History | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Name | Mary and Catherine |
Namesake | Wives of Josiah Johnson |
Owner | New York Pilots, Josiah Johnson Sr. |
Operator | John Taylor, Devere, Oscar Stoffenden |
Builder | Jacob Aaron Westervelt shipyard |
Launched | September 26, 1848 |
Out of service | November 6, 1885 |
Fate | Sold |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | schooner |
Tonnage | 41 Thames Measurement |
Length | 65 ft 5 in (19.94 m) |
Beam | 19 ft 0 in (5.79 m) |
Depth | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
Propulsion | Sail |
The Mary and Catherine was a 19th-century New York pilot boat built in 1848 by the Jacob Aaron Westervelt shipyard. She was hit and sunk by the steamship Haverton in 1885. The collision was the subject of a court case that went to the Supreme Court of the United States as Devere v. The Haverton. The Mary and Catherine was replaced by the pilot boat William H. Starbuck.
Pilot boat Mary and Catherine was built by Captain Josiah Johnson Sr. and launched on September 26, 1848, from the Westervelt and M'Kay shipyard. Mary was the name of Johnson's first wife and Catherine was the name of his second wife. [1] [2]
On March 5, 1851, the Mary and Catherine came across a large amount of bales of cotton and barrels off Nantucket. Captain Josiah Johnson was in search of the vessel that had the accident. [3]
The Mary and Catherine, No. 6, was one of only twenty-one New York and New Jersey pilot boats in 1860. [2] : p159
On March 10, 1869, the Mary & Catherine took the place of the Josiah Johnson, which was lost in the collision with the schooner Wanata. The crew of the Johnson were transferred to the Mary & Catherine. [4]
The Mary and Catherine was registered as a pilot Schooner with the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, from 1876 to 1882. Her ship master was John Taylor; her owners were the New York Pilots; built in 1848 at New York City; and her hailing port was the Port of New York. Her dimensions were 65.5 ft. in length; 19 ft. breadth of beam; 7 ft. depth of hold; and 41-tons Tonnage. [5] [6]
On November 6, 1885, the thirty-two year old Mary and Catherine, No. 6, was cruising off Absecon, New Jersey when she was struck the British tramp trade steamship Haverton. The pilot boat sank in a few minutes and the steamship did not stop to help. The pilots and crew escaped in yawls and were picked up by the pilot boat James Gordon Bennett, No. 9. A cabin boy was below deck and went down with the pilot boat. [7] [8] Her owners said they would build another pilot-boat. She was valued at $7,000. [2] : p124 She was replaced by the pilot boat William H. Starbuck, No. 6.
On November 18, 1885, the Pilot Commissioners met with the survivors of the pilot boat. Pilot Oscar Stoffenden was in charge of the boat when it went down. The other pilots were: John Healey, Jacob M. Heath, Archie Heath, Henry Devere, John J. Devere, Frederick Reinsen and Van Pelt. [9]
The case about the collision of the Mary and Catherine, went to the U.S. Supreme Court as Devere v. The Haverton. On November 17, 1890, the suit to recover the value of the pilot boat Mary and Catherine was decided by the circuit court for $6,057; on appear, the circuit court awarded $3,029. The appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court and the lower court decision prevailed. [10]
Samuel Havre Pine, was a 19th-century American ship designer and builder located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He built the racing yacht Enchantress as well as many sailing schooners and yachts; steam yachts; and steamships.
Richard Brown was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot. Brown was captain for the 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat Mary Taylor. At the time of his death he was the oldest of the Sandy Hook pilots having served for 50 years. He was the captain of the racing yacht America, which won the inaugural America's Cup in 1851.
Alexander M. Lawrence was the last of the 19th-century sailing schooners to be in the New York pilot boat service as a station boat. She was one of the largest and fastest in the Sandy Hook fleet. She was built to take the place of the New York pilot-boat Abraham Leggett, No. 4, that was hit by the steamship Naples, in 1879. Her boat model won a medal at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair illustrating the perils of the pilot-boat service. In the age of steam, the Lawrence was sold by the Pilots' Association to the Pacific Mining and Trading Company in 1897.
William H. Starbuck was a 19th-century New York pilot boat built to take the place of the Mary and Catherine, that sank in 1885. She was launched from the J. S. Ellis & Son shipyard, at Tottenville, Staten Island in 1886. The Starbuck was one of the few pilot-boats to take the offensive in the Great Blizzard of 1888, when she ran into the steamship Japanese and survived one of the most severe recorded blizzards in American history. She was one of the last pilot boats that were sold in an age of steam and electricity.
The Columbia was a 19th-century pilot boat built C. & R. Poillon shipyard in 1879 for Sandy Hook and New York pilots that owned the Isaac Webb, which was lost off Quonochontaug Beach, Long Island in July 1879. She was run down by the Guion Line steamer SS Alaska in 1883. A second pilot-boat, also named Columbia, was built by Ambrose A. Martin at East Boston in 1894 that had a unique spoon bow and was extremely fast. She was thrown ashore in the great Portland Gale, and remained on the Sand Hills beach in Scituate, Massachusetts for over thirty years as a marine curiosity. The Louise No. 2 replaced the ill-fated Columbia.
