THE MARY POWELL
The History of a beautiful side wheeled
steamer called the "Queen of the Hudson"
First Edition 1972
Published by Howell-North Books ISBN 0-8310-7090-0 |
Most beloved of all the steamboats on the Hudson River, and perhaps the best-known American side-wheeler of the nineteenth century, was the Mary Powell. Honored’ as the “Queen of the Hudson, for style and speed she dominated the river, becoming. the standard of comparison not only for other passenger vessels but also for private steam yachts. The biography of the Mary Powell relives the days of decorum ‘when could be relaxing as well as fast.
Former steamboatman Donald C. Ringwald wrote Hudson River Day Line for Howell-North in 1965, and that book soon became one of the best-selling steamboat histories ever published. Now he follows that success with THE MARY POWELL. This volume’s 251 pictures bring to life the hurry and bustle of the Hudson when it was the great scenic highway of the East; and the copious appendix material details the history of the Mary Powell from every aspect.
In 1861 the Anderson family of Rondout Creek built the elegant side-wheeler as a day boat to New York, and for most of her 56-year career she was employed, on this route. So loyal were her passengers that when she did not run, many of them stayed at home!
Captain Absalom L. Anderson was her first master, and he was eventually succeeded by his son Eltinge. Their pride and love for the vessel they commanded was a legend on the river. The story is told that Captain Absalom was so concerned with the effect of weight upon the Mary Powell’s speed that he ordered stewards to patrol the decks and brush flies-off the railings.
From the first days of travel along the Hudson to the Mary Powell's abandonment in 1920, this biography covers, her life and background in detail. The book will appeal to anyone, who yearns for the days when the “floating palaces” sped across clear waters and steamboat had as much personality as people.
Acknowledgments
This book grew from a magazine article on the Mary Powell which I wrote for The American Neptune and which was published in two installments in 1954. At the time Ernest S. Dodge was managing editor and I appreciate his subsequent permission, on behalf of The American Neptune, to use that article as a base on which to build the present work.For their usual liberality in such matters, I am grateful as always for the unlimited selection from the large collections of Hudson River steamboat material assembled by my old friends, Captain William 0. Benson, Roger W. Mabie, William H. Ewen, Sr., and Herman F. Boyle. I must, of course, also mention the late Elwin M. Eldredge, who helped with the article mentioned above and whose collection, now in the Mariners Museum, provided additional material for this book. John L. Lochhead, the librarian at the museum, rendered his customary unlimited help in tracking down suitable pictures in the Eldredge and other collections.
Since the Hudson River Day Line held control of the Mary Powell Steamboat Company for many years, there is considerable material on the latter organization in the two Hudson River Day Line Collections — one in the New-York Historical Society library and the other in the reference library of the Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc. For expediting my considerable research in these collections, I give sincere thanks to James Gregory, librarian at the New-York Historical Society, and Mrs. Alice S. Wilson, Steamship Historical Society librarian. James T. Wilson, past president of the latter organization, also assisted by doing further library research for me.
Likewise, at the National Archives in Washington, Miss Jane F. Smith and Kenneth R. Hall helped immeasurably to speed my work there.
When the manuscript was completed, C. Bradford Mitchell, Roger W. Mabie, Captain William 0. Benson and William King Covell read it critically and have my gratitude for many helpful suggestions.
For the painting reproduced on the jacket and frontispiece, I am indebted to one of America’s finest maritime artists, William C. Muller, who also did the painting for the jacket of Hudson River Day Line.
In preparing pictorial matter, I was fortunate to have the aid of Robert W. Szembrot, who took a personal interest in getting the maximum obtainable from many a badly faded photograph.
A number of other people assisted in a variety of ways. I have listed them here alphabetically in geographical groups.
