The Significance of the Wreck of the Steamer Plymouth Rock in Pelham in 1855

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"[I]t may form quite an important epoch in the history of City Island,

as no vessel of any class or description was ever before launched

from that place.  It is not improbable that the increase of population

and trade may 'ere long give rise to extensive and flourishing ship

yards there, or in that vicinity, where the building and launching of

the largest vessels may yet become matters of ordinary and almost

every day occurrence."

January 19, 1856 Issue of The New York Herald Regarding the Need

to Re-float the Wrecked Steamship Plymouth Rock at City Island.  

Introduction

The massive Stonington Line steamship Plymouth Rock left New York City promptly at 4:00 p.m., its regularly-scheduled departure time, on Saturday, December 29, 1855.  Already a nasty nor'easter was blowing.  It was snowing heavily.  The hundreds of passengers on board remained inside amidst the "regal splendor" of the 335-foot long steamship, sheltered from the storm among the finest beds, bedding, chandeliers, china, cut glass, and furniture money could buy.  

Slowly the massive steamer chugged along the East River, through Hell Gate, fighting winds and waters to make its way past Throgg's Neck towards City Island and adjacent Hart Island.  As it chugged along, the nor'easter worsened and a terrible snow squall swirled in the region.  After about an hour after the ship's departure, the gale intensified to such a point that the steamer no longer was able to make headway against the storm and needed to seek shelter.

A large number of Long Island Sound steamers and other vessels were gathered at anchor between City Island and Hart Island sheltering from the terrible winds of the gale.  At about 5:00 p.m., the Plymouth Rock, captained by Joel Stone, joined these vessels.  The steamer dropped its anchor to shelter with the other steamers, schooners, and vessels seeking refuge between City Island and Hart Island.  

Over the next few hours, the terrible storm continued to intensify with winds and waves lashing the vessels in the darkness.  The massive Plymouth Rock "bravely" rode out the storm for the next eight or nine hours.

Between about 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 30, 1855, many on the Plymouth Rock heard a distinct "crack" or "snap" at the bow of the ship.  Crew members raced to the bow just in time to see a schooner that had snapped her cable chain drifting quickly down the Sound "at a very fast rate" -- so fast, in fact, that no one was able to identify the vessel as it receded into the dark distance.  The crack that they heard had been the runaway schooner running into the Plymouth Rock's cable chain and tripping the steamer's anchor, leaving the steamship "at the mercy of the winds."  

Captain Stone ordered a second anchor thrown overboard and even tried to have the boilers fired up to permit him to maneuver the ship.  It was too late.  In what seemed like an instant, the Plymouth Rock struck the shores and rocks of City Island -- some reports say near City Island Point -- and was wrecked.  The massive storm left the gigantic behemoth "high and dry" on its side on the shores of City Island.  

The Plymouth Rock went ashore during a very high tide with winds whipping waves well onto shore.  Consequently, the ship was carried quite a distance inland and settled ashore "very lightly."  Indeed, according to one account, "so slight was the shock that many of the passengers did not awake from their slumbers, and none of them, we are informed, manifested any trepidation or alarm."  The ship lay broadside on City Island Point with its bow facing to the north and shallow water lapping at its hull.

Significantly, at the time of this wreck, City Island did not have a shipyard capable of dealing with such a ship.  Ship construction and repair on City Island before this time had involved only small vessels.

The Immediate Aftermath of the Wreck

Word immediately was sent to New York City that the Plymouth Rock had wrecked on the shores of City Island.  In the meantime, one of the nearby steamers sheltering from the storm offered assistance.  Beginning by about 2:00 a.m., the Fall River Line steamship Bay State and its crew offered a towing hawser that was secured to the stricken steamship.  Despite "unceasing effort" for the next two hours, the Bay State was unable to re-float the Plymouth Rock.   

At about 5:00 a.m., the crews of the Plymouth Rock and the Bay State began to transfer the passengers of the stricken steamer to the Bay State.  No one was hurt in the shipwreck or in the process of transferring the passengers.  After the storm the passengers were taken to Falls River from which they were transferred to Boston.  

Later that morning word reached the Stonington Line in New York City of the plight of the Plymouth Rock.  The Line dispatched two "steamtugs" (steam-powered tugboats), the Hector and the Jacob Bell, to City Island to try to free the wrecked ship.  The steamtugs worked for hours to free the steamer and re-float it.  The steamship, however, was simply too big.  It would not budge.  Thus, the passengers' baggage, freight, and mails were offloaded to the steamtugs that then returned to New York City.  