Jacob A. Westervelt was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat designed by naval architect John W. Griffiths and built by Jacob A. Westervelt in 1853. She was one of the fastest pilot-boats in the fleet. In 1858, while attempting to board the British steamer Saxonia she was fatally run into and sank outside of Sandy Hook. The Edmund Blunt, was built to replace her.
The Washington was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1845 by C. & R. Poillon for New York Pilots. She was rebuilt several times, the last with the sail number "22" painted on her mainsail. In 1884, she was sunk by the German steamship Roma, and then replaced by a new Washington.
The Mary Taylor was a 19th-century yacht and Sandy Hook pilot boat, built at the Hathorne & Steers shipyard in 1849 for Captain Richard Brown. She was designed by George Steers with a new radical design with a long thin bow and wide stern, which made her faster than any other boat in her class. This design proved successful and led to the famous yacht America, which won the America's Cup in 1851. The Mary Taylor sank after colliding with the schooner Fairhaven in 1863. She was replaced by the Mary E. Fish.
The Christian Bergh was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1851 at the Westervelt & Co. shipyard. She later became a Pennsylvania pilot boat until her service ended in 1886 when she became an oyster boat in the Delaware Bay. She was named after Christian Bergh a prominent shipbuilder in New York and a close friend of Jacob Westervelt.
The Caprice was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1871 by Brown & Lovell in East Boston, Massachusetts for Peter McEnany and other New York pilots. In 1876, she was run down and sank, off Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, by the steamship New Orleans. She was raised and was one of the pilot boats that survived the Great Blizzard of 1888. The Caprice was last reported sailing off the coast of New York in 1891.
The Abraham Leggett was a 19th-century New York pilot boat built by Daniel Westervelt at the Westervelt & Co. shipyard. She helped transport New York City maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. In 1866, Pilot Michael Murphy was on the Abraham Leggett when the bark Emilie ran into the pilot boat. In 1879, the Abraham Leggett was hit and sank by the steamship Naples from Liverpool. She was replaced by the pilot boat Alexander M. Lawrence.
Edmund Blunt was a 19th-century New York pilot boat built in 1858 by Edward F. Williams for the New York Pilots. She helped transport New York City maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. She survived the Great Blizzard of 1888. In the age of steam, the Blunt along with other pilot boats, were replaced with steamboats. She was built to replace the Jacob L. Westervelt, which sank in 1857.
The Mary E. Fish was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat, built at the Edward F. Williams shipyard of Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1861 for Richard Brown and the New York Pilots. She was built to replace the Mary Taylor. The Fish was hit and sank by the schooner Frank Harrington in 1885 and replaced by the David Carll.
Charlotte Webb was a 19th-century New York City pilot boat built in 1865 at the Webb & Bell shipyard to take the place of the James Funk, that was destroyed by the rebel Tallahassee during the Civil War. She survived the Great Blizzard of 1888, but was run down by the French steamship La Normandie in 1889. She was replaced by the pilot boat George H. Warren.
The James Gordon Bennett was a 19th-century two-masted pilot boat, built in 1870 at the Lawrence & Foulks shipyard. She was named in honor of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., publisher of the New York Herald. She went ashore in 1893 and was rebuilt at the C. & R. Poillon shipyard. In 1897, the James Gordon Bennett was bought by Miller J. Morse of the Atlantic Yacht Club and made into a yacht. He changed her name to Hermit. The New Jersey pilots purchased her in 1901, to replace the David T. Leahy, that was run down by the steamship Alene. The Hermit sank in 1906, when the steamship Monterey ran into her.
The A. T. Stewart was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1865 at the Edward F. Williams shipyard to replace the pilot boat George Steers, which was lost in 1865. She was built for the New Jersey and New York Sandy Hook Pilots Association. The Stewart was in a collision with the steamship Scotia and sank in 1869. She was replaced by the James Gordon Bennett in 1870.
Edward Francis Williams, was a 19th-century shipbuilder. He apprenticed under his father Jabez Williams. Edward F. Williams built his own shipyard, building clipper ships and eleven Sandy Hook pilot boats, some of the finest boats in the fleet. He was the first president of the Greenpoint Savings Bank. Williams died in New Providence, New Jersey, in 1902.
The Enchantress was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1851 by John Maginn who named her after one of the cast in the opera The Enchantress. She was launched from the Westervelt & McKay shipyard. The Enchantress was one of the oldest pilot-boats in the service. She was Cornelius Vanderbilt's favorite pilot boat. The Enchantress went down with all hands in the Great Blizzard of 1888. The pilot boat James Stafford was built to replace her.
The Josiah Johnson was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in the early 1840s by Sandy Hook pilot Josiah Johnson Sr. She was named after the builder. The Josiah Johnson was struck down by the schooner Wanata off of Barnegat and sank in 1869. This resulted in a collision case to recover damages that went to the District Court. The court found that the Wanata was at fault for not keeping a lookout.
Jacob Samson Ellis, was a 19th-century shipbuilder in Tottenville, Staten Island. He had a shipyard business for over thirty years designing vessels. Ellis died in Tottenville in 1902. His son, Hampton C. Ellis, continued with the shipyard constructing boats through the 1920s.