The SS Empire was the second steamboat for the Troy Line, built in the United States in 1843, and captained by R. B. Macey. The paddle boxes were lettered "Empire of Troy", as the owners did not want travelers mistaking the boat for an Albany liner. The Empire was, at the time, the largest steam vessel in the world, at 936 tons, 307 feet length, 30 feet beam and 9 feet depth of hold.
She was sunk in a collision with the schooner Noah Brown on the Hudson River, near Newburgh NY, on May 17, 1849. [1] Twenty-three or twenty-four people were killed, including Margaret Carson, wife of James S. Carson, and their daughter Isabella. [2] She was raised and taken to the Sectional Dock in New York City. Repaired, she returned to service on 31 August 1849.
At about 02:00AM the morning of 16 July 1853, she was struck by the General Livingston (some accounts refer to the "Chancellor Livingston"), on the Hudson not far north of where she was sunk several years before. The Empire's boiler was torn from its mountings, and several people died on this occasion. [1]
Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the North River Steamboat. In 1807, that steamboat traveled on the Hudson River with passengers from New York City to Albany and back again, a round trip of 300 miles (480 km), in 62 hours. The success of his steamboat changed river traffic and trade on major American rivers.
The Hudson River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York in the United States. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the Upper New York Bay between New York City and Jersey City, eventually draining into the Atlantic Ocean at New York Harbor. The river serves as a political boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York at its southern end. Farther north, it marks local boundaries between several New York counties. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary, deeper than the body of water into which it flows, occupying the Hudson Fjord, an inlet which formed during the most recent period of North American glaciation, estimated at 26,000 to 13,300 years ago. Even as far north as the city of Troy, the flow of the river changes direction with the tides.
A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S or PS ; however, these designations are most often used for steamships.
The Livingston Avenue Bridge is a railroad bridge over the Hudson River in New York connecting Albany and Rensselaer. The original structure was built in 1866 by the Hudson River Bridge Company but was replaced in 1901–02. A rotating swing bridge span allows large ships to proceed up the river.
Rondout, is situated on the Hudson River, at the mouth of Rondout Creek. Originally a maritime village, the arrival of the Delaware and Hudson Canal helped create a city that dwarfed nearby Kingston. Rondout would become the third largest port on the Hudson River. Rondout merged with Kingston in 1872. It now includes the Rondout-West Strand Historic District.
The North River Steamboat or North River, colloquially known as the Clermont, is widely regarded as the world's first vessel to demonstrate the viability of using steam propulsion for commercial water transportation. Built in 1807, the North River Steamboat operated on the Hudson River – at that time often known as the North River – between New York City and Albany, New York. She was built by the wealthy investor and politician Robert Livingston and inventor and entrepreneur Robert Fulton (1765–1815).
The Shaver Transportation Company is an inland water freight transportation company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The company was founded in 1880 and played a major role in the development of freight transport in the Portland area and along the Columbia.
Steamboats on the Columbia River system were wrecked for many reasons, including striking rocks or logs ("snags"), fire, boiler explosion, or puncture or crushing by ice. Sometimes boats could be salvaged, and sometimes not.
Wilson G. Hunt was a steamboat that ran in the early days of steam navigation on Puget Sound and Sacramento, Fraser, and Columbia Rivers. She was generally known as the Hunt during her years of operation. She had a long career on the west coast of the United States and Canada, and played an important transportation role in the California Gold Rush; it also transported the Governor and the state legislature as the state capital of California moved from Benicia to Sacramento in 1854.
New Orleans was the first steamboat on the western waters of the United States. Owned by Robert Fulton and Robert R. Livingston, and built by Nicholas Roosevelt, its 1811–1812 voyage from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ushered in the era of commercial steamboat navigation on the western and mid-western continental rivers.
The Peace River, which flows from the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia to the Peace–Athabasca Delta and Lake Athabasca in Alberta, was navigable by late nineteenth and early twentieth century steamboats from the Rocky Mountain Falls at Hudson's Hope to Fort Vermilion, where there was another set of rapids, then via the lower Peace from Vermilion to Lake Athabasca. The Peace is part of the Mackenzie Basin, a larger river complex which includes the Athabasca, Slave, and Mackenzie Rivers.
