America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America's Cup international sailing trophy.
USS G. W. Blunt was a Sandy Hook pilot boat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War in 1861. See George W. Blunt (1856) for more details. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat as well as a dispatch boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
Henry Steers was the son of James Rich Steers, nephew of George Steers, proprietor of Henry Steers' Ship Yard.
George W. Blunt, completed in 1856, was a schooner built in New York that operated as a New York Sandy Hook pilot boat designated Pilot Boat No. 11. The schooner was used to pilot vessels to and from the Port of New York and New Jersey. That schooner was sold to the United States Navy in 1861, renamed and commissioned as the USS G. W. Blunt (1856), serving in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the South. A second schooner, also named George W. Blunt, was built in East Boston in 1861 and purchased to replace the first schooner as a pilot boat.
Richard "Dick" 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.
The Moses H. Grinnell was a 19th-century pilot boat built in 1850 for the New York maritime pilots. She was designed by the yacht designer George Steers. The Grinnell was the first pilot boat to feature a fully developed concave clipper-bow, which was to become the New York schooner-rigged pilot boat's trade mark. This new design was the basis for the celebrated yacht America.
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 Widgeon was a 19th-century yacht and Sandy Hook pilot boat, built in 1855 by James R. & George Steers for Daniel Edgar of the New York Yacht Club and designed by George Steers. She came in 17th in an unsuccessful America’s Cup defense in 1870. Widgeon was sold in 1871 to a group of New York pilots to replace the John D. Jones, which sank in a collision with the steamer City of Washington. New York pilots condemned the Widgeon as unseaworthy in 1879, which sparked a fight for steam pilot-boat service. In 1883 a decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court and the Board of Commissioners of Pilots that pilot boats could be "propelled" by steam.
The Ezra Nye was a 19th-century pilot boat, built in 1859 by the Wells & Webb shipyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for a group of New Jersey and Sandy Hook Pilots. She was one of the pilot-boats that was in the Great Blizzard of 1888, that was one of the most severe blizzards in American history. In 1896, in the age of steam, the Ezra Nye along with other pilot boats, were replaced with steamboats.
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 Hermann Oelrichs was a 19th-century Sandy Hook Pilot boat, built in 1894 by Moses Adams at Essex, Massachusetts for a group of New York Pilots. She helped transport New York City maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. The Herman Oelrichs was said to be the fastest of the New York pilot fleet. She was built to replace the pilot boat Hope, that was wrecked in 1890.
The Anthony B. Neilson was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat, built in 1854 by George Steers for a company of New York Sandy Hook pilots. She was considered to be the fastest boat in the piloting business. 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 1859, the Neilson was sold to a group of New Orleans pilots. The New York pilots then replaced the Neilson, with a new pilot boat, the John D. Jones.
The William H. Aspinwall was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1861 and launched from the J.B & J.D. Van Deusen shipyard at East River for New York Pilots. She was a replacement for the former pilot boat Virginia. In 1880, the Aspinwall was caught in a thick fog and went ashore at the Long Island bar and became a total loss. She was replaced by a new pilot boat, the America, No. 21.
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.
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.
The Blossom was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built for the New York pilots around 1837. She helped transport maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. In 1839, she came across the Slave ship La Amistad. In 1840, there were only eight New York pilot boats, the Blossom being No. 5. Pilot Thomas Freeborn of the Blossom boarded the packet ship John Minturn and tried to guide the ship in bad weather. He was one of thirty-eight passengers that died near the Jersey Shore in 1846.
The Virginia was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat. She came from Savannah to New York City in 1838. In 1840, the Virginia was No. 8 in the list of only eight pilot boats in the New York fleet. She went ashore in 1860 and was replaced by the pilot boat William H. Aspinwall in 1861.
Moses Adams, was a 19th-century prominent Essex shipbuilder. He had his own shipyard and built eighty-five schooners and pilot boats. Adams died in Essex, Massachusetts in 1894.
Elbridge T. Gerry was a 19th-century New York Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1888 at the Robinson & Waterhouse shipyard in City Island, Bronx. She was named in honor of Elbridge Thomas Gerry, a commodore of the New York Yacht Club. She served as a pilot boat from 1888 to 1896, when she was sold for offshore yachting cruises. Her name was changed to Kwasind, after the strongman in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha.
United States