That Sank in 1849 with the Loss of 90 Lives

The ship shown above is not the Caleb Grimshaw, but was probably very similar (if not identical), as described further down on this webpage.

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The Caleb Grimshaw was an American-built packet ship that transported immigrants from Liverpool to New York in 1848 and 1849. It was built at the William H Webb shipyard and launched in early 1848. The ship apparently made five successful trips to New York before it caught fire and sank on its 6th trip in November 1849. Ninety of the 425 passengers lost their lives in the disaster. The Caleb Grimshaw was owned and operated by the firm Caleb Grimshaw & Company, which is described on a companion webpage. The ship was apparently named after Caleb Grimshaw, who is described on a companion webpage. Caleb Grimshaw died in 1847, the year before the ship was launched, so it may have been a posthumous naming.

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Initial Report of the Loss of the Caleb Grimshaw

Follow-up Report on the Circumstances of the Disaster

Who Owned the Caleb Grimshaw?

Who Operated the Caleb Grimshaw?

What Did the Caleb Grimshaw Look Like?

Identification of William Webb as the Builder of the Caleb Grimshaw

Successful Voyages of the Caleb Grimshaw

Where Did the Caleb Grimshaw Dock in Liverpool and New York?

Additional Detail on the Caleb Grimshaw Disaster

Which Grimshaw Family Line Did Caleb Grimshaw Descend From?

Proposed Compensation to Owner of the Sarah for Rescue and Transport of Caleb Grimshaw Passengers

Was There Also a Ship, Silas-Grimshaw?

Samuel Montgomery, Survivor of the Caleb Grimshaw Disaster

"Days of the Old Packet" -- 1891 Article from the New York Daily Times

References

Thanks go to Charles Addington for providing the biography of Sam Montgomery, survivor of the Caleb Grimshaw disaster. Thanks also to Richard Walker for providing the strong evidence of the family connections of Caleb Grimshaw, for whom the ship was named. Thanks to Pat Wilbur, Ships Plans Cataloger at the Daniel S Gregory Ships Plans Library, for locating the reference containing the information on the builder of the Caleb Grimshaw.

The Caleb Grimshaw apparently set sail on its ill-fated voyage on October 22, 1849. Advertisements announcing the ship's sailing appeared in the Liverpool Mercury for several days before departure. One of the ads is shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Advertisement from the October 19, 1849 issue of the Liverpool Mercury¹ announcing the upcoming voyage of the Caleb Grimshaw to New York.

As shown in a subsequent section, the 1165 tons is considerably overstated relative to its actual 987 tons.

On December 4, 1849, the Liverpool Mercury² carried the following initial report on the event. Unfortunately, the article was erroneous in its report that there were no casualties.

AN EMIGRANT SHIP ON FIRE.

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE OF FOUR HUNDRED PERSONS.

The West India mail steamer, brings an account of the total loss of the emigrant ship Caleb Grimshaw, bound from Liverpool to New York, Captain Hoxie, by fire, sixteen miles S.E. of the island of Flores, one of the Azores. The emigrants, 300 in number, with the crew, were providentially saved from destruction. The cry of "fire" was raised at about eight o'clock on the night of the 12^th ult. The decks were immediately flooded. On raising one of the fore hatches, the fire was discovered abreast of the chain locker. The heat was so intense that no one could live below, and the immense quantities of water poured into the ship by the crew and passengers generated steam, and the heat at length became insufferable. But this was the only means by which the ship was kept from being rapidly consumed. The boats were towed astern of the burning vessel for five days and nights, filled with poor emigrants bewailing their fate, while about sixty were on a raft, when a ship was seen bearing towards them, and which proved to be the barque Sarah, Captain Cook, bound from London to New Brunswick, in ballast. As soon as the captain of the Sarah saw the signal of distress, he immediately approached the Caleb Grimshaw, but was only able to get on board, during the night of the 17th three boatsful of passengers owing to the wind blowing hard. The next day, the 18th, he got on board about 150 passengers. Night approaching, and the wind still increasing, he was obliged to lay to. On the 19th there was a heavy sea, and no more could be got off. On the 20th, about ten persons, who had escaped from the burning ship, volunteered to return and relieve those who were on board at work, as by this time there was no more water or provisions to be got without raising the hatches. The mainmast was now settling down, and the upper deck was working each way. On this day the ship floated to the leeward of Flores into smooth water, and during the night all the passengers that remained on board got off. Before the last of the crew left, they lifted the hatches, and immediately the ship burst into a terrific blaze. The escape of all the persons, 309 in number, was almost miraculous. Consider a ship, filled with nearly 400 persons, on fire for eight days and nights, and not a single person lost his life. Nothing but the continual flooding the ship prevented her from being burnt to the water's edge, and every soul on board perishing before relief could be had. The men and crew worked like heroes.

The conduct of the master of the Sarah was beyond all praise. For three days and nights did he hover about the burning ship amidst the most tempestuous weather, taking every opportunity to lower his boats to save some of the passengers. Nothing could exceed his heroism and humanity. To him, under Divine Providence, the unhappy emigrants owe their preservation. Although perpetually obliged by the tempestuous wind and heavy sea to leave them apparently to a dreadful fate, he always endeavoured keep in sight, and cheer their aching hearts with a prospect of escape. The Sarah arrived at Fayal with the crew and passengers of the Caleb Grimshaw in safety. The passengers had lost everything on board, and were perfectly destitute, for they had the greatest difficulty to get food from the burning ship to keep them alive. Captain Hoxie chartered the Sarah to take on the passengers to New York. The Sarah had not left Fayal when the West India steamer took her departure, but the American consul was using the most strenuous efforts to arrange everything for her leaving. The Caleb Grimshaw belonged to Messrs. Grimshaw, of Liverpool. The origin of the fire was not known.

