More on the Steamboat "Hope"

Editor's note: The following text is from articles printed in 1811, 1812 and 1824 in the publications noted below. Thank you to Contributing Scholar Carl Mayer for finding, cataloging and transcribing these articles. The language, spelling and grammar of the article reflects the time period when it was written.

​July 31,  Evening Post (NY)
STEAM BOATS. City of New-York, ss.
John T. Haviland and David Morris being sworn, severally, depose that they were pilots on board the Steam Boat Hope, on her passage from Albany to New-York last Saturday—that the said boat set out from Albany at 9 o'clock A. M. in company with the North River Steam Boat—that the Hope led the North River about two hundred yards when both boats were fairly underway, and continued to lead about that distance until she arrived at Paddock’s Point, or thereabout, when the steam of the Hope being considerably exhausted, the North River gained upon her, but did not approach within fifty yards of her, until the North River ran foul of the Hope, as hereinafter mentioned—that the North River came up and struck the Hope on her larboard quarter, a little below Paddock’s Point, on the east side of Hudson River, when the Hope was laying her course direct down the River—that when the North River struck the Hope, as aforesaid, there was room for four or five Steam Boats to pass between the Hope and the edge of the channel——That after the North River Steam Boat had struck the Hope, she kept her engine a-going until the Hope grounded, when the engine of the North River was stopped. That the pilot of the North, River Boat immediately called out to set the engine in motion, and that he would pay the damage. That the Hope draws more water than the North River, and therefore these deponents deemed it expedient to follow the channel from Albany to the place where the Hope was ran ashore by the North River. That these deponents did not intentionally run the Hope in the way of the North River to prevent her passing the Hope at any time during the passage from Albany to the place where the Hope grounded as aforesaid, and further these deponents say not.
            JOHN T. HAVILAND.  DAVID MORRIS.
Sworn before me this 30th day of July 1811. GARRIT GILBERT, Special Justice.

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​September 17, 1811 Evening Post (NY) THE NEW ALBANY STEAM BOATS, HOPE AND PERSEVERANCE.
The Hope, Capt. Bunker, will leave New-York every Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock, and Albany every Saturday morning at the same hour.
The Perseverance, Capt. Sherman, will leave N. York every Saturday afternoon at half past 5 o'clock, and Albany every Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock, throughout the season.
Said boats will lay at the foot of Liberty-street, New-York, and in front of the Eagle Tavern, Albany.

December 3, ​1812 Alexandria Gazette (VA) STEAM BOATS FOR SALE.
THE ALBANY STEAM BOATS, Hope aud Perseverence [sic],
With their Machinery, Tackle and Apparel. These boats having run only one season are in the best order and repair. For terms apply to the Printers, or to H. Bleecker, Capitol Hill, Washington.

January 17, ​1824 Alexandria Gazette (Washington, DC)
THE HOPE LOST.
Baton Rouge, Dec. 13, [1823]—We learn from persons who have arrived here from Natchez, that the steam boat Hope, which left New Orleans some time since, struck a snag in the Mississippi river [on Dec. 7, 1823], about 20 miles above this place, and immediately went to the bottom. The passengers and crew with difficulty escaped.     Gaz.

January 23, ​1824-01-23 Philadelphia Inquirer
The St. Francisville paper informs us that on the evening of the 7th of December [1823], the steam boat Hope, on her passage from New Orleans to Alexandria, struck on a snag about nine miles below that place, directly opposite the mouth of Sandy Creek, and sunk. She went down in about a minute and a half after striking. Fortunately, no lives were lost.

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