Two Saved on Hudson by Black Deckhand - 1922

Editor's note: The following article is from the September 23, 1922 issue of "New York Age", serving the Black communities and  published in New York City.. Thank you to Contributing Scholar George A. Thompson for finding, cataloging and transcribing this article. The language, spelling and grammar of the article reflects the time period when it was written.

Lifeboat from steamboat "New York" is similar to the one rowed alone by Bob Williams when rescuing the canoers. Donald C. Ringwald collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum.

Bob Williams, a Negro deckhand on the Hudson River Day Line steamer "Robert Fulton", put himself on the roll of heroes on Wednesday, September 13, when he was cheered by eighteen hundred passengers on that boat who witnessed his thrilling rescue of two students from Maryknoll Seminary, Ossining, who were clinging to a capsized canoe in the Hudson off from Ossining.

The students, Christian Fuss and Harold Dunn, had been canoeing, and when they started to change seats in the boat, the canoe shot from under them and they were precipitated into the water. They were in the water an hour and a half, when the "Robert Fulton" passed at full speed. the big steamer was a half mile beyond the struggling men before Captain Magee could stop and reverse engines.

In the meantime, Williams, with two other deckhands, had lowered the stern lifeboat and in the teeth of a strong tide Williams swiftly rowed back to the men. When the two students were pulled into the lifeboat, the eighteen hundred passengers made the highlands on both sides of the river echo with their cheers.

Dunn and Fuss were attended by a physician for ninety minutes before they were put ashore at Yonkers. Dunn paid a tribute to his rescuer by declaring that "I never thought a boat could be launched and rowed such a distance in such a short time. That man Williams is a wonderful oarsman."

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