A follow-up article in the New York Herald³ provides more detail on the horrendous conditions faced by the passengers of the Caleb Grimshaw, based on interviews of five survivors of the event.

The Burning of the Packet-Ship Caleb Grimshaw – Further Particulars – Terrible Collision at Sea, and Sinking of a Schooner, with all on board.

Since the thrilling account of the burning of the packet ship Caleb Grimshaw was published in the Herald on Monday last, from the London Times, we have seen five of the passengers, who confirm its truth in every important particular, their only fault with it being that it does not go far enough, and that, as regards the conduct of the passengers, it is somewhat exaggerated. From their statement we have gathered some additional particulars, which may interest our readers. The first omission which they noticed, and it is curious that it has never yet been published in any account, is the fact that on the night of the second day after the Caleb Grimshaw left Liverpool, and while in the British Channel, she came in collision with a schooner, which being of smaller size and inferior strength, went to the bottom, having disappeared almost immediately after the shock. The cries of those on board were heard as she went down stern foremost. It is worthy of remark, that it was the schooner that ran into the Caleb Grimshaw, striking her amidships and carrying away her bulwarks. Neither her name nor any other particulars could be ascertained about the lost vessel. So alarmed were the crew of the Caleb Grimshaw, that they got the pumps in requisition, but it was found that she was not injured. So great was the shock that it waked every passenger on board, and all feared the ship would sink. But it was a different element they had to fear most, and which was probably then smouldering treacherously beneath their feet.

There were four boats on board the Caleb Grimshaw, the larboard quarter boat, the starboard quarter boat, the stern boat, and the long boat. In the narrative copied from the Times and written by Mr. Hatton, a Quaker gentleman from the city of Cork, Ireland, it is stated that while the captain and mates were forward the ship, shortly after the fire was discovered, a number of passengers got into the larboard quarter boat, and lowered her. The last part of the statement turns out not be the fact. The passengers got into the boat, and were ordered out of it, while it was still slung by the ship’s side; they did not obey, and some one ordered the rope to be cut, which had the effect of precipitating the whole of them into the water, the end of the boat going down end foremost. She was still held on to the ship by the other end of the rope, but was bottom upwards in the water. Some were immediately drowned; some clung to the boat; and some swam to another boat occupied by some of the sailors, who left the ship immediately after the discovery of the fire. They were struck on the head with oars as they advanced, and one poor fellow, named Philip Holland, who was a first-rate swimmer, and kept himself up a great length of time, seized the side of the boat. Some one struck him on the arm, either breaking it or so injuring it that he was obliged to let go, and so perished in the wide abyss. One of the five passengers referred to above, named William Jackson, was in the boat immediately before she was cut down, but fortunately left it, having heard the mate say she would not live five minutes in the water if let down. All who were precipitated in that boat were lost. The number was from 12 to 14.

On Sunday night (the first night after the fire was discovered) John Selway, of Somersetshire, and his wife, with some other passengers, got into the starboard quarter boat, when they were ordered out. They refused at first to come out, but their lives being threatened, some of them complied, while others still remained. Among those who came back into the ship, were Selway and his wife.

The longboat was removed from its place during Sunday night, preparatory to being launched next morning, and the captain, when going into it, said he was only going temporarily, and that he would be immediately back. The captain’s wife and some other cabin passengers were got into it through the state room window, with a quantity of luggage. The captain’s wife got a bed in the end of the boat. By degrees some of the other passengers got into the long-boat and some, including women, were drowned in the attempt. The following is a list of those who were finally stowed into it:

Captain Hoxie, Mrs. Hoxie and child, George Slater Davis and wife, John Selway and wife, ____ Smith and wife, Doctor Hughes, the steward, the stewardess, Mr. Hatton, Mils Webster, Miss Doel Allan, Mrs. Burn and baby, Mr. Low, a sailor named Robert Graham, and two other sailors, two men and four women.

There were 28 in all. The rain fell in torrents, which, together with the waves washing over the side, drenched them to the skin; and were it not for a canvass awning fastened over the bow, which threw off the seas, the boat would have been filled with water frequently. As it was, it required every exertion to keep her bailed out. The situation of 28 human beings thus huddled together for four days, with little or no food or drink, unable to stir out of the same position, may be better conceived than described. Yet, so tenacious of life are we, that even this was considered paradise by those in the ship, who had plenty of room and more shelter. A poor girl, in trying to lower herself down, was lost, and another would have shared the same fate, the sailors refusing to admit her, one of them saying let her go, but that Mr. Slater Davis laid hold of her, and insisted upon bringing her into the boat.

On the Friday morning after the fire was discovered, the passengers who were in the long boat were ordered to return to the ship. To this they demurred, when they were threatened with being cut adrift unless they came at once into the ship. Notwithstanding this threat, they still kept their places when they were told they had their choice, either to go overboard or into the ship. The latter alternative they preferred, as a choice of two evils; and all left with the exception of the captain, his wife and child, the doctor, the steward and stewardess, and Allan.