In the meantime, as soon as word was received by representatives of the Stonington Line in New York City of the wreck, the representatives also began engaging a "full complement of men" and worked to fire up another of the Stonington Line steamers, the Commodore, to depart for City Island with "necessary tackle" to pick up the passengers and their baggage.  Just as the Commodore readied to depart, the steamtugs arrived with news that they carried the passengers' baggage, freight, and mails from the Plymouth Rock and that the Bay State had taken the passengers to Fall River.  Thus, the Commodore was not dispatched to City Island.  

Once the storm cleared, the Plymouth Rock lay easily on its side like a massive beached whale.  The gargantuan steamer towered over the sleepy little island and fishing village of several hundred residents.

A Little About the Stonington Line and its Steamship Plymouth Rock

By the late 1840s, Cornelius Vanderbilt had virtually monopolized steamship transportation on Long Island Sound.  Consequently, he changed his focus to developing transportation lines to California and left his famed Stonington Line under the supervision of his associate, Daniel Drew.  By the mid-1850s, Drew operated three recently-built steamships:  the C. Vanderbilt, the Commodore, and the Plymouth Rock between New York City and Stonington, Connecticut.  See Brouwer, Norman J., Images of America:  Steamboats on Long Island Sound, p. 45 (Charleston, SC:  Arcadia Publishing, 2014).  

The Plymouth Rock was a "mammoth steamer" for its day.  It was 1,850 tons with a length of keel of 325 feet and a length of deck of 335 feet -- longer than a modern football field.  The massive steamship was capable of carrying five hundred passengers.  Its beds and bedding, chandeliers, china, cut glass, and table furniture, were "the best that could be procured in this country or in Europe."  

An extensive description of the steamship published in 1855 (shortly before it was wrecked on City Island) stated:

"The Plymouth Rock made her first trip to Stonington October 19, 1854.  The hull was built by J. Simonson, and is of unusual heavy timber, with a variety of extra fastenings.  The length of keel, 325 feet; length on deck, 335 feet; breadth of hull, 40 feet; whole breadth, including guards, 72 feet; depth of hold, 13 feet; register 1,850 tons, custom-house measurement.  The model has been much admired by amateurs in marine architecture for its grace and symmetry.  She is certainly a very fine-looking steamer, and reflects great credit on her builder, whose success has before been remarked.  

The machinery was furnished by the Allaire Works of this city.  The engine is a beam, with a cylinder 76 inches in diameter and 12 feet stroke of piston; the shafts and cranks are of wrought-iron, heavily fastened and braced.  There are two low-pressure boilers, of very great size and capacity, placed on the guards.  The steamer has also an extra engine and pumps to supply the boilers, and so arranged in case of fire, that a hose may be attached at a moment's notice, and reach any part of the boat.  Then engine of the Plymouth Rock is of the first class -- massive in strength and complete in finish.  It contains all desirable improvements, and is believed to be as perfect a specimen of machinery as yet produced in this country.

In the construction of this mammoth steamer, it was deemed of paramount importance to provide a strong and substantial vessel of great power, with the highest speed, and particularly equipped for the security and safety of life and property.  But the comfort and enjoyment of the passengers has not been by any means neglected.

The accommodations throughout are spacious, convenient, and elegant; the furniture and appointments of the costliest description, and in taste and beauty.  The beds and bedding, chandeliers, china, cut glass, and table furniture, are the best that could be procured in this country or in Europe.

The Plymouth Rock has one hundred well-ventilated state rooms, including numerous bridal, family, and single-bedded rooms, and berths (wide and roomy) for five hundred passengers, and a dining cabin remarkably spacious.  The ladies' cabin, with its almost regal splendor, and the state room hall, with its immense proportions and beautiful arched roof, must be seen to be fully appreciated.

The Plymouth Rock is supplied with several metallic life-boats, with patent cans, seats, and buoys fitted as life-preservers, with fire-engine, force-pumps, hose, and other apparatus and contrivances to protect and preserve from accident, danger, or harm.

The Plymouth Rock is under the command of Captain Joel Stone, who has been from early boyhood on the Sound, and is most favorably known as a competent and courteous master."

Source:  "RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS -- OCEAN AND INLAND STEAMERS OUT OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK NUMBER 11 'THE PLYMOUTH ROCK'" in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review Conducted by Freeman Hunt, A.M., Vol. 33 (From July to December, 1855), pp. 129 & 130 (NY, NY:  1855).

Nineteenth Century Connecticut $3 Bank Note Issued by

Stonington Bank, Depicting the Steamer Plymouth Rock.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail from Connecticut $3 Bank Note Issued by

Stonington Bank with Detail Depicting the Steamer

Plymouth Rock.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Initial Efforts to Re-Float the Plymouth Rock

According to one account published on New Year's Day, 1856, after the storm the wrecked steamer lay:

"on a rocky but nearly even bottom, excepting two small projecting rocks, one about 20 feet forward and the other 20 feet aft of the engine.  The forward rock has broken two of her starboard bilge kelsons [i.e., keelson], and through this fracture the tide ebbs and flows.  At high tide yesterday the water reached her cabin floor forward.  There is no other leak than the one mentioned, and that will soon be stopped."  (See article transcribed below.)

