Competition or Cooperation? A Railroad Consolidates the Steamboat Lines
_________________________
Subtitled "The Long Island Sound Night Boats in the Twentieth Century," Edwin Dunbaugh's book describes their consolidation under control of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, and their last stand in the early 1930s.
Long before 1900 the boats and regional connecting railroads provided (reasonably) comfortable transportation between New York and Boston: the boats brought passengers from New York to New London, Stonington, Providence, Fall River and other ports where they boarded a train for the rest of the trip. This worked in the both directions.
Under the influence of J. P. Morgan, the New Haven Railroad sought to be the dominant transportation system of southern New England and from the 1870s onward gained control of the boat lines through acquisition of their connecting railroads. The railroad's "marine district" was then reorganized as The New England Steamship Company.
Below: The Company's routes are shown on this ca. 1929 map.
_________________________
The most famous line by far was the Fall River, whose large, opulent boats offered the highest standards of service and comfort as well as the shortest connecting train ride to Boston. Earlier we quoted one of Ellery Thompson's several memories of Fall River's Priscilla. He also remembered the boat pictured on the poster at right: Commonwealth, 'Giantess of the Sound:'
"I regret never having steamed down Long Island Sound on the 456-foot Commonwealth, with her 12,000 horsepower, the mightiest of all Fall River steamers..."
"My father and I, in the 31-foot Florence II, [once] had an encounter with Commonwealth...We had a night ferrying job to take three A.W.O.L. soldiers from New London to forts on Fishers Island and Great Gull where Fort Michie was located...Pop explained that we might meet the Fall River steamer before we got back, because they usually shoved off from Newport around 9:00 p.m...While homeward bound the towering Commonwealth came thundering through The Race to pass astern at a safe distance...'Darn good thing there's no fog. Our 12-horsepower Lathrop is no match for her 12,000 steaming horsepower. May the good Lord and King Neptune protect us both.'"
* * * *
Commonwealth ran opposite Priscilla from 1908 to 1937, carrying up to 2,000 passengers at a time in the summer and seating 300 in her Louis XVI style dining room, situated on the top deck so diners could enjoy the passing scene.
__________________________
Fall River's older Pilgrim was nicknamed the "Iron Monarch of the Sound," the first boat with an iron hull and electric lighting. Launched in 1882 as the largest and grandest steamboat in the world, she displays the elaborate sidewheel housings of her era. In William G. Muller's evocative painting she is pulling out of Manhattan's Pier 18 on the night run to her home port. The Fall River Line later moved to Pier 14 at West and Fulton Streets.
The once opulent Pilgrim was withdrawn in 1907 after a quarter century of service, and after nine years of layup was slowly dismantled by New London's T. A. Scott Co. between 1916 and 1920.
___________________
In another atmospheric painting by William Muller, Fall River's Puritan is under way at night. She was the first boat with a steel hull, four decks, and to exceed 400 feet in length. (Sea History, Spring, 1981)
As home of the T. A. Scott Company, renowned marine salvagers, New London was one of the places where steamboats went to die. At the end of Puritan's career, awaiting dismantling at the Scott yard (alongside Pilgrim), Edwin Dunbaugh relates how she broke loose in a storm in 1918, floated into the Sound unmanned, ran ashore on Fishers Island - and was towed back to New London and her fate.
Puritan was in the legendary quartet of sidewheelers in service - with Priscilla, Providence and Commonwealth - when the Fall River Line ceased operations in 1937 during a labor strike.
_______________________
Another view of Puritan on the dustjacket of Roger Williams McAdam's history of the Line. Ellery knew McAdam and spoke admiringly of another of his books, Salts of the Sound, about the renowned captains who demonstrated their skills, night in and night out, navigating the big floating palaces between New England and New York.
__________________________
A smaller Fall River boat was Plymouth, used in the winter when patronage fell off, and for weekend excursions.
As an experienced fisherman who spent years on the Sound in all kinds of weather, Ellery was keenly aware of the danger of fog, and had been told about a collision involving the Plymouth when he was four years old. Years later he typed up an account of it:
"On the night of March 18-19, 1903, The Race off New London was blanketed by thick fog, a Block Island pea-souper. Approaching from the east, off the backside of Fishers Island, was the Fall River freight steamer City of Taunton...somewhat behind schedule.
"Eastbound in Long Island Sound was Fall River's faithful old Plymouth, a popular winter boat...Although City of Taunton and Plymouth were blowing their steam whistles according to law, sounds at night in fog have a habit of miscarrying...
"With the two steamers on a collision course...the crash came at The Race, the bow of the Taunton ripping into the starboard side of the Plymouth, smashing several staterooms and leaving a large hole of shattered wood and steel.
"Plymouth made New London under her own power...docking at the Fishers Island Navigation Co. near the depot and the ferry-house. The hole in her side was large enough for a whale to swim into...Hundreds of curiosity seekers crowded onto the wharf to gaze at the badly crippled boat. My father was one, having come down from the Colonel Ledyard ferry pilothouse to view the damage..."
_______________
Below: The Colonel Ledyard's companion ferry was the Governor Winthrop, here approaching the ferry slip facing the railroad station. This view is likely taken from the Fishers Island Navigation Co. pier.
_______________________
Consolidation of the Sound lines under the control of the New Haven Railroad was decried by some as monopolistic but also allowed for more efficient use of the boats, which could be shifted among the routes according to seasonal changes and other considerations. The result was better service, improved balance sheets and, perhaps, postponement of their demise.
Below: New Hampshire at the New London pier still displays "New Bedford Line" after being reassigned to New London in 1922. Union Railroad Station looms in the background.
"The New London Line boats, steaming in somewhat sheltered Long Island Sound, built up a reputation for comfort and smooth sailing that offered important competition to the peerless Fall River Line paddlewheel steamers that had to round perilous Point Judith, Rhode Island, where a heaving ground swell and choppy seas often disturbed landlubber passengers into losing their appetite for food - but not for romance of the sea."
____________________________
Below: Another look at New Hampshire. Juxtaposing 19th century steamboat design with New York's 1927 Art Deco Barclay-Vesey Building, this arresting view of Fall River Line's Pier 14 attracted many photographers. On this day New Hampshire is in front, with Priscilla taking on coal behind her. New Hampshire was operating on the New London line after 1922, so this may illustrate the flexibility New England Steamship Co. had to deploy its vessels wherever needed.
Built in 1927 as headquarters for the New York Telephone Co., the 32-story tower filling the block between Barclay and Vesey Streets is now the Verizon Building. Damage from 9/11 was carefully repaired as befits a building once called "the ultimate modern skyscraper" - an unofficial title it gave up after only four years to the Empire State Building. Ironically, in 1973 the Empire State lost its title as world's tallest building to the World Trade Center. Today the Verizon Building is hidden on three sides by taller towers, among them the new World Trade Center.