After the captain left the ship on Monday, disorder and confusion reigned. Every one was his own master, and did what he pleased or what he was able to do. The strongest and most reckless and unprincipled, of course, had everything their own way. The sailors, with two exceptions, had deserted the ship, taking with them provisions, and there was none behind to work her, or man the pumps. The chief mate, one sailor, the cook (a colored man), and a steerage passenger named Browne, from Manchester, who had hardware goods on board acted nobly. Browne acquired an influence over the other passengers, and induced them to work, bravely setting them the example himself. Were it not for his efforts, matters might have been far more serious. So praiseworthy were his exertions, that the other passengers promised him a testimonial if they should reach the land in safety. The poor fellow had a wife and child with him, and lost the latter. The want of food and drink and rest prevented the passengers from working with any effect. Some of them were unable to walk, or even stand, from hunger and exhaustion. The food and drink that were available had been carried off by some of the sailors, and the ship’s provisions were below, and could not be reached through the smoke. John Watt, of Lincolnshire, states that he lived for a whole day upon one raw onion; and Joseph Kellow, a carpenter, of Wiltshire, who lost his wife, and his chest of tools, worth $250, kept several persons alive on butter and sugar mixed together. Some idea may be formed of the sufferings of the passengers, when it is stated they cut up some pigs alive, ate part raw, and devoured the remainder with the hair on. This, however, was as nothing for so many mouths. They were five days without drink, and some resorted to the drinking of salt water, which had a fatal effect. Others went to the medicine chest and drank tinctures, including tincture of opium (laudanum), which soon put a period to their sufferings.

A Catholic priest, an aged man who, we believe, went on from this to Washington, has been mentioned in connection with some bad conduct of a few of the passengers; but we are assured by every one of these passengers who have detailed to us the facts, of this narrative, that nothing can be more untrue. His conduct was pious, resigned and quiet in the extreme, and never murmured at his sufferings. That he was “the most quiet man on board” is the unanimous testimony of Protestants and Catholics.

When the passengers were taken on board the Sarah, they were no better off for food or drink, for the bark not being a passenger ship, had but a small quantity of provisions. John Watt states that they were for thirty-six hours on board of her without either food or drink, after their long previous exhaustion in the Caleb Grimshaw. It will be recollected that on the evening on which they fell in with the bark, the sea was too rough to take off the passengers. That night there was a fearful storm, when all thought they would go to the bottom. It had the effect, however, of putting the fire almost completely out, for the rolling about of the water that was pumped down, must have completely washed the sides of the vessel. It was observed, next day that she was quite cool. Scarcely any smoke was seen to issue after that, and as for the fire, it was never seen, from beginning to end.

When they reached Flores, and all the passengers were removed from her into the Sarah, two sailors were sent on board of her with billets of wood, to set her on fire, which they did; and she then began to blaze. This is sometimes done in the care of vessels abandoned at sea, lest other ships might come into collision with them at night.

We should mention that the passengers state that some of the sailors of the Caleb Grimshaw collected into one of the boats, on the day after she fell in with the Sarah, some of the most valuable things on board belonging to the passengers, and kept the boat in tow of the Sarah. But when Capt. Cook ordered those things to be taken on board, and brought into the cabin, they cut her away, lest the plunder should be discovered. The passengers having informed Captain Cook of the conduct of the sailors, he refused to take them with him from Fayal when setting sail for New York. The old lady, a cabin passenger, who, according to the statement in the Times, would not be permitted to come in the bark Clara C. Bell, for New York, is Miss Doel, of Suffolk, in England, sister to a milkman by that name, in this city. She wept bitterly on being refused. She was afterwards brought in the Sarah. In fact all the passengers lost every thing they brought with them, even to a change of clothes, and many of them are reduced by the calamity to a state of destitution. The second cabin passengers, who occupied the house on deck suffered most, for the steerage passengers having left their own traps below in the smoke, seized upon what they could get on deck.

The passengers, exhausted as they were with previous hunger and hardship, had only bread and water to live upon, which was insufficient for their sustenance; and some of them sunk under the privation, while others are yet ill. The first intention was to send the passengers to England, for which Captain Cook was to receive £800, but subsequently it was arranged to bring them to New York, for which it was agreed, by the British and American Consuls, he should be paid £400. These passengers, numbering 427, sailed from Liverpool on the 23d of October, and did not arrive here till the 14th of January, wanting only a week of a three month’s voyage, and eleven days in the burning vessel. We are informed by one of them that Christmas day was summer heat with them, while here the thermometer was seven degrees below zero.

It is due to the first mate of the Sarah, Mr. Coward, the second mate, and all the other officers and crew, to state that the passengers with whom we conversed wish to convey to them their warmest thanks, particularly to the chief mate. It appears, too, that the sailors held a meeting when they saw the flag of distress flying from the Grimshaw, and offered to go on short stowage, in order to save the lives which they believed to be in jeopardy.

The names of the passengers who related the foregoing particulars to us for publication are:- George Slater Davis, cabin passenger, Cheshire, England; John Selway, Somersetshire, England; William Jackson, county Kildare, Ireland; Joseph Kellon, Wiltshire, England; John Watt, Lincolnshire, England.

The origin of the fire is involved in the deepest mystery, as there was no communication whatever between the place where it broke out and the rest of the ship, the lower hold having been covered up and fastened before she left Liverpool.

