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2016 November Issue of Blackwell's Almanac

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2016 November Issue of Blackwell's Almanac Vol II, No 4, 2016 ! ! A Publication of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society Top: East River and Shoreline, circa 1746, Pierrepont Bartow, 1872, M1974.74.1; Brooklyn Historical Society. Bottom: Steamboat Nassau of the Fulton and South Ferry Company, James and John Bard, 1846, M1974.100.1; Brooklyn Historical Society. See “Riding the East River: From Canoe to Yankee Clipper…and Beyond,” p. 2. To be added to the Blackwell’s Almanac mailing list, email request to: [email protected] RIHS needs your support. Become a member—visit rihs.us/?page_id=4 !1 Vol II, No 4, 2016 ! Riding the East River: Contents From Canoe to Yankee Clipper…and p. 2 Riding the East River: Beyond From Canoe to Yankee Clipper…and Beyond On September 8, Robert Singleton, executive director of the Greater p. 6 A Humble Side of History: Astoria Historical Society, gave a talk at the Library on the storied The Almshouse Ledger role of the East River in the life and evolution of New York City. Part Collection of the lecture series sponsored by the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, Singleton’s presentation covered such wide-ranging aspects p, 9 RIHS Calendar of the river, it would be impossible to cover it all here. However, his material on the many different types of transport associated with the p. 10 Become a Member and waterway inspired the following expanded treatment of the subject. Support RIHS We look out the window at Our River and see an occasional scow, or tug, or pleasure boat. What we may not appreciate is that its 16-mile length, stretching northward from Upper New York Bay to Long Island Sound, was in centuries past a scene of dizzying maritime activity and the catalyst for New York City’s growth. Even before Europeans settlers arrived, the Lenape tribe fished and traveled the East River in their dugout-tree trunk canoes. The first sailboat, the “Restless,” belonging to Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, made its appearance on the river in 1614. He was able to navigate the entire waterway, even surviving the whirlpools, jagged reefs and dangerous rocks of Hell Gate, the chaotic confluence of tidal waters from the Upper Blackwell's Almanac Bay, Harlem River and Long Island Sound. In Dugouts and sailing ships in what would become New York harbor, 17th century. Credit: en.wikipedia.org Published quarterly in February, his wake began the May, August and November. colonization that would Back issues may be viewed at transform the river, its rihs.us transport and the city through which it flowed. Publisher: The Dutch arrived in numbers in 1623, landing at what is now Judith Berdy Governors Island and quickly settling both banks of the East River. As with the Native Americans, river transport was central to their Editor: lives. By 1642 New Amsterdam’s grain mills and flour trade were so Bobbie Slonevsky active, ferries began running between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The earliest of these were primitive, oar-driven scows or small sailing © 2016, Roosevelt Island ships that were summoned by blowing a horn or ringing a bell. By Historical Society 1647, the first pier on the river was built at Pearl and Broad Streets. Within five years, that stretch of the East River was a vibrant, !2 Vol II, No 4, 2016 ! commercial center featuring a forest of ships’ Brooklyn Heights to Manhattan and allowed masts. Among them were smuggler and them to fight another day. pirate ships, including eventually those of Captain Kidd, who made the East River at Most notorious were the British prison ships, Williamsburg and Bushwick his home port. particularly the HMS Jersey, that housed American captives. Situated off Brooklyn in In 1664, the English wrested the colony from the East River’s Wallabout Bay (site of the the Dutch, and both the city (renamed New later Navy Yard), these 24 ships embodied York) and the river began to change such hellacious conditions, some 12,000 character. A huge wharf called the Great soldiers, sailors and civilians perished there, Dock was built at Corlear’s Hook and was almost twice as many as lost their lives almost immediately choked with ship traffic. during all the war’s battles. A series of landfill projects on the lower river —continuing well into the 18th century (into Also notable during the revolutionary years: the 19th century on the Brooklyn side)— The British HMS Hussar, which sank in the narrowed the channel, causing the flow of vicinity of Hell Gate with a reported fortune in water to become deeper and faster. This gold that remains lost to this day; and the allowed very large vessels to tie up and Turtle, America’s first submarine. It provided unload their goods