Racing to New London: City of Lowell vs. Priscilla
"The new queenly Priscilla [of the Fall River Line], proud of her record-breaking trip from Newport to New York - about 8 hours and 30 minutes at better than 21 miles an hour - was dying to hook up with the Lowell to settle WHO was the fastest steamboat on Long Island Sound."
"The speedy Lowell had established a new record for a passenger-carrying steamer running through Long Island Sound, making the 130-mile trip between New York City and Stonington, Connecticut, in five hours and twenty minutes."
"The Lowell and the larger Priscilla caught each other eastbound together, and though there were company laws against full speed racing - a danger to passengers and crew - the race east began at Execution Rocks Light...It was reported that Capt. Abrams and Chief Engineer "Pony" Weed gave the Priscilla all she had, with paddlewheels beating the water astern like never before. But still the City of Lowell stayed with them, smoke pouring from her stacks, with her propellers screwing at 125 revolutions a minute - five times the turns of the Priscilla's 'bucket brigade.'"
"A hundred miles east at Bartlett Reef Light Ship the race ended in a dead heat, perhaps with the nose of the Priscilla a mite ahead as she swung off to pass through The Race into Block Island Sound. Meanwhile, the Lowell swung in for the mouth of the Thames and New London."
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The New England Steamship Co., a subsidiary of the New Haven Railroad, controlled and coordinated six formerly independent Sound lines: Bridgeport, New Haven, New London (Norwich), Providence, Fall River and New Bedford.
Below: The dustjacket of Edwin L. Dunbaugh's history of the Company's complex operations shows Fall River Line's Priscilla in the waters of Hell Gate, about to pass under the bridge of that name late in her career.
New York was "growing up," to use Ellery's phrase. Only fifteen years after his steamboat experience, three spectacular examples of early 20th century Art Deco architecture - the Chrysler, Empire State and RCA Buildings - had risen (dimly seen on the jacket flap) while graceful late 19th century marine architecture was exiting the scene, literally and figuratively.
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"I'll never forget my final eastbound trip as bow watchman on the City of Lowell, of how the queenly Priscilla passed us off Stratford Shoal Light, just as I relieved quartermaster Billie Foss at the wheel."
Ellery describes a sudden crisis when the binnacle light went out leaving the compass in darkness. 1st Pilot Howell said calmly:
"Ellery, do you see that low-down evening star ahead?"
"Yes, sir."
"Hold her right on course by steering for it. I'll see about the binnacle light...
"During the next few minutes a sixteen-year-old boy navigated the 325-foot City of Lowell all alone in the pilothouse with 200 hundred passengers sleeping below, with me steering by a star."
Arriving in New London, there was more to do before leaving the boat.
"It was Saturday and the pilothouse had to be cleaned, brass shined, and ship talk discussed. Captain Pettigrew and the others wished me well after the pilothouse brass had been shined like never before.
"I rushed ashore to my father's boat [where he was] unloading fish with the help of a landlubber! 'Fishing boats, here I come!' I cried, and later, after crossing to Groton on the old sidewheeler Governor Winthrop, I was welcomed home on Granite Street like a man returning from a four-year whaling expedition."
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