William Starkey, No. 6, and other pilot boats in the Boston Harbor. | |
History | |
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United States | |
Name | William Starkey |
Namesake | Captain William Starkey |
Owner |
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Operator |
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Builder | Thatcher Magoun shipyard |
Launched | 1848 |
Out of service | November 13, 1899 |
Fate | Sold |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | schooner |
Tonnage | 54.55 TM [1] |
Length | 72 ft 0 in (21.95 m) |
Beam | 19 ft 0 in (5.79 m) |
Depth | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
Propulsion | Sail |
The William Starkey was a 19th-century pilot boat built in 1854, by Benjamin F. Delano at the Thatcher Magoun shipyard for W. W. Goddard, of Boston. Starkey helped transport Boston maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the Boston Harbor. She was named for Captain William Starkey, one of the founders of the Boston Marine Society. The Virginia Pilots' Association purchased the Boston schooner William Starkey in 1865, where she became a pioneer of the associations' fleet and the oldest pilot boat on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In the age steam, she was sold in 1899 to Thomas Darling of Hampton, Virginia.
William Starkey was a Boston schooner-rigged pilot boat built in 1854, by Benjamin F. Delano at the Thatcher Magoun shipyard, in Medford, Massachusetts, for W. W. Goddard of Boston. She was No. 6, in the Boston fleet. [2] She was named for Captain William Starkey, one of the founders of the Boston Marine Society. [3]
On April 19, 1858, Captains P. H. Chandler, Abel F. Hayden, S. S. Hunt, Asa H. Joselyn, A. Nash, and William Read were assigned to the Starkey. [3] Hayden received his Boston pilot commission to pilot vessels in the waters of the Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay on December 6, 1858. At the same time he joined the pilot boat William Starkey, No. 2. [4]
Artist Alfred Waud did a marine pencil drawing of the Boston Pilot Boat Fleet in 1859, which appeared in the Ballou's Pictorial of 1859. The story in the Ballou's Pictorial said:
These boats are all well-built, of exquisite model and crack sailors, and manned by as fine a set of men as ever trod a deck or handled a sheet. They ride the waves like sea-ducks, and with their hardy crews are constantly exposed to the roughest weather.
—Ballou's Pictorial, 1859, Vol. XVI, No. 14. [5]
The drawing lists the schooner-rigged boats with their number on the mainsail. They included the Phantom, No. 5; Syren, No. 1; William Starkey No 6; the Coquette and the Friend. [3] : p33
On November 3, 1861, pilot boat William Starkey, No. 2, sent a dory ashore at Shag Rocks to rescue the survivors of the square rigged Maritana from Liverpool, which ran into a snowstorm coming into the Massachusetts Bay and crashed onto Shag Rocks. The pilot boat was manned by Captain Samuel James of Hull, who was a member of the lifesaving family. [6]
In the summer of 1865, the Virginia Pilots' Association purchased from Captain Hunt, the Boston pilot schooner William Starkey for $3,500. Her new owners were Captain Samuel Wood, Oliver E. Edwards, William Parrish and Hezekiah Williams. She went on her first cruise in the Virginia waters on July 26, 1865. For two years she was the only vessel owned by the association until they bought the boat bought Phantom in 1867, from Boston. [1] [7] The Starkey was used as a station boat by the Pilots' Association. During this time the apprentice pilots were trained by making soundings from the pilot boats instead of relying on buoys. [8]
On November 13, 1899, the William Starkey, was sold to Thomas Darling, of Hampton, Virginia. The Starkey, was a pioneer of the Virginia pilots' Association fleet and the oldest pilot boat on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. [9] She was sold when the Association bought the steam pilot boat Relief. The Starkey was 54.55-tons; 72-ft in length; 19-ft beam and 6-ft depth of hold. [1]
A ship model of the pilot schooner William Starkey, No. 2, of Norfolk, Virginia was made in 1952. [8]
Pet No. 9 was a pilot boat used by the New York Sandy Hook Pilots in the 19th century. The schooner was used to pilot vessels to and from the Port of New York and New Jersey.
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.
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 Sylph was a 19th-century pilot boat first built in 1834, by Whitmore & Holbrook for John Perkins Cushing as a Boston yacht and pilot-boat for merchant and ship owner Robert Bennet Forbes. She won the first recorded American yacht race in 1835. She was a pilot boat in the Boston Harbor in 1836 and 1837 and sold to the New York and Sandy Hook Pilots in October 1837. She was lost in winter of 1857 with all hands during a blizzard off Barnegat, New Jersey. The second Sylph was built in 1865 from a half-model by Dennison J. Lawlor. The third Sylph was built in 1878 at North Weymouth, Massachusetts for Boston Pilots. She was sold out of service in 1901, after 23 years of Boston pilot service.
James H. Reid, was a 19th-century American Maritime pilot. He is best known for being the dean of the Boston pilots, serving for 55 years. He was captain of the famous yacht America for 17 years when she was owned by Benjamin F. Butler. In 1897, he built a new America, named after the America's Cup defender.