Steamboats played a major role in the 19th-century development of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, allowing practical large-scale transport of passengers and freight both up- and down-river. Using steam power, riverboats were developed during that time which could navigate in shallow waters as well as upriver against strong currents. After the development of railroads, passenger traffic gradually switched to this faster form of transportation, but steamboats continued to serve Mississippi River commerce into the early 20th century. A small number of steamboats are still used for tourist excursions in the 21st century.
The Port of Albany–Rensselaer, widely known as the Port of Albany, is a port of entry in the United States with facilities on both sides of the Hudson River in Albany and Rensselaer, New York. Private and public port facilities have existed in both cities since the 17th century, with an increase in shipping after the Albany Basin and Erie Canal were built with public funds in 1825.
San Rafael was a steamboat that operated on San Francisco Bay from 1878 to 1901. The components of the vessel and a sistership were manufactured in Brooklyn then shipped to San Francisco where the ships were assembled. San Rafael remained in service, primarily as a ferry, until the vessel was sunk in a collision with a ferry on November 30, 1901. Although San Rafael sank rapidly, quick action by the crews limited the loss of life to five persons or fewer. Subsequent litigation established negligence on the part of both captains as the cause of the collision.
The steamboat Comet was the second steamboat to navigate the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Comet's owner was Daniel D. Smith and she was launched in 1813 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With an engine and power train designed and built by Daniel French, the Comet was the first of the Western steamboats to be powered by a horizontal high-pressure engine with its piston rod connected to a stern paddle wheel. Smith was the first to defy the steamboat monopoly in Orleans Territory granted to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton.
The Fort ships were a class of 198 cargo ships built in Canada during World War II for use by the United Kingdom under the Lend-Lease scheme. They all had names prefixed with "Fort" when built. The ships were in service between 1942 and 1985, with two still listed on shipping registers until 1992. A total of 53 were lost during the war due to accidents or enemy action. One of these, Fort Stikine, was destroyed in 1944 by the detonation of 1,400 tons of explosive on board her. This event, known as the Bombay Explosion, killed over 800 people and sank thirteen ships. Fort ships were ships transferred to the British Government and the Park ships were those employed by the Canadian Government, both had the similar design.
Pioneer one of the first steamboats in California, after the Sitka in 1847, was a sidewheel steamboat equipped with an engine and boiler brought out in pieces from Boston on the 800 ton Edward Everett, and put together at the West Point, at Benicia.
Thomas Powell was a fast and popular steamboat built in Manhattan, New York, in 1846 for service on the Hudson River. She ran between New York City and various Hudson River destinations during her career, including Newburgh, Piermont, Poughkeepsie, Rondout, Catskill, and finally as a nightboat to Troy. She also ran on the Delaware River for some years in the 1850s, and during the American Civil War served as a Union Army dispatch boat.
PS Keystone State was a wooden-hulled American paddle steamer in service between 1849 and 1861. She was built in 1848 in Buffalo, New York, by Bidwell & Banta for ship-owner Charles M. Reed of Erie, Pennsylvania, and operated as part of his "Chicago Line". A luxuriously furnished palace steamer, she operated between Buffalo and Chicago, Illinois, while also making stops at various other ports. She was built for the passenger and package freight trade, frequently carrying both wealthy passengers and European immigrants who desired to settle in the Midwestern United States. Due to the Panic of 1857, Keystone State and several other paddle steamers were laid up. When the American Civil War began in 1861, she was refurbished, and put back into service.
Santa Claus was a sidewheel passenger-and-freight steamboat built in 1845 for service on the Hudson River between Wilbur, New York, and New York City. In her first few years of operation, Santa Claus saw service on a number of different Hudson River routes, most notably between Albany and New York City. She was also employed from time to time as an excursion steamer. A highlight of her career occurred in 1852, when she had the honor of conveying the remains of American statesman Henry Clay from New York City to Albany en route to their final resting place.