Almost immediately more sophisticated efforts to re-float the ship began.  The insurance underwriters for the ship sent an experienced captain (Captain Bowne) to the scene with two powerful steam pumps rigged for service.  Additionally, the ship's builder, Jeremiah Simonson of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, joined the efforts to save the ship.  One of the owners of the Plymouth Rock, Captain Haywood, arrived on the scene and was placed in charge of the efforts to re-float the ship.

There were a host of problems with the way the ship lay.  She went onto the island broadside and lay in shallow waters.  In addition, the ship's bow was "considerably lower than her stern."  This meant that the ship most likely would have to be removed "broadside as she went on" rather than by her bow or stern.  This presented extreme difficulties for the process.  A steamtug immediately was sent to New York City to bring back ways, canal boats and casks "to sink under and buoy her up in readiness for the next high tide." 

Finally, on January 5, 1856, preparations were complete and an effort to float the stricken steamer began.  Another major storm, however, interrupted the operations and the effort failed.  To make matters worse, the massive storm drove the Plymouth Rock thirty feet further onto the shore.

Clearly it was going to be difficult to re-float the mammoth ship.  The effort might even take months. . . . . . 

Plymouth Rock Owners Contract with Simonson to Re-Float the Ship

Recognizing the serious plight faced by the steamship, on January 8, 1856, its owners completed a contract with Simonson & Lugar of Greenpoint to raise the ship sufficiently to allow ways to be placed under her keel so she could be "relaunched."  (Ways are inclined tracks on which the keel of a ship can slide during launching into the water.)  

This contract may very well have played a significant role in the later growth of City Island as a shipyard and shipbuilding center.  It may well have planted the seed in the minds of many regarding the concept that a massive steamship such as the Plymouth Rock could be launched into the waters of Long Island Sound from ways laid on City Island.  Indeed, this seed would have been a powerful notion to some given the number of shipwrecks and ship repairs needed in the region around City Island and Hart Island in the 1850s and 1860s.  Indeed, this "seed" was not lost on average observers.  One newspaper in the region wrote of the use of ways to relaunch the stricken ship with particular foresight as follows:  

"it may form quite an important epoch in the history of City Island, as no vessel of any class or description was ever before launched from that place.  It is not improbable that the increase of population and trade may 'ere long give rise to extensive and flourishing ship yards there, or in that vicinity, where the building and launching of the largest vessels may yet become matters of ordinary and almost every day occurrence."

In short, efforts to relaunch the mammoth steamship Plymouth Rock into the waters of Long Island Sound from the shore of City Island likely played some role in the eventual growth of shipyards on the little island.

Indeed, by the second week in January a massive effort was underway to repair and re-float the ship.  According to one account, the Stonington Line had agreed to pay $30,000 (nearly $900,000 in today's dollars) to have the ship re-floated.  Fifty men were removing the earth in which the bottom of the ship was embedded to prepare the structure for being placed on ways.  By about January 8th, the damage to the side of the ship stove in when striking the shore had been repaired.  It looked as though the ship could be re-floated within a matter of days.

Then, disaster struck yet again.  Over the weekend of January 12-13, the region experienced yet another major storm.  The storm was so violent that, according to one report, a "full rigged brig was driven ashore on Hart Island, five schooners were left high and dry on City Island, and two schooners were cast upon Huckleberry Island."  (See below.)  During the storm, a wrecking schooner working at the Plymouth Rock site dragged three anchors and was blown ashore, creating a second mess to be addressed.    

Efforts to Re-Float the Plymouth Rock Seemed to Be Cursed

By January 25, 1856, the wrecking schooner mess had been resolved and a canal had been constructed into which the Plymouth Rock could be launched and then floated into the Long Island Sound.  The weather, however, simply would not cooperate.  This time, the problem was ice.

The region was in the midst of one of the coldest winters in many years.  Ice floes were dangerous and numerous in the waters around City Island and Hart Island.  A decision was made to delay any relaunch of the ship until the ice cleared.  The ice, however, did not clear.  Things only got worse until, by February 7, the entire Long Island Sound was frozen over with ice nearly a foot thick for a distance of at least eighteen miles.  According to one account published in a New York City newspaper on February 7:

"According to accounts which were yesterday given by pilots and captains of vessels, who had just come in from City Island and vicinity, the ice in the river above Hell Gate is more abundant and solid than it has been for many years past.  The whole river, they say, is frozen over between Lent's Point, above the Gate, to Sands' Point, a distance of about eighteen miles.  Near Throggs' Point the ice is over a foot thick, and much of it covered with snow of an equal depth.  Teams can pass over from Morrisport, on the west side, to Sands' Point on the Long Island shore.  No water can be seen by a person looking in the direction of the Sound, from a vessel's mast head at Hart Island.  About thirty vessels, brigs, schooners, sloops, etc., are ice bound between Sands' Point and Riker's Island.  The crew of the steamer Plymouth Rock, at City Island, having despaired of getting her away at present, have abandoned her, leaving her in charge of but one or two, as boat keepers."  (See below.)