The Caleb Grimshaw, according to the December 4 Liverpool Mercury article, "belonged to Messrs. Grimshaw, of Liverpool." As noted in the advertisement to sail, Messrs. Grimshaw would have been the concern, C. Grimshaw & Co. An excellent description of Caleb Grimshaw & Company is provided in Cutler⁴ (p. 262-263) as follows:

While American merchants were establishing new and enlarging old lines to take advantage of the immigration boom, British and German merchants were by no means idle. From 1842 onward they engaged in the traffic in constantly increasing numbers, not only as agents of American lines but also as independent operators, sometimes combining the two functions. During the early part of the period under consideration by far the most active of such concerns was Caleb Grimshaw & Company, successor of the Messrs. Grimshaw who were specializing in emigration traffic as early as the late eighteen-twenties. When Sam Thompson decided to start his New York-Liverpool line in 1842, the Grimshaws became his Liverpool representatives but their activities did not end there. They secured passengers and freight not only for the Thompson packets but for many others, ranging from ships of other lines to run-of-the-mill transients, looking for what business they might pick up. Regardless of size, age, or origin, all proved to have "magnificent cabin accommodations" and "lofty and spacious second-class and steerage quarters" when they sailed under the Grimshaw "New Line" flag.

By 1845 the line was advertising a dozen or more ships at a time and dispatching them every five to seven days. In addition to the Thompson vessels they handled ships of several other lines, notably Herdman's, Kingsland's and Kermit's, besides helping out an occasional Black Baller for good measure. So much business was coming their way, in fact, that they could not take care of it properly. Accordingly, in 1845 they delegated the steerage traffic to William Tapscott and George Rippard & Son, both of Liverpool. It was all the dynamic Tapscott needed to start the great firm of W. & J. Tapscott on its long and prosperous career. Before the year ended he had established branch agencies allover Great Britain and Ireland and had opened an office in New York. It was also a profitable arrangement for the Grimshaws for they continued to collect their commissions all along the line, in addition to retaining exclusive control of the lucrative freight and cabin traffic.

Their first-class cabin rate was 16 guineas as compared with the 39 guineas of the steamships and the 25 pounds and upwards of the old line packets; the saving it represented was equivalent to several hundred dollars in present-day purchasing power, and it attracted large numbers of "those who wished to go at an easy rate." That patronage explains in part the success of the Grimshaw and other similar lines soon to be established, although the unprecedented rise in emigration was by far the most potent factor. Grimshaw's progress, indeed, was so rapid that the proprietors decided a more imposing title was in order. Accordingly, in January, 1845, the name was changed from "New Line" to "Black Star" and it may be noted here that during the boom decade then under way more American emigrant ships cleared under the Black Star flag than under any other.

Caleb Grimshaw & Co. was apparently a successor organization to one of the earliest emigration shipping concerns, Fitzhugh and Caleb Grimshaw, which is also described by Cutler⁴ (p. 199-200):

Baltimore's first venture in the Western Ocean packet field came in 1829 with the establishment of a line of three ships, the Benjamin Rush) Dumfries and Ulysses) which sailed irregularly from Belfast and other Irish ports. It continued in operation for a number of years, always one of the looser organizations of the sort. William & Thomas Adair, 1 South Charles Street, were the Baltimore agents, with branches in Pittsburgh and St. Louis. They were essentially emigrant agents on the order of Samuel Thompson, of New York, the first to specialize in that field.

Thompson's early activities are not well documented, but in later years he claimed that his business was established in 1817. In any case, he undoubtedly worked in close cooperation with the Black Ball from a very early date, and possibly from its founding. By 1825 he was doing a substantial business at 273 Pearl Street and advertising regularly in the local papers the establishment of his "Emigrant Offices":

Where persons wishing to send for their friends from Great Britain and Ireland, Can secure their passage on the most moderate terms, in vessels of the first class, sailing from Liverpool every week.

By the time the Baltimore concern was founded, several other houses had engaged in the business, most 0£ them in New York City. All £ol- lowed closely the Thompson pattern. Their success led to the opening of a long series of "Passenger Agencies" of which Tapscott's is perhaps the best remembered. Thompson's, however, had the longer career, continuing long after the Civil War as Samuel Thompson's Nephew.

American passenger agents, however, could hardly be expected to monopolize a business that originated 3000 miles away. With the renewal of emigration on a large scale it was not long before English and, to a lesser extent, German merchants began to engage in the traffic on their own initiative. One of the first ventures of the sort was the "Union Line of Packets for New York" organized in March, 1829, by Fitzhugh and Caleb Grimshaw, of 11 Brooks Square, Liverpool. The line consisted of 12 American ships, none of which were attached to any of the American lines, and the service started with the sailing of the ship Bowditch from Liverpool for New York on the 5th of April, Thereafter the line was scheduled to sail from Liverpool the 5th and 20th, and from New York the 12th and 28th of each month.

Although essentially an emigrant services, the Grimshaws advised the public that "a few respectable passengers can be accommodated in the first and second cabins: and that "no salt would be taken," this as a special inducement to prospective first-class patrons, salt having a strong tendency to make a ship damp and uncomfortable. With the exception of one small vessel, the ships ranged around 400 tons, and the records show that they frequently carried from 150 to 200 steerage and several cabin passengers. The experiment was so far successful that by 1831 the firm was sending a ship every week or ten days. It was the forerunner of a number of similar lines, of which the famous "Black Star: was the most important.