at a shoreline (particularly proof of principle, but was unsuccessful in its on the Manhattan side) that had previously attack on a British ship in the harbor. been too shallow for them. The new land soon sprouted warehouses and other As the 18th century came to a close there buildings essential to the growing sea trade. appeared on the river another type of transport not widely known about today: The Revolutionary Period horseboats. Yes, boats powered by horses. The East River and the boats that plied it The animals walked on the boat deck, at first were responsible for a number of historic in circles around stationary posts and later on events during the American Revolution. The treadwheels or treadmills. The mechanical most important was Washington’s retreat power from the posts or treads drove varying after losing the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776. devices—most often paddlewheels—to Aiming to save his little army from further propel the vessels. They were inexpensive to devastation, Washington had his men round build and run and relatively fast. And so, at up “every flat bottomed boat and sloop” on the height of their popularity, between 1814 the east side of the river. There were few and 1819, they actually competed sailing craft, so it was largely row boats that successfully with “the next big thing”… evacuated the troops from The Jersey prison ship in Wallabout Bay, 1782. Cutaway of a replica of the Top: Cross-sectional view of horizontal turntable Credit: en.wikipedia.org Turtle on display at the (treadwheel) beneath boat’s main deck (as though Royal Navy Submarine decking removed). Bottom: View of horse driving Museum, Gosport, UK. treadwheel backwards through large slots in the deck. Credit: en.wikipedia.org Credit: Kevin J. Crisman, www.nasw.org !3 Vol II, No 4, 2016 ! The Steam Engine what was to be the hallmark of the 19th In 1814, the steam engine, generally century: burgeoning trade and the expansion attributed to Robert Fulton, of East River ships and shipping arrived on the maritime to the greater U.S. and around scene. For the first time, the world. water travel could adhere to a set schedule, unaffected Starting in 1817, steam packets by weather and tides. hauled cargo, mail and passengers on a strict departure The river buzzed with more and arrival schedule to the four frequent and dependable corners of the earth. By 1830, ferry service. The earliest eight different packet ships went Brooklyn steam line, Ticket to the steamboat ferry from New York to Liverpool referred to as the Fulton Nassau. Credit: Google site alone. Clipper ships, too, though Ferry, included a craft Brooklyn Queens Waterfront. still under sail, sped across the called the Nassau (see waves due to their sleek design page 1). Passenger fare was and maximum sail area. And 4¢; a range of other fees applied to wagons majestic foreign ships of every type and from and livestock. At mid-century, ferries or every port came here to barges like the one at the foot of Atlantic deliver their goods Avenue in Brooklyn and the one at Hunters and take on cargo for Point in Queens met and carried west- the return. When the traveling railroad cars to Manhattan or New Erie Canal opened in Jersey to link up with the continental rail 1825, providing an network. By the last quarter of the 19th unbroken water century, more than 30 ferries crisscrossed passage linking the the East River daily as far north as 92nd St. Midwest, the Hudson Steam-driven paddle-wheel pleasure boats River and points also became a standard feature of the river south, the rest of Clipper ship Lightning in the during this period. Thousands of New Yorkers America poured its 1850s. Credit: en.wikipedia.org enjoyed summer excursions up the river to produce into the beer gardens and other amusements at holds of ships waiting College Point and Clason’s Point, as well as in New York harbor. picnic sites on Long Island, until a series of When the canal froze disasters proved the boats to be unseaworthy over in winter, its and fire-prone. barge-boats were often tied up on the 19th Century East River to serve as Expansion homes to the captains’ Already in the families. 1780s, a sailing ship Shipbuilding Men-of-war. Credit: T. Whitcomb named the contributed to the 1813, U.S. Naval Academy Experiment massive volume of Museum. left its vessels journeying on birthplace on the river. While ship the East River construction in the area had actually begun in for a the 17th century with the Dutch, by the time of A forest of ships’ masts circa 1812. Credit: courageous the Civil War, more than 30 shipbuilders nyhistorywalks.wordpress.com round trip to operated yards on the river from the Battery China. This to 14th Street. Among them, founded in 1801, foreshadowed was the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
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