The crew of the Plymouth Rock were not the only ones who despaired.  It began to look to the owners and insurance underwriters as though the steamship would not be relaunched for months.

Re-Floating the Stricken Steamship

Weeks passed before the ice began to clear.  In early March, it appeared as though the time was ripe to attempt a relaunch.  The Stonington Line was so optimistic that on Sunday, March 2nd it had another of its steamships, the C. Vanderbilt, carry a load of coal to City Island so that Plymouth Rock would have enough fuel to make it back to New York City once it was relaunched during a high tide under favorable winds.  

On Friday, March 7, 1856, everything was ready.  The Plymouth Rock had been propped on ways.  A canal had been dug to allow it to float into Long Island Sound.  The tide was high.  The winds were favorable.  Sometime that day, the ship was relaunched successfully down the ways into the canal and floated into Long Island Sound.  According to at least one source, this was the first launch of a ship on ways ever on City Island.

The ship immediately proceeded to the Balance Dock at the foot of Market Street in New York City for additional repairs.  According to one report, a good deal of additional work was needed.  "Both sides of her hull forward under the water lines and near the bends are badly stove; and her fore foot is slightly damaged.  --  But she does not appear to be strained, nor in the smallest degree out of line."

Final Repairs and Return of the Ship to Service on the Stonington Line

For the next three weeks, shipwrights and carpenters at the Balance Dock in New York City labored to repair and reappoint the splendid steamship.  According to one account, at the Balance Dock:

"every part of the hull in the least injured having been removed and entirely renewed, while additional fastenings and new kelsons and braces give increased strength to the massive and substantial frame.  The engine and boilers were found to be in perfect order, and not in the least affected by the accident.  The steamer has been repainted and regilded [sic], and the furniture and equipments renewed and refitted, so that the Plymouth Rock to all intents and purposes is now a new steamer, just ready for service."  (See below.)

On Tuesday, April 8, 1856, the Plymouth Rock resumed its trips on the Stonington Line for the season.  Captain Joel Stone, once again, was at the helm.  

Now that the world knew that a steamship longer than a modern football field could be launched on ways into Long Island Sound from the shores of City Island, neither the little island nor the Town of Pelham would ever be the same.  Soon, shipyards began sprouting along the shores of the island as City Island grew into a major shipbuilding and ship repair center for the entire northeast.

*          *          *          *          *

I have written before about the wreck of the steamship Plymouth Rock at City Island Point during the early morning hours of Sunday, December 30, 1855.  See:

Thu., Aug. 23, 2007:  The Wreck of the Steamer Plymouth Rock in Pelham Waters in 1855.

Fri., Aug. 24, 2007:  More About the Wreck of the Steamer Plymouth Rock in Pelham Waters in 1855.

*          *          *          *          *

Below is the text of a large number of articles dealing with the wreck of the steamship Plymouth Rock on the shores of City Island in the early morning hours of Sunday, December 30, 1855.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"THE STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK ASHORE AT CITY ISLAND.
-----
PASSENGERS ALL SAFE.

The steamer Plymouth Rock, Capt. Stone, went ashore on City Island, some eighteen miles above the city, about 2 o'clock, in the storm yesterday (Sunday) morning.  The facts are as follows:  The steamer left the city for Stonington at 4 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, from Pier No. 2 North River, and about 5 1/2 or 6 o'clock, as she neared City Island, the wind blowing very hard, Captain Stone gave orders to throw over one of her anchors, it being his intention to let her lay to until the storm passed over.

The storm continued to increase, but nothing transpired until about 2 o'clock, at which time a crack was heard on the bow, which on examination proved to be caused by a schooner running into and tripping the steamer's anchor, thus leaving us at the mercy of the winds.  Capt. Stone, as soon as he learned the true state of things, ordered a second anchor to be thrown over, but it was two late -- in an instant the steamer struck the island and went ashore, where at last accounts she lay high and dry.  Her passengers were taken off by the steamer Bay State, for Fall River, and word sent to this city of the condition of the disabled steamer.

As soon as the news was received here orders were given to fire up the steamer Commodore, Capt. Pendleton, that she should be sent to the relief of the P. R., a full complement of men were engaged, and the necessary tackle brought out and made ready for action.  