Apparently most emigrant ships of the time were operated by various shipping "lines." The Caleb Grimshaw operated in Samuel Thompson's Line. The lines, in turn, had agents in New York and Liverpool; the New York agent for Samuel Thompson's Line was Samuel himself (with the Old Established Packet Office, 273 Pearl Street, New York.) The Liverpool agent was Caleb Grimshaw & Co., 12 Goree Piazzas. Thus the Caleb Grimshaw was owned by Caleb Grimshaw & Co., who was also the agent for the Line in which the ship was operated.

Samuel Thompson's Line was established in 1842 and was called "New Line" until 1845, when it changed to the "Black Star Line." Cutler⁴ (p. 381-381) provides the following information on Samuel Thompson's Line:

Caleb Grimshaw & Co. also served as agents for other shipping lines, as indicated by Cutler -- Empire Line (p. 382), Slates' Liverpool Line (p. 383), and Patriotic Line (p. 389). After December 1847, Caleb Grimshaw and John Taylor Crook operated separate divisions of the Black Star Line.

It is interesting to note that Captain Hoxie received command of another ship, the Joseph Walker, in 1850 - the year after the Caleb Grimshaw burned and sank. The Joseph Walker also burned, but this time in conjunction with another fire, of the Great Republic.

No pictures of the Caleb Grimshaw apparently exist, but a painting of a companion ship is presented in Cutler⁴ (p. 298) and is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Painting of the Huguenot, a packet ship probably very similar to the Caleb Grimshaw. Picture is from Cutler, where the original caption is "Packet ship Huguenot of Thompson's Black Star Line, New York to Liverpool, being struck by lightning."  Image of painting courtesy of The Peabody Museum of Salem.

As shown in the table above on Samuel Thompson's Line, the Huguenot and Caleb Grimshaw were both packet ships with similar tonnages (935 and 987, respectively) and dates of construction (1847 and 1848.) Thus it seems highly likely that the Caleb Grimshaw appeared very similar to the Huguenot as depicted in the painting.

The advertisement to sail shown above indicates that the ship was built in New York. An example New York firm that was building similar ships was Smith & Dimon, which  built the sister ship "Argo" (described on handbill on a companion webpage). Morrison⁵ describes the shipbuilding activity in the New York shipyards during the period that the Caleb Grimshaw was built (in 1848) as shown below:

CHAPTER VI.

NEW ERA IN SHIPBUILDING - OCEAN STEAMSHIPS - FIRST CLIPPER SHIPS.

THERE now arrived one of the most important epochs in the industrial development of this country: no more in other mechanical pursuits than in the shipbuilding industry: and what is of interest to all citizens of New York City is the fact that this city contributed its full share of the progress in the arts and sciences of the time, and never flagged in its endeavor to keep up with the march of industrial progress in this country. Our renowned sailing packets had a few years before met competition in the European trade by steam vessels of foreign companies, and for a time the packets were able to hold their own in the passenger trade. In a few years these vessels were succeeded by sailing vessels of a sharper model. Younger men had in many instances come into control of the older yards. New yards had also been opened, and more progressive ideas were again taking hold of the shipbuilding business in the city, and in a few years the beneficial effects of these changes became apparent. The packets had been increasing in dimensions for ten years or more, so that by 1840 those under construction were near to 1,000 tons each. This type of vessel, with the full bow and wide square stern was the fast sailer from 1816 to 1840, but after the latter date there developed various branches of trade in which a quick delivery was as important for trade purposes as it was for the passenger trade. The restless energy of the American merchant began to show again in our foreign commerce. For instance there was the tea and spice trade from China and East Indies to the United States, in which a short time delivery had always been considered of much importance. The cargoes consisted of tea, coffee, dried fruit, etc., which were liable to deteriorate in a voyage of four mouths or more to the home port, and to shorten the voyage as much as possible was desirable for many reasons. The first tea clipper ships were the "Helena." built in 1841 by W. H. Webb, then the "Montauk" by the same builder, and the "Rainbow" by Smith & Demon in 1844, and the "Houqua" in the same year by Brown C Bell, the "Sea Witch" in 1846 by Smith & Demon, and the "Samuel Russell" in 1847 by Brown & Bell. These vessels were not representative of the clippers of a few years later: they were much smaller, and the early ones were not so heavily constructed so as to stand the whip and spur for driving as were those of later years, though some made remarkably fast voyages, and passed through some trying occasions at sea.

It must not be thought that our packet ships, catering to the emigrant passenger trade on the Atlantic ocean, mainly with Great Britain, were making long voyages at this time, for there were several then running to New York after 1840 that made voyages from New York to Liverpool in 16 days, and from Liverpool to New York in 22 days. The average for one year was 23 days from New York to Liverpool, and 34 days from Liverpool to New York. These were all New York built vessels.

The system of construction of the larger vessels was not always the same at the different periods. Up to about 1830 the skilled mechanic in the shipyard performed work of any character that was necessary to the building of the vessel. He would aid in the hewing out to the lines, the frames of the vessel, and participate in setting them up in their proper places. Would line out his strake of planking on the timbers of the vessel, dub off the outer surface of the frames so that the plank might fit truly: put on the plank, bore the holes for the treenails and bolts, fasten the plank in place, and even caulk the seams of the planking: and when it became necessary to have a large and heavy stick of timber placed in position in the vessel, all hands were called from their work to carry on their shoulders these large pieces of timber, sometimes taking twenty-five or more men. After the ten hour system was brought into practice there was a breaking up of the labor in the yards, each man having a specialty, as a carpenter, caulker, fastener, etc., the men in each kind of work called a gang. This change took some time before it came generally into use, but it was a system under which time was saved and better work secured than under the old system. Subsequently derricks were installed at the better yards for handling the heavy timber, and some yards never made improvements in methods of building unless forced to do so. Treenails were at first made by hand, and were chopped out of sticks of wood with axes: but a treenail lathe machine was invented in 1838 to do this work more quickly and accurately.