In the Kingston area were George N. Betts, whose father chauffeured Captain A. E. Anderson; Herbert H. Cutler at the Senate House Museum; Eugene C. Dauner, who made available his valuable file of old newspapers and correspondence; Dr. Charles A. Galyon, a foremost Mary Powell enthusiast; Mrs. Appleton Gregory, who made many a childhood trip on the steamer; Robert R. Haines, photographer and collector; the late Cornelius J. Heitzman; Fred J. Johnston, interested in all things pertaining to old Kingston; the late Cornelius E. Keyser, once a member of the crew of the Mary Powell; Alfred P. Marquart, possessor of several Mary Powell items; Robert M. Matthews, whose local history collection was a means of preserving some highly pertinent material; the late Louis R. Netter, editor of the Daily Freeman; Harry Rigby, Jr., City of Kingston historian; the Misses Cora F. and Pearl E. A. Rightmyer, daughters of Captain Joel Rightmyer (once a Mary Powell pilot) and nieces of my old friend, the late George W. Murdock, whose Hudson River steamboat collection is in the New-York Historical Society; and Richard J. Warrington, son of the last master of the Mary Powell.
Helpful in the Newburgh area were Homer Ramsdell and Mrs. W. Clement (Mary Powell Ramsdell) Scott, both descendants of Mary Powell; Bernhard Schulze, noted modelmaker; and Walter A. Tuttle, who assisted greatly in research at Newburgh.
In Saugerties, support was rendered by Donald S. Fellows, editor of the Saugerties Post-Star; Mrs. Ruth Reynolds Glunt, author of The Old Lighthouses of the Hudson River; and the Reverend George D. Wood, another former Mary Powell crew member.
In other areas were Richard S. Anderson, Hudson River enthusiast, of New Baltimore, N.Y.; Raymond Beecher of the Greene County Historical Society, Inc.; H. Ernest Bell of Milton, N.Y.; Edward 0. Clark, marine historian and photographer of Chalfont, Pa.; Harry Cotterell, Jr., marine historian of Newark, N.J.; Tony Dominski, librarian, of Albany, N.Y.; James R. Dufty, print collector of Albany; Edwin L. Dunbaugh, marine historian of New York City; Richard V. Elliott, author of Last of the Steamboats; William H. Ewen, Jr., marine artist and devoted follower of Hudson River steamboating; the late Arthur D. Fay of the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.; David T. Glick, marine historian of Dearborn, Mich.; Kenneth E. Hasbrouck of the Ulster County Historical Society; Douglas L. Haverly, who strongly assisted in research for this project, as he has for previous ones; William F. Helmer, author of Rip Van Winkle Railroads; Erik Heyl, marine historian and author of Buffalo, N.Y.; George W. Hilton, author of The Night Boat and other marine works; A. Spencer Marsellis, past president of the Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc.; Mrs. Eleanor L. Nowlin, Shelburne Museum, Inc., Shelburne, Vt.; Mrs. Wilhelmina B. Powers, Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Norman S. Rice, director of the Albany Institute of History and Art; F. Van Loon Ryder, modelmaker, of Coxsackie, N.Y.; Jim Shaughnessy, author of Delaware & Hudson; W. du Barry Thomas, who helped with the original Mary Powell article; William G. Tyrrell, chief, Historic Site Management, New York State Historic Trust; Franklin H. and Emily Welch of Van Wies Point on the Hudson; and Osgood Williams at the Peabody Museum.
Finally, I want to thank particularly the staff of the New York State Library, Albany, for aid and co-operation over a long period of time.
DONALD C. RINGWALD
Albany, New York
January, 1972
 Donald C. Ringwald 1917-1987 |
Donald C. Ringwald 1917-1987
Born along the Hudson at Kingston, New York, where in the days of his youth every mature inhabitant had made at least one trip on the Mary Powell, Donald C. Ringwald had several steamboatmen relatives, includIng a granduncle who handled the throttle as a long-time engineer on the ancient Norwch. Ringwald was carried away by the river in the pre-World War II period of his life to become a happy steamboatman himself, primarily with the, old Hudson River Day Line. Appropriately, his book about that line awakenied so many memories amongst former employees that they fomed an “alumni” asaociation,’with annual reruns on the river.Donald Ringwald has written countless articles on Hudson River Steamboating, a subject on which a leading authority, and is a member of a number of marine historical, groups. Of these; he has been one of the guiding spirits of the Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc., for decades.
He is a financial manager with the United. States Veterans Administration. As might be expected, he relaxes by traveling on the few American steam vessels that still remain.
Donald C. Ringwald died on June 19, 1987.