The schooner, it appears, was drifted down the stream at a very fast rate, she having snapped her cable chain.  No one appears to know her name nor anything about her, as she continued to drift, as far as the eye could see, down the stream.

The Commodore did not leave for City Island, as the steamtugs which had been sent to the assistance of the Plymouth Rock brought all her freight to the City.  The Plymouth Rock went ashore on a very high tide, and now lies on the rocks in six feet of water.  As her draught [sic] is 7 1/2 or 8 feet, it will require a very high tide to float her.  Meantime the water ebbs and flows through her, and as she lies on the rocks in a very exposed position, her fate is very critical."

Source:  THE STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK ASHORE AT CITY ISLAND -- PASSENGERS ALL SAFE, New-York Daily Tribune, Dec. 31, 1855, p. 6, col. 4 (additional copies of the same article may be found here and here).

"Disaster to the Steamer Plymouth Rock.

NEW YORK, Dec. 31.

The steamer Plymouth Rock which left here on Saturday afternoon for Stonington, came to anchor, in company with other Sound steamers near Hart Island, owing to the severe snow squall.  A schooner lying at anchor near by, got loose, and by drifting into the Plymouth Rock, tripped her chain, and anchor, and set her at the mercy of the winds and waves, so that she drifted ashore about one o'clock yesterday morning on City Island, where she still remained at the latest date -- 6 o'clock this morning.  --  The steamer Bay State took off the mails and passengers.  The freight has been brought to this city and will be sent on to-day by the steamer Commodore.  --  Assistance was sent to the Plymouth Rock this morning.  Her place in the Stonington line is to be promptly filled by another boat."

Source:  Disaster to the Steamer Plymouth Rock, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 31, 1855, p. 3, col. 4 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"THE STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK ASHORE ON CITY ISLAND.
-----

From Our Special Reporter.

On Saturday afternoon last the steamer Plymouth Rock, of the Stonington Line, left this city at 4 p.m., her usual hour, for Stonington, but on reaching Sendies Point [sic; Sands Point], the snow-storm which had begun before her departure had become so violent as to render it impossible for her to make further headway against it, and an anchor was let go to hold her until its violence had abated.  The anchor was cast overboard about 5 o'clock p. m., and she rode out the storm bravely until 1 o'clock on Sunday morning, when unperceived by any one on board, she slowly dragged her anchors and went ashore, broadside on City Island Point, the wind blowing a perfect gale at the time.  She went ashore on a very high tide, and was carried far upon the beach, striking very lightly; indeed, so slight was the shock that many of the passengers did not awake from their slumbers, and none of them, we are informed, manifested any trepidation or alarm.

About 2 o'clock a.m. the steamer Bay State, Capt. Jewett, of the Fall River line, took a hawser from the Plymouth Rock, and endeavored to get her afloat again, but after two hours of unceasing effort, Capt. Jewett was obliged to give up the attempt.  About 5 a.m. on Sunday the Bay State took off the passengers of the Plymouth Rock and carried them to Fall River, whence they were forwarded to Boston.

The news of the disaster to the Plymouth Rock reached this city about Sunday noon, and a couple of steamtugs, the Hector and Jacob Bell, were at once chartered to go to her assistance.  All attempts to haul her off were found unavailing, and the passengers, baggage and freight crates, were transferred to the steamtugs, and they arrived here just in time to prevent the steamer Commodore, which had been made ready for that purpose, from going to City Island to the assistance of the stranded steamer.  Last evening the freight was all sent to Boston on the steamer Commodore of this line.

The Plymouth Rock is lying with her broadside to City Island and heading north.  She lies on a rocky but nearly even bottom, excepting two small projecting rocks, one about 20 feet forward and the other 20 feet aft of the engine.  The forward rock has broken two of her starboard bilge kelsons, and through this fracture the tide ebbs and flows.  At high tide yesterday the water reached her cabin floor forward.  There is not other leak than the one mentioned, and that will soon be stopped; the shipwrights have already begun to build a well around it, and when we left the steamer last night Capt. Bowne, the Underwriters' agent, had his two powerful steam-pumps nearly rigged for service; so that the probability is that in the course of to-day she will be freed of water, and then the pumps will keep her dry.  So far as we could judge from a cursory observation last evening, the steamer lies quite easy, and is very little strained.  Her builder, Mr. Jeremiah Simonson of Greenpoint, is assisting in getting her off.  The steamer draws seven feet of water; yesterday, at high tide, the depth of water around her averaged five feet.  Her bows, are, however, considerably lower than her stern, and when she does come off, as the water is shallow before and behind her, she must come off broadside as she went on.  When she went ashore the tide was full, and it will need a high tide and easterly wind to get her off again.  Yesterday a steam-tug was dispatched to the city for ways, canal boats and casks to sink under and buoy her up in readiness for the next high tide, when it is expected she will be got off.  Capt. Haywood, one of the owners of the Plymouth Rock, who is on board in charge, entertains strong hopes of getting her afloat again.  