A later view of the question of labor in the shipyards has been obtained by an examination of the payroll of one of the largest of our old-time New York shipbuilders, that runs from 1840 to 1845. It is found that in 1840 the ship carpenters were paid $2.00 per day, and the caulkers the same daily wage. This rate continued for the better class of mechanics for near ten years. The apprentices, of which there were six in this yard at the time, were paid from 50 cents to 64 cents per day, according to their length of service and their skill. A year later this yard had for its skilled labor 13 ship carpenters and 18 caulkers, and a few months later the number of carpenters had increased to 26 and there were ten apprentices. In the summer of 1842 there were 79 ship carpenters employed on seven sailing vessels and one steamboat. Among the apprentices now employed here, some of whom had been for a greater time than others employed in this yard, may be named those who were well known in the business at a later date as men of known skill in shipbuilding at New York: Eckford Webb, a brother of W. H. Webb, George Bell, these two subsequently became partners in business at Greenpoint, L. L : George Wilmurt and Leonard Bolles. They received now from 50 cents to 78 cents per day. There were now eight sub-contractors, or lumpers so called, at work in the Yard on eight vessels. In May, 1843, there were eight vessels under construction at one time, with twelve carpenters and fifteen apprentices, and eight sub-contractors. In September 1844 there were ten vessels under construction at one time. Christian Metzgar was the foreman at this yard during the whole period of its activity.

The shipyards of 1840 to 1845 were somewhat changed in location from what they were a decade before. There were now but. few yards, not more than four, at Corlears Hook, a new one being established in 1841 by Westervelt and Mackey, who in 1844 moved their yard to Lewis and Seventh street. This firm was of much prominence during the later years of prosperity. It is found that the shipyards extended in almost a solid line from Grand street to Twelfth street, where William H. Brown had for a few years been building vessels. William H. Webb "was then located at Sixth street, Smith and Demon at Fourth street, and Brown and Bell at Stanton street. William H. Brown and John English were now in control of the marine railway at Tenth street, and had most of the repair work on vessels of large tonnage in the city. Some of the other builders, besides those previously named, on the New York side of the river, were Jabez Williams, Devine Burtis & Co., Haythorn & Steers, Bishop & Simonson, Buckman and Casilear, Whitlock and Berrian, Bayles & Brown, William Bennett, and Lawrence & Sneeden.

The building of the first clipper ships had no more than got well under way than great improvements were made in the new steamboats put under contract: they were of larger dimensions, more commodious, having staterooms and more propelling power of machinery. These vessels were now for the large transportation companies mainly, though there were a few for individual owners. A few years later there began inquiries regarding the building of steamships for European service, and later it assumed the form of a postal contract with the United States Government, and in 1847 when a company had been organized Westervelt & Mackay were given the contract for building the first American ocean mail steamships. This was followed the same year by William H. Webb building the " United States " for Charles H. Marshall & Co. of the Black Ball line of packets: and in 1849 Westervelt & Mackay constructed two for the Havre line. This completes the list of ocean steamships built prior to the far-famed Collins line of steamships. The fleet of this company were the "Atlantic" and the "Arctic," built by William H. Brown, and the "Pacific" and the "Baltic" by Brown & Bell, and the "Adriatic," or at first intended to be named, the "Antarctic," by George Steers. About the same time began the building of the steamships for the Southern coastwise lines, the "Northerner" for the Charleston line in 1847, the "Falcon" in 1848 for the California trade, both by William H. Brown; the "Georgia" in 1849 by Smith & Demon, and the "Ohio" by Jeremiah Simonson in the same year, both for the California trade. In the same year the first steamship for the Savannah line, the "Cherokee" was built by William H. Webb. There were a large number of steamships built during this period for service occasioned by the gold excitement in California. This latter factor added immensely to the business of the New York shipyards, as it did to the shipbuilding industry of other Atlantic coast cities, both for steam vessels as well as for sail vessels, that lasted for four or more years. The extension of our coastwise commerce with steam vessels at this period was a factor of much interest to the local shipyards, as the larger number of these vessels were built at New York. Then to increase the business still further there was a lively competition going on between the several established lines and outside interests on the Hudson river, and the demand for four or more years was very great for high speed passenger steamboats of large size, several of which made long runs on the river in record time that is even of interest at this day, and all of them built at New York. So we see there was a steady hum of the broad axe in our shipyards not many years prior to its first stage of decline.

