1826

January 24, 1826 Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
On Tuesday last, a sloop arrived at New York, from this city, laden with produce. The Poughkeepsie papers of Wednesday mention the departure of sloops from that place for New York, and the passage of several sloops by, bound down the river.

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February 7, 1826 Westchester Herald (Ossining, New York)
For Sale, The sloop Cortlandt, of 75 tons burthen; is a good substantial vessel, in good condition, and a part of her timbers are locust. For terms apply to Captain John Sherwood, at Sparta, or to the Subscriber at Singsing Richard Austen

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February 8, 1826 Dutchess Observer (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Saturday Sloops to sail from New Hamburgh Landing the ensuing season. Sloop Nancy, A. Bogardus, Captain. Sloop Huntress, E.B. Godfrey, Captain. The subscribers having taken the Store House and Landing at New Hamburgh, formerly owned by John Drake, jur. and Samuel Bogardus, intend sailing one of the above sloops from said Landing to New York on Saturday of each week, at four o'clock P.M. during the slooping season.

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February 10, 1826 Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
Notice. The citizens of Albany and Troy, who are engaged in Sloop Navigation on the Hudson River, are invited to call and see the new invented ponderous Machines and Lighters, described in a plate, calculated to bring any Sloop over the Overslaugh, by lighting them from 30 to 50 tons. The inventor, having a full conviction of the utility of this invention, has left it with WM. HAINS, No. 61 Chapel St., Albany, where it will be open for inspection, between the hours of 9 A.M. and 4 P.M. Artimas Gleason

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February 24, 1826 Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
River Navigation (For the Albany Argus & City Gazette). The great importance to the northern and western parts of the state, in the improvement of the navigation of the Hudson river, from the sloop lock above Troy to Coeymans Landing, must be admitted by all who take an interest in accelerating the march to greatness, which New York is destined to attain, if the fostering encouragement of our legislature shall be directed to this interesting subject.

The diversity of modes for the attainment of this desirable end has induced some of our public spirited citizens to seek for information among scientific as well as practical men, in order to select the most effiacious as well as economical method of removing the obstacles which now impede the navigation. The great improvement in the dredging machines now in use on the river Thames, if adopted here, will undoubtedly effect the object in view, in the expeditious and economical manner. To the various modes hitherto used, of sinking jettees or wing dams, for the purpose of removing the alluvial deposits by an accelerated current, there are objections which do not apply to the method of excavating by the dredge, and the experience as to the expense and inefficacy of the former mode, compared to the latter, if reliance be placed on the statements made by those who speak from actual knowledge, is such, that there ought to be no hesitation on the part of the legislature, to make the necessary appropriations to put into operation one or two dredging machines, constructed upon the plan of those mentioned in a letter which has been received from London - a copy of which is as follows:
"Agreeably to your request, we have calculated the expense of a dredging machine, to be worked by a 12 horse power steam engine, with the necessary machinery for working a set of buckets on each side of a vessel to work in twenty feet water. We find it would amount to about 2,800 pounds sterling, equal to $12, 432.

The machinery of loading from 100 to 140 tons per hour into the craft along side the vessel, and in the expense of working such a machine here (in London) would be nearly as follows, per day:
Say 4 men at 5 x. per day, 1 pound 2 0
Coals for 10 hours, 13 bush.15 0
Oil, tallow, hemp, yarn, &c. 3 0
Wear and tear of engine, 1 2 0
3 pounds 2 0 eq. to $13.76
Say the mere working ten hours per day would raise 1200 tons.
Supposing the above rough statements are the particulars wished, we would be glad to execute your orders, provided we are allowed 10 months to do it in. Hunter & English"

By another letter received from the agent of the West Point Foundry Association, it is stated that "the price of a 12 horse low pressure steam engine, with dredging machinery, cranes, &c. put up complete for deepening to the depth of 14 feet, will be $8000. With regard to the performance of the machine, I annex a copy of a letter (which precedes this) from one of the London establishments, in reply to an application made by a gentleman in this city, (N. York) The calculations are made from actual experiment, and may be relied upon."