Capt. Stone, the commander of the Plymouth Rock, was on a visit to his friends in Connecticut when the accident occurred, and the steamer was in charge of the pilot.

None of the furniture of the steamer is damaged, all of it having been removed before the water got into the cabin."

Source:  THE STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK ASHORE ON CITY ISLAND, New-York Daily Tribune, Jan. 1, 1856, p. 5, col. 5 (additional copies of the same article may be found here and here).    

"Disaster to the Steamer Plymouth Rock.

The steamer Plymouth Rock, which left here on Saturday afternoon, for Stonington, came to anchor in company with the other Sound steamers, near Hart Island, owing to the severe snow squall.  A schooner, lying at anchor near by, got loose, and by drifting into the Plymouth Rock, tripped her chain and anchor, and set her at the mercy of the wind and waves, so that she drifted ashore about 1 o'clock A. M., on Sunday, on City Island, where she still remained at the latest date, 6 o'clock Monday morning.

The steamer Bay State took off the mails and passengers.  The freight has been brought to this City.  Assistance was sent to the Plymouth Rock yesterday morning.  Her place in the Stonington Line is to be promptly filled by another boat."

Source:  Disaster to the Steamer Plymouth Rock, N.Y. Times, Jan. 1, 1856.  

"The steamer Plymouth Rock, of the Stonington line, went ashore on City Island in the snow storm on Sunday morning last, and lies in a very precarious position."

Source:  [Untitled], New-York Daily Tribune, Jan. 1, 1856, p. 4, col. 2.  

"TELEGRAPHIC.
-----

NEW YORK, Dec. 31.  --  The steamer Plymouth Rock for Stonington, went ashore on Hart's Island at two o'clock on Sunday morning.  Her passengers and mails were taken off by the steamer Bay State.  The Plymouth Rock remained aground this morning.  Steamers have been sent to her assistance."

Source:  TELEGRAPHIC, The Pittsburgh Gazette, Jan. 1, 1856, p. 3, col. 2.  

"Steamer Plymouth Rock Aground.

NEW YORK, Dec. 31, P. M. -- The steamer Plymouth Rock, for Stonington, went ashore on Hart's Island [sic] at two o'clock Sunday morning.  The passengers and mail were taken off by the steamer Bay State.  The Plymouth Rock remained aground, and this morning steamers were sent to her aid."

Source:  Steamer Plymouth Rock Aground, The Louisville Daily Courier [Louisville, KY], Jan. 1, 1856, p. 3, col. 3.  

"MARINE AFFAIRS.
-----

THE PLYMOUTH ROCK. -- This fine steamer is still ashore on City Island, and the wind yesterday having shifted to the westward she will not be got off for some days yet."

Source:  MARINE AFFAIRS -- THE PLYMOUTH ROCK, New-York Daily Tribune, Jan. 5, 1856, p. 6, col. 2.

"THINGS IN NEW YORK.

NEW YORK, Jan. 5. . . .

A further effort was made to float off the steamer Plymouth Rock to-day, but without success.  The storm interrupts operations. . . ."

Source:  THINGS IN NEW YORK, Public Ledger [Philadelphia, PA], Jan. 7, 1856, p. 3, col. 6.  

"MARINE AFFAIRS.
-----

THE STEAMSHIP PLYMOUTH ROCK.  --  The owners of the Plymouth Rock yesterday completed a contract with Messrs. Simonson & Lugar to get her afloat again.  She lies in a favorable position, and will be raised sufficiently to allow ways to be placed under her keel, when she will be relaunched.  She came out of the severe gale on Saturday night last tight and uninjured, and when once afloat will soon resumed her place on the Stonington route.  The well-known skill of the contractors is a guarantee that she will not long remain on City Island beach."

Source:  MARINE AFFAIRS -- THE STEAMSHIP PLYMOUTH ROCK, New-York Daily Tribune, Jan. 9, 1856, p. 7, col. 3.  

"The Plymouth Rock.

NEW YORK, Jan. 8.

A contract has been made to-day with Messrs. Simonsons [sic]; Sugar [sic] to put the steamer Plymouth Rock afloat.  She lies in a more favorable position."

Source:  The Plymouth Rock, Detroit Free Press, Jan. 9, 1856, p. 1, col. 4.  

"The Plymouth Rock Still Aground.