Referring to the high speed steamboats of the Hudson river, built during this period of intense rivalry on the river at New York City shipyards, it will be of interest to refer to some incidents in the career of the "Empire," built by William H. Brown in 1843, and the "Thomas Powell" by Lawrence & Sneeden in 1846, vessels that were well known on the river at the time. The facts referred to are those lately published in the Scientific American Supplement in a series of papers by the writer on "The Development of Armored War Vessels and Armor Plating in the United States," where he says:

"What gave our naval architects, as well as Col. Ellet, the first practical demonstration of the value of the principles of high speed and strength of a vessel to destroy an enemy's vessel by forcible contact was that of the occasion of a light-built river steamboat running into a solid-built pier in the City of New York, with comparative slight injury to the vessel. It was in the early morning of April 25, 1845, that the steamboat ‘Empire of Troy’ of the New York and Troy line was coming down the Hudson river, and when opposite the upper part of New York City during a fog on the river, ran into the end pier of the new dock at 19th street, about thirty feet from the outer end, and cut her way through the timbers of the dock and stone filling of the cribwork. This pier of cribwork was 40 feet square. There were three of these piers under this dock, the latter being 265 feet long from the bulkhead and 40 feet wide, and lacked the heavy plank facing to be completed. The sills, string pieces, and heavy timbers of the dock were of rough timber 18 inches square, and the `Empire' cut through these with a `tremendous crash,' cutting them short off, as a light piece of wood would be cut with a sharp tool. These timbers were afterward found to be sound and free from defects, excepting those caused by the steamboat collision. The `Empire' plowed her way through the solid rock filling of the pier some 27 feet before stopping. The opening by measurement at the time showed the 18 inches of timber, then solid stone filling of 8-1/2 feet thick, and then through earth and rubbish 17 feet further, making a total opening of 27 feet long, and 17 feet deep at the deepest point. The stem piece of the vessel was carried away, several of the forward ends of the planking on either side were badly shattered, and a few of the frames started. Both of the forward ends of the hog frames of the vessel were broken. "When the type of vessel is taken into consideration, being 307 feet long, 30 feet 6 inches beam, or about 1 to 10, and built with a flat floor that ran well out to the fore body of the vessel, to make her as light draft as possible; coming down the river with a strong tide, that was on the last hour of the ebb; and when the filling of the pier was the most exposed, it is certainly remarkable that the vessel was not more seriously injured; but as it was, the hog frarnes being partially broken and otherwise badly strained, showed the vessel received at the time a severe shock throughout the whole structure. It was only that the vessel was traveling at a high velocity when she struck the pier that saved her from being badly crushed, for it must be remembered she was not a heavy-built vessel, nor was she a shell. She was undoubtedly moving at the time of the impact at not less than 12 miles an hour. She had been racing all night from Albany with an opposition boat, and the time made from Albany to the pier when struck showed an average of 18 miles an hour. This was no accident.

"This ramming incident was variously commented on at the time by those in the more progressive marine circles, and it caused much speculation and thought on the subject of steam vessels being brought into forcible contact at a high speed. It was a subject of much local comment for some time how the vessel escaped destruction.

"There was one other incident of the same nature that occurred some years later, and these complete the list of wooden-hull river steamboats running into stone crib piers with slight injury to the vessel, in the United States. The `Thomas Powell' was running between New York and Catskill on the Hudson river as a night boat, and on July 23, 1868, when about four miles from her berth at the former city, ran into a dock at the foot of 59th street, North River, and met with comparatively slight damage when considering the age of the vessel. It seems that the vessel ran into a thick fog during the night on her trip down the river. The pilot on watch in the early morning had but a limited experience on steamboats, though he had seen several years' service on the river. He was feeling his way down the river in the fog, and up to four o'clock, when the vessel ran into the dock, had been making a speed of about 12 miles an hour. The vessel struck the string piece of the dock with a fearful crash, and this was the first warning they had of the impending danger. Some idea of the velocity of the vessel when striking the dock may be formed, when stating that she tore diagonally through the superstructure of the dock between two piers of stone cribwork, and forced her way through until the paddle wheels struck the cribwork, and she did not bring up or stop her progress until about one-half of her length was laid on the pier, and the ends of the vessel hanging over the sides of the cribwork. Her port water wheel was badly damaged, its shaft forced two feet aft from its proper position, with the crank pin and main pillow block broken. There were one or two planks started on the port side, but not of sufficient damage to take her out on the drydock. The vessel was relieved from her dangerous situation at the next flood tide. The dock had been damaged by ice two years before this occurrence, and was partly overflowed at high water. The tidal conditions at New York this morning were low water at 5 a. m., so the vessel was running with a favorable ebb tide, and it was on the last hour of that tide when she struck the pier. This vessel was 231 feet long originally, and it is believed she was lengthened a few feet when staterooms were added, drew about six feet of water, and was twenty-two years old at the time. Her main shaft was located about 95 feet aft of the stem of the vessel. Taking into consideration the age of the vessel, and the manner of her striking the cribwork at such an angle as to bring all the strain on the port side of the vessel, it is a wonder that she was not irreparably damaged. It proved that she was still a sound and strong river vessel, even with her years of service. She was employed on the river until 1881, when retired after thirty-five years of service. There were material differences between these two cases that no doubt affected the result. The `Empire' was a new vessel, and ran into a dock that was just about completed. The `Thomas Powell' was then twenty-two years old, although in as good condition as any wooden vessel of her age: and ran into a dock that had been built for several years, and was then in a partly dismantled condition. What the result would have been had the vessel struck a more substantial pier under similar conditions is very problematical."

The first steamships built at New York, if not in the United States, were the "Lion" and the "Eagle" in 1841 by Jacob Bell for the Spanish government. This takes no account of the "Robert Fulton" of 1819. The next year William H. Brown built for the Russian government the "Kamschatka," a side wheel vessel of over 200 feet long for naval purposes. Then followed our domestic vessels just noted. Up to and including 1850 there had been constructed at New York 38 steamships: William H. Brown building nine, William H. W ebb building eight, Westervelt & Mackay building eight, Jacob Bell, Jeremiah Simonson, Thomas Collyer, Smith & Demon and Perrine, Patterson & Stack the remainder.