These letters furnish satisfactory data by which to estimate the expense of excavating with a dredging machine. The amount of excavation required to make 10 feet water, at low water, from the city of Albany to Coeymans, will be about 100,000 cubic yards. This has been ascertained from actual soundings of the river. What then will be the expense of accomplishing this great object according to the preceding statements?
A dredging machine will cost   $8000
The expense of raising 1200 tons, or 1000 cubic yards, being about  $15, it will cost to raise 100,000 yards.      1500
The vessel to carry the machinery, and boats to remove the ground excavated, will cost about    3500
The expense of hands to manage the boats is estimated at    3,000
$16,000
Add 10 per cent for carting,  1,600
Total estimated cost for excavating, $17,600

A channel 10 feet deep, at low water, seventeen thousand six hundred dollars.

If it should cost double the sum estimated, the object in view, when accomplished, would make rich returns to the public for the disbursement.

In this statement no estimate is made for deepening the channel from this city to the Troy dam, as the writer of this article is not furnished with the necessary data. Enough, however, is stated to show that the entire work may be accomplished for a moderate, sum and at a much less expense than by any other mode hitherto adopted.

In order to satisfy the legislature that if the excavation of a good channel should be made, it would continue permanent, let facts, founded on actual observation and experience, be a test.

The gentleman who has superintended the excavation between Albany and Troy, has stated that he has sounded the excavated channel, and has found that the water is deeper and the channel wider since he finished his operations. The person who directed the operations of the dredging machine at the Overslaugh, during the last season, has, within a few days, taken the soundings of the channel on which he operated. and he finds a depth of from ten to twelve feet water; while on the adjacent bottom not excavated, there is from 5 to 7 feet only.

Thus by means of an indifferent dredge, with three horses, employed about two months, we have an increased average depth of 5 feet, in a place where our navigation had to encounter the most formidable obstructions.

The facts herein stated are submitted to the serious consideration of the legislature, in the hope that their importance will ensure a moderate appropriation of money, to effect an object of vital interest to the commercial as well as agricultural portion of a large section of the state. A Navigator.

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February 28, 1826 - Westchester Herald (Ossining, New York)
Our Harbour
The recent mild weather has had a salutory effect upon the obstructed navigation on the Hudson river, and our ample bay is new free from ice. A sloop full freighted landed here on Thursday of last week, and another the day before yester, for New York - others will leave today, and our agricultural friends, far and near, may confidently expect that the usual market trade in the place will be resumed with accustomed vigour and promptitude - We observe also similar movements at Tarrytown, _____ and the various landings in the county; and doubtless the buoyant bosom of the nobly flowing Hudson will shortly exhibit her thousand sails freighting the products of our fruitful farms into the mart of the metropolis.

We observed a steamboat, supposed the Saratoga, passing up the river the day before yesterday, and would probably reach Poughkeepsie.

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March 14, 1826 - Westchester Herald (Mouth Pleasant, New York)
Upper Dock Sailing Regulations
The subscribers tender their sincere acknowledgements to the public for past favours, and hereby request a continuance of the same. The sloop DELAVAN is still commanded by Capt. Harris, who sails of Tuesdays; and the VOLUNTEER by Capt. Leggett, sails on Saturdays.

All orders and produce entrusted to them will meet with prompt and careful attention - and they urge the attendance of their friends early in the day, as it is to their interest as well as our convenience. Henry Harris. John Leggett. 

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March 15, 1826 - Dutchess Observer (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Yesterday morning the sloop Montgomery was discovered by the Captain of the Horse boat at this place floating down the river, and towed by him to the opposite shore. It appears from the best information we can gather from the various reports afloat concerning it, that the Montgomery, Capt. D. Weeks from Rhinebeck, while on his passage up the river was capsised off Crumelbow Point.

Capt. Weeks succeeded in loosing the small boat and getting alongside the sloop, when two men on deck attempted to jump into the small boat, one of whom fell across the boat and bruised himself so severely, that his life is despaired of. One man was taken out of the cabin alive seven hours after the sloop capsised, and two are yet missing, supposed to be drowned.