The Plymouth Rock, which went ashore some days since at City Island, has not yet been removed from her position since the storm last Sunday night, by which it will doubtless be recollected she was driven thirty feet further on shore.  Active preparations are, however, being made to effect her speedy removal.  Some fifty men are engaged removing the earth in which her bottom is imbedded [sic], preparatory to placing her on guys, when she will, it is thought, be launched without difficulty.  The damage to one of her sides, sustained by the collision upon the rocks previous to her having been driven on shore, has been repaired, and all that remains is her necessary elevation prior to being launched.  It is stated that the Stonington Company to whom the steamer belongs, have agreed to pay $30,000 for her removal."

Source:  The Plymouth Rock Still Aground, The New York Herald, Jan. 13, 1856, p. 1, col. 4.

"STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK

It is expected that the steamer Plymouth Rock, ashore on City Island, will be got off in the course of a few days, a contract having been made with her builders, Messrs. Simonson & Lugar to dig a canal or trench around her, when, it is thought she can be easily launched.  They have already sent up laborers to commence operations."

Source:  STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK, New-York Daily Tribune, Jan. 15, 1856, p. 6, col. 4.

"SPECIAL DESPATCH [sic] TO THE HERALD.

CITY ISLAND, Jan. 14, 1856.

The wrecking schooner attending on the steamer Plymouth Rock, dragged three anchors and went ashore on City Island high and dry.

At Sand Point and about Cow Bay the effects of the storm on Saturday night and Sunday morning were very severely felt.  A full rigged brig was driven ashore on Hart Island, five schooners were left high and dry on City Island, and two schooners were cast upon Huckleberry Island."

Source:  SPECIAL DESPATCH TO THE HERALD, The New York Herald, Jan. 15, 1856, p. 1, col. 4.  

"STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK

It is expected that the steamer Plymouth Rock, ashore on City Island, will be got off in the course of a few days, a contract having been made with her builders, Messrs. Simonson & Lugar to dig a canal or trench around her, when, it is thought, she can be easily launched.  They have already sent up laborers to commence operations."

Source:  STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK, New-York Tribune, Jan. 15, 1856, p. 6, col. 4 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

"City Intelligence. . . .

THE STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK, ashore at City Island, is expected to leave there to-day, or Monday.  A canal or dock has been formed by excavating underneath and between her and the water of sufficient depth below high water to float her, and warp her out.  This plan was devised as the easiest and most expeditious one for removing her.  Should it not prove successful, the contractors (Messrs. Simonson & Lugar) will place her on ways and launch her.  In either event it may form quite an important epoch in the history of City Island, as no vessel of any class or description was ever before launched from that place.  It is not improbable that the increase of population and trade may 'ere long give rise to extensive and flourishing ship yards there, or in that vicinity, where the building and launching of the largest vessels may yet become matters of ordinary and almost every day occurrence."

Source:  City Intelligence . . . THE STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK, The New York Herald, Jan. 19, 1856, p. 4, col. 6.  

"THINGS IN NEW YORK.

NEW YORK, Jan. 19. . . .

The steamer Plymouth Rock, ashore at City Island for the past month, will probably be afloat on Monday.  A canal has been formed by excavating underneath of a sufficient depth to float her off at high water."

Source:  THINGS IN NEW YORK, Public Ledger [Philadelphia, PA] Jan. 21, 1856, p. 1, col. 7 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  

"NEW YORK, Jan. 15. . . .

The wrecking schooner appended to the steamer Plymouth Rock, dragged three anchors and went ashore on City Island, high and dry."

Source:  NEW YORK, Jan. 15, Weekly Indiana State Sentinel [Indianapolis, IN], Jan. 24, 1856, p. 1, col. 8.  

"STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK.  --  All the necessary preparations for removing the steamer Plymouth Rock from City Island, where she has been ashore for some time past, are now complete.  She has been placed in an upright and perfectly easy position, and is only waiting for the breaking away of the ice, when she will be taken out from her bed and brought to the city."

Source:  STEAMER PLYMOUTH ROCK, The New York Herald, Jan. 25, 1856, p. 5, col. 1. 

 "ICE IN THE HARBOR.
-----

The quantity of drift ice in our rivers and bay is so great as to completely cover the surface of the water, and it has become so compact that many attempts to work through have failed within a day or two.  Vessels lying in slips are frozen in, and can only be released by being cut out.  The only exception to the general condition, was when a very large field completely blocked up the mouth of the East River, from Governor's Island to Castle Garden, and remained stationary, preventing other ice from getting in the river, and leaving it comparatively clear above, so that the ferry boats found but little difficulty in crossing.  

