she smashed a bottle of Catskill Mountain water on the stem as she said, "I christen thee Hendrick Hudson."

White carrier pigeons were released from the vessel's deck as she moved down the ways. At that moment, the sun broke through the cloudy skies, the whistles of the vessels assembled at Newburgh that day were blown in a cacophonous chorus, and a cannon on the deck of the Day Liner New York was fired in salute.

A few moments later, the massive hull was afloat and in the charge of Cornell's  tug Hercules. It was indeed a day that Newburgh would long remember.

T. S. Marvel said, "I always use champagne…"

When Hendrick Hudson was built, the Hudson River Day Line did not serve alcohol aboard the vessels. The family of Eben E. Olcott, the line's owner, was strictly teetotal – particularly Mrs. Olcott. He proposed to christen his new steamer with water from the Catskill Mountains, and a bottle of this clear, shimmering liquid, gaily decorated with ribbons in the usual style, was handed to the sponsor, little Katherine Olcott, with her father looking on admiringly.

Thomas S. Marvel, the builder, absolutely refused to launch a vessel without the traditional champagne christening. He complied with Olcott's wishes – or so it seemed from the launching platform – but sent one of the shipyard men up to a saloon on South Water Street for a bottle of bubbly. The man soon returned from his mission.

With bottle in hand and well out of sight of Olcott, Thomas Marvel stationed himself near the aft end of the vessel, and when she began to move (and Katherine had christened her with the Catskill water), he smashed the bottle of champagne on her hull plates and quickly moved to safer ground.

​Hendrick Hudson was well and truly christened. The Olcotts never knew.

Launching of steamboat "Hendrick Hudson" at T.S. Marvel Shipyard, Newburgh, NY. Hudson River Maritime Museum collection

​The Magic of Hendrick Hudson: Those among us who remember the steamboat Hendrick Hudson, the flagship for many years of the Hudson River Day Line, can only look back upon that vessel with a feeling of nostalgia. Nostalgia is a strong emotional response among those who were privileged to travel on this handsome, long-lived steamboat.

Ask one who ever experienced the magic of sailing aboard her, and he or she will say, "I am proud to have been able to see the magnificent Hudson from the deck of a magnificent steamer like Hendrick Hudson. But I am equally proud that our river was the home of the vessel for all of those years." "I recall the magical, unforgettable sound of her whistle as she announced each landing," And that sound – the steamer's voice – was unlike any other.

​The magic continued once you were aboard. The flags flying gaily from her many flagpoles, the rhythmic "splish-splish-splish" of her paddle wheels, the tantalizing smell of steam and hot oil that issued from her engine room, the mesmerizing sight of her 6200-horsepower engine as it made seemingly endless revolutions while it propelled the steamer – and you – to your destination. The magic ended when you went ashore – and that magic truly ended in 1948, when "Finished with Engines" was rung on her engine-room telegraph for the last time. Hendrick Hudson, we have missed you.

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