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March 29, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
Turks Island Salt. 1,500 Bushels on board the sloop Franklin, for sale at a reduced price, and in lots, to suit purchasers, if immediate application is made on board, or to Wm. Chapman, 463 S. Market Street.

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April 11, 1826 - Westchester Herald (Mount Pleasant, New York)
Farmers' Dock Arrangements for the Season.
The Marketing Trade from this Landing the present season, will be conducted in the following order, viz.
SLOOP DECATUR, Capt. S. Green, will leave Singsing for New York, every Tuesday afternoon, and New York every Friday afternoon, for Singsing.
Sloop MONTGOMERY, Capt. P.B. Lynch, Will leave Singsing for New York, every Saturday afternoon, and New York every Wednesday afternoon, for Singsing; and the public are respectfully assured that all produce and orders entrusted to them will be faithfully attended to.
​N.B. The subscribers, proprietors of said Dock, hold themselves responsible for all freight put on board the above vessels. H. Baily. S. Green.

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April 14, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
Drowned - On the 7th inst. David H. Crumby, son of David Crumby, carpenter, of Troy, from off the sloop Minerva, four miles this side of Poughkeepsie. He was an industrious and promising youth, between 16 and 17 years of age. He has not yet been found. His parents would be very thankful, should his body be discovered by any person, to give them immediate notice.
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April 18, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
Accident - On Monday last, a young man by the name of William Smith, the sailing master of the sloop Despatch, of Coxsackie, was knocked overboard by the boom in the horse-race, about 52 miles from New York, and drowned.

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May 2, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
(From the Newburgh Index) Mystery - On the 26th of September 1822, a gentlemen, with a son and a daughter, from 13 to 15 years of age, came from New York to this place in the sloop David Porter, capt. Seth Belknap. The gentleman called his name Daniel M.cDaniels Smith, and stated to the captain that he was a blacksmith from Philadelphia, and was about to establish himself in the village.

He paid his passage in gold coin, and appeared to have a quantity of that precious metal in his possession. He gave Capt. B. an order on the captain of a Philadelphia vessel for his goods, consisting of a great quantity of iron hinges, anvils, blacksmith's articles of every description, and two chests, one filled with books, and the other with clothing. He, with his children, then took lodgings in the stone house of Mr. J. Hasbrouck, and have not been seen or heard of since that time.

That house, we understand, was at that time tenanted by one Silas L. Gardner. Capt. B. after having taken the order of Mr. Smith, in a week or two received from on board the Philadelphia vessel the goods mentioned, brought them to this village, where they have remained from 1822 to this time, unclaimed and unquired after. The owner was an intelligent Scotch gentleman, and the great mystery is, what has become of him and his two children. Strong suspicions are afloat that they came to a foul and untimely end; but we have no evidence before us on that subject and shall therefore leave the matter for the present, and content ourselves with giving the foregoing account of things known.

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May 19, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
The facts connected with the arrival of the sloop Hiram, captain Stranger, of Poughkeepsie, show the migratory habits of the times. Ten entire families, from the grand-fathers and grant-mothers, bowed down with the weight of years, to children of the tenderest age, comprising upwards of sixty persons, occupied the cabin. All parts of the deck, the hold, and a long way up the shrowds, were loaded with a medley of all sorts of furniture. All this, together with the assortment of men, women and children, was transferred from the vessel to one or two canal boats; and by such and by other means, they were going from their farms in Amenia, Dutchess county, - their home, and the home of their fathers - into a distant land, beyond the Ohio or possibly the Great Lakes. They seemed to be cheerful, and content with the fortune that impelled them to seek out a new habitation, (several of them at a period of life when for their use earthly habitations could endure but a very brief space,) and they seemed to look forward to the possession of their fancied Elysium, with the greatest satisfaction.

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August 9, 1826 - Cabinet (Schenectady, New York)
Storm - Yesterday afternoon, says the Albany Daily of August 8, this city was visited with a hard storm of rain, accompanied with thumber and lightning. The sloop Juno, Capt. Krous, lying in the river, in front of State Street bridge, was struck with lightning, which destroyed the topmast, and pursued its course down, in a spiral direction, following the grain of the wood, till it arrived at the deck; it is supposed that here the principal part of the fluid followed the iron traveller, and passed off into the water; a part tore away one of the mast wedges, and exhausted itself at the kelson.