The Phantom was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1867 from the designs by Dennison J. Lawlor. The schooner was considered a model for her type with a reputation for being very fast. She helped rescue the passengers on the steamship SS Oregon when it sank in 1886. She was one of the pilot-boats that was lost in the Great Blizzard of 1888. The Phantom was replaced by the pilot-boat William H. Bateman.
The D. J. Lawlor was a 19th-century Boston pilot boat built in 1881 at North Weymouth, Massachusetts. The schooner was considered the largest for her type, noted for her seaworthiness and heavy weather performance. She was named after the prominent Boston shipbuilder Dennison J. Lawlor. She was struck by a fishing schooner Horace B. Parker, in 1895, and was replaced by the pilot-boat Liberty in 1896.
Abel F. Hayden, was a 19th-century American Maritime pilot. He was one of the oldest Boston pilots, serving for over thirty years. He helped bring in the USS San Jacinto, into the Boston Harbor in 1861. Hayden was owner of the pilot-boat D. J. Lawlor, that was struck by a fishing schooner Horace B. Parker, in 1895.
Thatcher Magoun was a shipbuilder who specialized in large ships and brigs, 250-tons and larger, built for the China trade. His reputation, according to the maritime historian Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, was "second to none among American shipbuilders." He was also called the "Father of Shipbuilding on the Mystic River."
The Varuna was a 19th-century Boston pilot boat, built by Montgomery & Howard at Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1890, for a group of Boston pilots. She was designed by yacht designer Edward Burgess, known for his America's Cup defenders. She was the first centerboard pilot-boat in operation in the Massachusetts Bay. The Varuna went out of service in 1912 because of the introduction of steam power into pilot-boats. She was later sold to Stephen Simmons to be used as a trading vessel between ports in the Spanish Main in 1913.
The Trenton was an auxiliary motor pilot boat built in Essex County, Massachusetts for a company of New Jersey Sandy Hook pilots in 1907. She was formerly the fishing schooner Kernwood, designed by Thomas F. McManus of Boston in 1904. As a pilot boat, she spent twenty-five years in pilot service before being placed out of service in 1934.
George W. Lawler, was a 19th-century American Boston Maritime pilot. He is best known for being with the Boston pilot service for over 40 years. He was captain of the famous pilot boats Lillie, and Hesper.
Franklin B. Wellock, was a 19th-century American Boston maritime pilot. He is best known for being with the Boston pilot service for over 55 years. He was captain and owner of the pilot boat Minerva.
William C. Fowler, was a 19th-century American Boston maritime pilot. He is best known for being the oldest pilot in the pilot service having served for fifty years as a branch pilot. He was captain and owner of the pilot boat Florence. His nephew, Franklin Fowler was a well known Boston pilot.
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 Friend was a 19th-century pilot boat built by Daniel D. Kelley & Holmes East Boston shipyard in 1848 for Boston pilots. She helped transport Boston maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the Boston Harbor. The Friend was one of the last of the low sided, straight sheared schooners built in the 1840s for Boston pilots. The second Boston pilot boat Friend was built in 1887. Her name came from the older Friend that was in the service in the late 1840s. Captain Thomas Cooper sold the Friend to New York pilots in 1893. Cooper replaced the Friend with the pilot-boat Columbia in 1894.
The Fleur de Lis was a 19th-century yacht and pilot boat built in 1865 by J. B. Van Deusen for Captain John S. Dickerson of the New York Yacht Club. She was bought by pilot Franklin B. Wellock and became the Boston pilot boat No. 7. She was known as one of the best pilot boats in the Boston harbor. By 1904, the pilot boat Fleur de Lis was lying in a graveyard for old boats in East Boston.
The Coquette was a 19th-century yacht and pilot boat, built in 1845 by Louis Winde, at the Winde & Clinkard shipyard in Chelsea, Massachusetts for yachtsmen James A. Perkins. Her design was based on a model by shipbuilder Dennison J. Lawlor. The Coquette was a good example of an early American yacht with a clipper bow. As a yacht, she won the attention for outsailing the larger New York yacht Maria at the second New York Yacht Club regatta in 1846. Perkins sold the Coquette to the Boston Pilots' Association for pilot service in 1848. She continued as a pilot boat until 1867 when she was sold as a Blackbirder to be used on the African coast.
The George H. Warren was a 19th-century pilot boat built in 1882 by Porter Keene at Weymouth, Massachusetts, to replace the Edwin Forrest, No. 4, which was sold to the Pensacola, Florida pilots. The George H. Warren, originally belonged to the Boston pilot fleet but in 1889, she was purchase by a group of New York pilots. She and her crew were lost in the great blizzard of 1895.
Ambrose A. Martin, was a 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts yacht and boat shipbuilder. He built the Ambrose A. Martin shipyard in 1882 at Jeffries Point, East Boston, where he built many notable Boston yachts and schooners. Martin died in Boston in 1934.