According to accounts which were yesterday given by pilots and captains of vessels, who had just come in from City Island and vicinity, the ice in the river above Hell Gate is more abundant and solid than it has been for many years past.  The whole river, they say, is frozen over between Lent's Point, above the Gate, to Sands' Point, a distance of about eighteen miles.  Near Throggs' Point the ice is over a foot thick, and much of it covered with snow of an equal depth.  Teams can pass over from Morrisport, on the west side, to Sands' Point on the Long Island shore.  No water can be seen by a person looking in the direction of the Sound, from a vessel's mast head at Hart Island.  About thirty vessels, brigs, schooners, sloops, etc., are ice bound between Sands' Point and Riker's Island.  The crew of the steamer Plymouth Rock, at City Island, having despaired of getting her away at present, have abandoned her, leaving her in charge of but one or two, as boat keepers.

All but the Hamilton Avenue Ferry boats make their trips, but without any pretence [sic] to regularity, and they are often in imminent danger from heavy fields of ice, which force them far out of their course.  Buttermilk Channel is again frozen over, and persons crossed on ice from Brooklyn to Governor's Island yesterday."

Source:  ICE IN THE HARBOR, Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, Feb. 7, 1856,  Vol. LIII, No. 9830, p. 3, col. 2.  

"Miscellaneous and Disasters. . . . 

On account of the storm of Saturday night, the boats of the Boston line did not leave at 4 P.M., their regular hour.  The C. Vanderbilt, for Stonington, and State of Maine, for Fall River, went out yesterday, Sunday, at 5 A.M.  The Connecticut, for Norwich, went on the same day at 8 A.M.  The C V took with her, for the Plymouth Rock, which has been for a long time at City Island, a sufficiency of fuel to enable her to come to the city.  She is alive at high water, as she lays, and will leave when the wind proves favorable for a good tide."

Source:  Miscellaneous and Disasters, The New York Herald, Mar. 3, 1856, p. 8, col. 4. 

"New York, March 7. . . . 

The steamer Plymouth Rock, of the New York and Stonington line, which has been ashore at Hart Island [sic] for two or three months, was floated off to-day and steaming up to the city but little damaged."

Source:  [Untitled], Chicago Tribune, Mar. 8, 1856, p. 2, col. 6 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).  See also [Untitled], The Buffalo Commercial [Buffalo, NY], Mar. 8 1856, p. 3, col. 4 (same text; paid subscription required).  

"The Stonington steamer, Plymouth Rock, which was ashore last Winter on City Island, was on Friday morning, taken up by the Balance Dock for repairs.  Both sides of her hull forward under the water lines and near the bends are badly stove; and her fore foot is slightly damaged.  --  But she does not appear to be strained, nor in the smallest degree out of line."

Source:  [Untitled], The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Mar. 15, 1856, p. 2, col. 2 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link). 

"Miscellaneous and Disasters. . . . 

 The Stonington steamer Plymouth Rock, which was ashore last winter on City Island, was on Friday morning taken up by the balance dock for repairs.  Both sides of her hull forward under the water lines and near the heads are badly stove, and her fore foot is slightly damaged.  But she does not appear to be strained nor in the smallest degree out of line."

Source:  Miscellaneous and Disasters, The New York Herald, Mar. 16, 1856, p. 8, col. 5.  

"THE PLYMOUTH ROCK.  --  This splendid steamer has been put in the most complete order, and resumes her place in the Stonington Line, under the command of Capt. Joel Stone.  The Commodore is the alternate boat.

The steamer Plymouth Rock, since being relieved from the protracted detention at City Island, has been placed on the large balance dock at the foot of Market-street, and there received a most thorough overhauling -- every part of the hull in the least injured having been removed and entirely renewed, while additional fastenings and new kelsons and braces give increased strength to the massive and substantial frame.  The engine and boilers were found to be in perfect order, and not in the least affected by the accident.  The steamer has been repainted and regilded [sic], and the furniture and equipments renewed and refitted, so that the Plymouth Rock to all intents and purposes is now a new steamer, just ready for service."

Source:  THE PLYMOUTH ROCK, New-York Daily Tribune, Apr. 8, 1856, p. 4, col. 1.

"Miscellaneous and Disasters. . . .

The steamer Plymouth Rock, Capt. Joel Stone, resumed her trips on the Stonington Line, for the season yesterday (Tuesday).  The steamer, since being relieved from the protracted detention at City Island, has been placed on the large Balance Dock, foot of Market street, and there received a most thorough overhauling.  Every part of the hull in the least injured having been entirely renewed, while additional fastenings, new keelsons and braces gives increased strength to this massive and substantial frame.  The engine and boilers were found to be in perfect order and not in the least affected by the accident.  The steamer has been repainted and regilded [sic], the furniture and compartments renewed and refitted so that the Plymouth Rock to all intents and purposes, is now a new steamer just ready for service."

Source:  Miscellaneous and Disasters, The New York Herald, Apr. 9, 1856, p. 8, col. 5.  

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