A Mrs. Hermance was at the time sitting on an earthen jar, within four feet of the mast; the jar was shivered into a hundred pieces, and the lady was stunned very severely. By immediately throwing on her a bucket of water, she was recovered in about ten minutes. The captain, who was standing at the companion way, had a small hole burnt in the bosom of his shirt, and his suspenders were loosened from the rear buttons. He received, however, no personal injury.

The mast of the schooner Gonzalo, Capt. Stocking, of New York, which was lying within a few yards of the Juno, was also considerably injured at the same time. The splinters were scattered over the whole deck, and some of them near the ring bolts were driven into the deck as completely as though they were of iron, and a hammer had been used in the operation.​

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September 12, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
A singular and fatal occurrence took place in this city yesterday, the particulars of which we have received from Mr. Thos. L. Pemberton, coroner. A young man named Nelson (whether his christian or sir-name is not known,) of Cherry Valley, about 17 years of age, employed in one of the canal boats, was sent on board the sloop DeWitt Clinton, lying in the basin, with a line for the purpose of warping the boat. Whilst there, Thomas C. Haggerty, a hand attached to the sloop Sappho, and then on board that vessel, inquired whether he wanted work. Nelson replied that he did, asking at the same time the nature of the employment. Haggerty said that it was none of his business. Nelson made a further reply; when Haggerty told him if he did so again he would throw him overboard. Nelson either said he could not, or defied him to do it; upon which Haggerty immediately jumped on board the vessel, caught him in his arms, and threw him into the basin. When Haggerty perceived that he did not rise to the surface, he plunged into the water to his rescue; but every exertion made by him and by others to recover the body, were unsuccessful, until the lapse of half an hour; and then the efforts to restore life were unavailing. Haggerty afterwards attempted to throw himself into the basin, but was prevented, and was committed for trial.

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September 15, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
Fire in Boston - The N.Y. Mercantile Advertiser of Tuesday morning states that a passenger arrived there in the steam boat Fanny informs that a fire broke out in Boston on Saturday night, between 11 and 12 o'clock, on the wharf next north of Union wharf, and destroyed all the range of wooden buildings on the same, occupied by Othnial French, rigger, Burkis & Hosea, D. Hiller and others. The packet sloop Gen. Brown, of Albany, lying aground at the wharf, was also destroyed. Fortunately the wind was light, or it is probable an extensive conflagration would have occurred.

Another account from the office of the Boston Centinel, says: The Albany packet sloop General Brown, which lay on the graving dock, heeled towards the buildings on fire, with her masts extending over the building, and it being low tide, had her masts, sails and rigging burnt. The upper part of her larboard side and the deck were so much burnt, that it is expected they will have to be made anew.

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November 28, 1826 - Albany Argus (Albany, New York)
Steam Boat Accident. - On Thursday afternoon between 5 and 6 o'clock, the steamboat New Philadelphia and the sloop Express, reported to us to be of New York, came in contact with each other, and were both seriously injured. The steam boat was on her upward passage, and the vessel before the wind, bound for New York. When near East Camp, about five miles below Catskill, the pilot discovered the vessel, and endeavored to avoid her, and in doing so, ran very near the east shore; but the persons on board the vessel were not on the look-out, or owing to the haze and darkness of the evening did not discover the steam boat, and ran foul of her. One of the wheels of the boat was destroyed, and she was otherwise much damaged. The mast and the bowsprit of the sloop were carried by the board, and she also was disabled in other respects. As soon as the passengers had recovered from the violence of the shock, Capt. Cochrane, with characteristic humanity, manned both his barges, and sent them to the relief of the sloop. Only one man, who had fallen under the rubbish of the mast, but who was extricated without difficulty, was found on deck; the remainder of the crew had retreated below, much frightened. Afterwards, the Philadelphia proceeded, with the use of one of her wheels, as far up the the river as Hudson, whence her passengers were brought to this city by the Constellation, Capt. Cruttenden.