"Odell" Races Past the "Powell"

Hudson River Maritime Museum Collection

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 in the Ulster County Gazette, September 2, 1982.

By William O. Benson as told to Ann Marrott
SLEIGHTSBURGH – The Benjamin B. Odell was named after a former governor of New York State. Gov. Odell served two terms, prior to which he was a member of the assembly and the state senate. Before that he was the treasurer of the Central Hudson Steamboat Company. He could have been President, but he wouldn't accept the nomination.

Along with a few other men, he started the Central Hudson Steamboat Company in 1897; they acquired all the lines south of Kingston – the Romer and Tremper, Poughkeepsie Transportation Company and the Ramsdell Transportation Co. Their main office was in Newburgh.

Well, the "Benjamin B. Odell" was built in 1911 in Wilmington, Delaware, built for the Central Hudson line to operate between Kingston and New York as a year-round night boat.

When she came out they said she could do 22 or 23 miles an hour. The "Mary Powell" was always a fast boat. But a couple of times, when the "Odell" had to run down the river, she had to run slow for something or another and the "Mary Powell" would pass her. Of course, the crew on the "Mary Powell" kidded the crew of the "Odell" – the "Mary Powell" was fifty years old and she can still beat the new "Odell." That rankled in the minds of the "Odell" crew.

So it seems that in the fall of 1911, the "Mary Powell" had a late excursion out of Kingston to New York. She left New York at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon and the "Odell" left right behind her. But the "Powell" had to land at 129th St. and the "Odell" had to wait for the "Powell" to get out of there so she could land. Well, the "Odell" landed and the "Powell" stopped at Yonkers, but when she was leaving, the "Odell" was about a mile behind her. Nate Dunn, the chief engineer of the "Odell" had at one time been on the "Homer Ramsdell".
Now, the "Homer Ramsdell" was a smart boat, too, but she couldn't run with the "Mary Powell." It always rankled Nate Dunn – he'd like to be on a boat that could beat the "Mary Powell."

So he thought, "This is the day to try it." If we can't catch the "Powell," nobody would be the wiser." He told the fireman, "Stoke her up. We're gonna overtake the "Powell" if we can today.
Well, away they went up through Tappan Zee,, Haverstraw Bay. The "Odell" was creeping up on the "Powell" – slowly and slowly. By and by, just before they got below Bear Mountain, the "Odell" was right abreast of the "Mary Powell" and the "Odell", she was going. She flew the big flag of the Central Hudson Steamboat Co. behind her pilot house. And the black smoke foaming out of her stacks. She passed the "Mary Powell" of course, that night. The Newburgh Evening News came out that day: "Central Hudson Line Captures Queen of the Hudson."

From that day on, when the captain of the "Mary Powell," Captain Anderson, would meet Nate Dunn on the street in Kingston, (he knew him very well), he'd turn his head the other way. He wouldn't speak to Nate.

Of course, there's more to the story than that. My father was always a "Mary Powell" man, and he was ship carpenter on her at the time. He always said, and Phillip Maines, the made on her, told me the same thing, that the "Mary Powell" had a load of women and children that day from some of the churches here in Kingston. And Captain Anderson went down and told the chief engineer, "Don't you run this boat wide open. She's getting too old and we're not going to race. If the "Odell" wants to go by, let her go by."

But when the "Odell" did pass the "Mary Powell" her swell washed right up on the "Mary Powell's" gangway and even got the peoples' feet wet. Of course, as others said at the time, the "Mary Powell" was 50 years old and the "Odell" was just fresh from the builders. They always said that if the "Mary Powell" was 30 years younger, the "Odell" would never have caught up with her.

The "Odell" every Sunday and holiday had a big excursion out of New York. Sometimes she'd have 3,000 people on her.

When Governor Benjamin B Odell died in 1926, the Central Hudson Line was running on hard times and they went into the hands of receivers. They operated until 1929, when they were sold at a receiving sale.

Then the "Odell", as part of the new Hudson River Steamboat Co., was running in opposition to the big Albany night boats. In the winter of 1934, when the temperature in Kingston and the Hudson Valley was between 25 and 30 degrees below zero, the "Poughkeepsie" and the "Odell" operated the whole time from Kingston to Albany.

The "Odell" had the most melodious whistle. Today, that's on a boat that runs between New Bedford and Nantucket Island. When the whistle was put on the "B.B. Odell" in 1911, Nate Dunn told me it cost $500. That was a lot of money in those days. When that whistle blew, you could hear it from 5 or 6 miles away.
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But the "Odell" was laid up in winter quarters in Marlborough in 1937 and she caught fire and burned up.

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. ​