The only other fire in a New York shipyard that was considered of much moment after that at Adam & Noah Brown's yard in 1824, was one that occurred at William H. Webb's yard on April 8, 1848, about ten o'clock at night. It started in a stable next to the office of the yard that was located on Lewis street near 6th street. The flames spread rapidly from several points, and before the fire department could become active on the scene the flames had spread to the adjoining mold loft and the office, the former containing many old and valuable patterns and molds, and several historically valuable models. The fire also extended through its close proximity in the buildings to the Steamship " Panama " then on the stocks and nearly ready for launching in a few days, that was somewhat damaged, and required some rebuilding of a minor character before it was ready to launch. The fire department had to use great efforts on this vessel to save it from entire destruction, being ably assisted by the many employees of the several shipyards in the vicinity who had come at the first call. There was also a large quantity of, valuable timber that was lying near the vessel, some finished and some unfinished, and intended to be used on vessels then under construction in the yard, that was destroyed by the flames. The books and papers in the office were mostly all saved from the flames. The fire was believed to have been the work of an incendiary. During the fire a number of persons got on a workshed that covered the sawpit, to have a better view of the fire, and from the great weight on the roof the supports gave way, and all those on the roof were precipitated with a great crash of timbers into the sawpit below. Several persons had their limbs broken and others were more or less injured, and one died from internal injuries. This fire was the occasion when the owner of the shipyard was asked by one of the fire officials where the fire department could be of the most service at the time, and Mr. Webb told them, "if you can save my steam chest you will help me most."

The conditions existing at this period were the results of the many changes that had occurred in the last decade. Some of the shipbuilders had broken loose from the practice of the past, and taking lessons from their experience had made changes in the forms of their new vessels that were in many cases of much advantage to the owners. We must remember that at this period, though no more than at an earlier one, it was running counter to old customs to propose any radical changes, let alone to carry them into effect, in any business or profession even though it promised much improvement. There were those of our naval architects at this period who were in the front rank of their profession, and the general form of vessel they approved for a given service have been but little changed to this day. An English naval architect at this time said: "It seems now to be admitted in Europe and in America, that if a shipbuilder wished to have a very easy and fast going ship, he must give her bow not the round, convex line which was formerly adopted, but a fine, long, hollow line. In this consists the great revolution of the last twenty years. Formerly the broadest part of a vessel was one-third part from the bow: now it is one-third part from the stern. This is the principle on which the American and English clipper ships are built." The hollow entrance water lines were first used in this country by Robert L. Stevens in the early '30s, on his Hudson river steamboats. There were some of our well-known New York shipbuilders, so wedded to their old theories of design, that after 1850 they constructed clipper ships having the broadest part of the vessel one-third the length from the stem, like the old style packet ships, but with finer entrance lines.

By 1848 there was seen to be a demand for increased drydock facilities in this city for large vessels for repairs and inspection, caused by the larger vessels; both steam and sail, building at that time. The Balance Dry Dock was the patents of John S. Gilbert of New York of March 25 and May 12, 1840. The first dock built on this principle was a small one of 110 feet long by 45 feet wide in 1841, and was located at first on the west side of the city. The New York Balance Dock Company was incorporated April 18, 1848, and they had built a dock 210 feet long. The "Big" Balance Dry Dock was built by William H. Webb in Williamsburg in October, 1854. The principal dimensions were 325 feet long, 99 feet breadth, 38-1/2 feet deep. There were twelve pumps operated by two horizontal engines, one on each side of dock, and two large locomotive boilers furnishing steam for the latter. "On each side of the dock, about six feet within the outer timbers, and extending from the bottom to top of dock, a very heavy and strong longitudinal truss or hog frame, formed of large uprights, top and bottom chords and large iron bars crossing each other diagonally, the whole being strongly secured to the bottom of dock, cross trusses, diagonal braces, and top deck frame. This hog frame is planked on the inside, thus forming water tight tanks the whole length of the dock, on each side and bottom." This dock cost about $175,000 to build. The machinery was constructed by Mott & Ayres, machine builders of West 26th street, New York City, who built about the same period two or three iron hull steamboats for South America. This is the dry dock that was sold to the Erie Basin Dry Dock Company about 1890. In 1852 the United States Navy department had four floating dry docks, a balance dock of 350 feet long at Portsmouth navy yard, and a duplicate of this dock at the Pensacola navy yard, a sectional dock of 9 sections at the Philadelphia navy yard, and a sectional dock of 10 sections underway at San Francisco, Cal. There was a floating box dock to take up vessels of not more than 500 tons at Pittsburg, Pa., as early as 1831. This dock was fitted with four pumps that were operated by a steam engine. There were two of these docks at the same city in 1836.

The "heaving down" process is thus referred to by an authority as late as 1851: "The rapidity, safety and ease with which caulking and sheathing are now done contrasts strongly with the practice years since in vogue, and only completely discontinued within the last fifteen years, of heaving down vessels for this purpose by main force upon the beach occupying the space covered by our whole upper line of docks on the East river. This was performed at high water by fastening tackles from the head of a vessel mast, itself secured by heavy braces to heavy blocks and falls in the dock, until the keel of the vessel came out of the water, when on the succeeding tide she was thrown over. Previous to the construction of the United States Dry Docks even the largest government vessels were treated in the same