SLOOPS OF THE HUDSON RIVER

A reprint is available from
The Purple Mountain Press

CONTENTS

1. THE SLOOP AS A PACKET VESSEL Between the exploration by Henry Hudson's Half Moon and Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont historic voyage from New York to Albany, there were two centuries where the North River sloop dominated Hudson River travel and shipping. The sloop was the forerunner of the vast commerce of the Hudson and an important part in the development and growth of the State of New York.

2. THE SAIL IN COMPETITION WITH STEAM Compilation of experiences and recollections of a cabin-boy, master, and owner of Hudson River sloops, schooners, and steam vessels, in the half century beginning in the sixties (1860's). Includes listings of sloop disasters and sinkings.

3. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF CAPTAIN GEORGE D. WOOLSEY
   A sloop captain from Newburgh describes the Hudson River sloops from the last half of the 19^th century, including several serious sloop and steamboat disasters, the Newburgh waterfront during this period.

4. LIST OF HUDSON RIVER SLOOPS

5. LIST OF HUDSON RIVER SCHOONERS

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[James Fenimore] Cooper and [Washington] Irving make mention of these useful vessels, and in a way that makes it quite evident that their importance in the daily life of the people struck the imagination of those writers in a lively manner. But later writers have apparently ignored the sloop. Perhaps, it was because she was like those worthy persons who make no noise as they go through the world and whose quiet and useful lives are taken as a matter of course.

The sloop was the forerunner in the establishment of the vast commerce of the Hudson which has now reached an extent that is exceeded by few, if any, rivers in the world, and as this vessel played so important a part in the development and growth of the State of New York, particularly in connection with the Erie Canal, causing the city of New York to rise to be the chief city of the United States, it seems quite fitting that something should be written to preserve the memory of these inland merchantmen.

The steamboats of the Hudson beginning with the Clermont have been described and cataloged both in popular and technical style in compliance with the wishes of the reading public, so it occurred to me that a book on the sloops might also be a warrantable venture on the sea of literature. If some critic insists that such books are in great part mere lists of names of vessels long since gone to oblivion, then I retort that Homer had his “Catalog of the Ships.”

My acquaintance with sloops goes back to my early boyhood when I began sailing a skiff with a leg-o’-mutton sail. My home was on the east shore of Newburgh bay, and a capital place for sailing it is. Sloops and schooners then were constantly passing the house, frequently as many as twenty-five in a day, and often they would lie at anchor off our place for hours at a time waiting for a change of tide. It was then that I would sail out, and by one pretext or another manage to get aboard. Perhaps, baskets of apples or cherries made it easier to cross the gunwale. In this way I got to know several of the skippers or captains, and soon learned to tell the vessels apart at a distance. I had my favorite sloops and hated to see them outsailed or looking shabby as was sometimes the case. The proudest day of my life was when Captain Geo. Woolsey of the Samsondale gave me the tiller, and I called out “Hard-a-lee” to the man at the jib, as I put the sloop on the other tack.

A great event in my life was a voyage to Albany with Capt. John Bradley, of Low Point, in his sloop J. L. Richards. I was then twelve years old, and several boys of my own age were in the party, the captain’s son among them. The river was teeming with sturgeon in those days—big fellows weighing 250 lbs. would be seen leaping several feet into the air, and now and then one would fall on the deck. The catching and packing of these fish was then an important industry along the Hudson. The product was known as “Albany beef,” but, owing to its cheapness and abundance, it was disdained as a food, albeit the flavor and nutriment, when well prepared, were of a high order. We were gone a week and I well remember that we lay at anchor two days off Coeymans waiting for the south wind, with several other vessels, for the flood-tides were weak, and we thought the tugs demanded too much to tow us to Albany, twelve miles farther up the river.

Later in my career as the possessor in turn of a catboat and of a twenty-eight foot sloop, I took part in the many regattas which occurred on Newburgh bay. Mr. Irving Grinnell of New Hamburgh with the Fidget and Judge Charles F. Brown of Newburgh with the Lorelei, were leading spirits on these occasions. Nor should the Van Wyck brothers of New Hamburgh with their Bonita be forgotten.

In collecting the material for my part of this book, I have had much assistance from my old friend, Capt. Moses W. Collyer of Chelsea (formerly Low Point), and he has been several years gathering facts for his part. With him I have spent much time on the water and on the ice, too, for that matter, from the days when he began his career as a mere lad on the Sloop Benj. Franklin with his father, the late John L. Collyer, a brother of Thomas Collyer of steamboat fame.

Capt. Moses Collyer has had an experience of over forty years on the River and the Sound, as captain and owner successively of sloop, schooner, steam barges and lighters. He has been faithful and consistent in following the water, and has very justly prospered in so doing.

William E. Verplanck
Fishkill-on-Hudson
September, 1908

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ILLUSTRATIONS

THE “HALF MOON” ON THE HUDSON Frontispiece From the painting by L. W. Seavey in State Capitol, Albany.

A TYPICAL HUDSON RIVER SLOOP From a painting by W. Sheppard. Reproduced from “The Rudder” by permission of The Rudder Publishing Co., New York.

SCHOONER “WM. A. RIPLEY,” FORMERLY OWNED BY ROBERT COLLYER OF CHELSEA From an old photograph.

THE PALISADES OF THE HUDSON From a photograph by W. J. Wilson.

CAPTAIN JOHN PATH OF FISHKILL From a photograph by Cramer, Matteawan, N.Y.

CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS WESLEY HALE, LATE OF SAUGERTIES From a photograph by Austin.

CAPTAIN MARTIN V. DRAKE OF NEW HAMBURGH, N. Y. From a photograph by the Benedict Studios, New York.

SLOOP “MARY DALLAS” Owned by Captain Martin V. Drake of New Hamburgh. From an oil painting owned by him.

CAPTAIN MOSES WAKEMAN COLLYER OF CHELSEA From a photograph by Whitney, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

SLOOP “BENJAMIN FRANKLIN” WITH CAPTAIN JOHN L. COLLYER ON THE DECK From a photograph taken at Seabring’s dock, Low Point, 1881.

THE SCHOONER “IRON AGE,” CAPTAIN JOHN PINCKNEY OF LOW POINT, NOW CHELSEA From an oil painting.

CAPTAIN JOHN LYON COLLYER, LATE OF LOW POINT From a photograph by F. E. Walker, Fishkill-on-Hudson.

CAPTAIN GEORGE DAVIS WOOLSEY, LATE OF Newburgh Reproduced from an old print.

Sloop “GENERAL PUTNAM,” BUILT BY CHARLES COLLYER From an oil painting.

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