The Collision of the Steamship Providence and Schooner Avis in Pelham Waters in 1889

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An eyewitness to the monumental head-on collision of the 130-ton two masted schooner Avis and the 373-feet-long Fall River Line steamship Providence described the crash, succinctly, as "awful."  About 8:00 p.m. on September 26, 1889, the schooner was flying along in Long Island Sound toward New York City with a full load of buoyant lumber pilings and six crewmen including the Captain.  The steamship Providence was plowing through the waters of Long Island Sound in the opposite direction headed to Newport as quickly as its massive steam-driven paddle wheels would propel it.

The schooner Avis was being captained by R. C. Farnsworth of St. John, New Brunswick and was being piloted by Cornelius W. Lawrence of City Island who had boarded the two-masted schooner in the forenoon and was guiding the vessel to port.  The steamship Providence had nearly 300 passengers on board and was being captained by John Hammond.  The Providence was traveling at nearly double the speed of the schooner Avis.

Though accounts differ, it appears that the evening was clear and the schooner had lights lit.  City Island Pilot Lawrence saw the massive steamer nearly a mile distant with nary a thought of any danger.  The two ships closed the distance quickly and nearly passed off the shores of Hart Island in the Town of Pelham in waters between Hart Island and Sands Point, Long Island.  As the two ships were about to pass, the gigantic steamship inexplicably swung its bow and turned directly into the path of the two-masted schooner.

The force of the impact was stunning.  According to one witness, the schooner Avis was stopped dead in the water for a moment and actually bounced backward in the water off the massive steamship.  Passengers in the steamship were thrown down and heard a terrible "grinding crunching noise [that] was kept up for a minute or two."  

The schooner was devastated.  Its bowsprit, jib boom, stem, and figure head were destroyed and a "big hole was stove in her side."  All the ship's headgear was carried away and, in less than five minutes the schooner sank.  Because the ship carried a full load of buoyant lumber pilings, the ship bobbed on the waters of Long Island Sound upright with water covering its decks but masts and cabin still above the water.

The head-on crash sheared completely away five of the luxurious outside staterooms of the steamship Providence and tore off long sections of the ship's main and upper deck guards as well as a small part of the ship's hull.  In one stateroom, an "old lady" was lying in her bed at the time of the wreck.  Her entire stateroom was sheared away and the floor of the stateroom was carried completely away.  She and her bed slid off the disappearing floor and simply fell one deck below onto a pile of bags.  The lady stood up, unhurt, and began asking about the safety of her daughter who was elsewhere on the ship at the time of the crash.

Captain R. C. Farnsworth of the two-masted schooner Avis was not so lucky.  He was at the wheel of the schooner at the time of the crash with City Island Pilot Lawrence standing behind him as he manned the wheel.  The force of the crash was so great that it threw Captain Farnsworth forward into the wheel just as the spoked and sprocketed wheel was spun violently by the crash.  The sprockets on the outer rim of the spoked steering wheel acted just like a buzz-saw as Captain Farnsworth was thrown into it.  The spinning sprockets disemboweled the poor Captain and subjected his legs and groin to similarly-devastating injuries.  He was unconscious before he even fell into the arms of Pilot Lawrence.

Panic set in as steamship passengers raced for life preservers fearful that the steamship would sink as well.  Although, again, accounts differ, it seems that Captain Hammond of the steamship lowered at least two boats to offer assistance to the crew of the sunken schooner although there may have been a delay in doing so.  In the meantime, Pilot Lawrence used one of the small boats of the schooner Avis to load the unconscious Captain Farnsworth and transport him first to Hart Island where a doctor at a local juvenile institution treated him.  Pilot Lawrence then transported Captain Farnsworth onto City Island where the injured seaman was taken to the home of Pilot Lawrence for additional care.  Within a day or two local newspapers reported that Captain Farnsworth was expected to die of his injuries.

The five remaining crewmen of the sunken Avis that bobbed in the waters of the Sound refused assistance and refused to leave the sunken vessel knowing that if they did it would be seized as salvage by some passing ship.  The crew slept that night in the sails of the sunken ship as it bobbed in the waters of the Sound before it could be towed to relative safety.

The Providence slowly continued on its journey to Newport where it arrived the next day, September 27, 1889, several hours late.  One account described the damage to the steamship upon its arrival in Newport:

"The steamer Providence arrived here several hours late to-day, bringing tidings of the collision with the schooner Avis.  Her starboard side is open forward of the paddle wheel for fully sixty feet.  Long sections of the main and upper deck guards are ripped off, a small section of the hull is gone and five outside staterooms destroyed.  The pilot says the schooner displayed no lights.  According to his story, the Providence came to anchor at once and sent out two small boats, in which the crew of the schooner were taken off and landed at Hart Island.  The Providence came through all right with her side open, the sea having only a slight swell and the steamer being kept well over to port."

Captain Farnsworth lingered in agony for more than two months in the home of City Island Pilot Cornelius W. Lawrence.  Captain Lawrence died there of the injuries he suffered in the September 26 wreck on December 10, 1889.


The steamship Providence was first put into service in 1867.  At that time, it had the largest steam engine of any steam vessel and was one of the Fall River Line's most luxurious steamships.  It was 373 feet long and could accommodate 840 passengers.  By 1889, the steamship already was considered jinxed.  It had been involved in a host of wrecks in Long Island Sound and previously had "run down" several sailing ships.  According to one account:

"
She is a very unfortunate boat and has caused a good deal of damage within the past year, and had no end of narrow escapes.  About twelve years ago she ran down and sunk [sic] the steam yacht Adelaide in the Sound, and shortly after that she collided with a schooner near Throgs Neck and inflicted heavy damage.  Then she crashed into the steamer Lucy B. Miller and knocked a big hole in her bow.  One of the latest adventures of the Providence was to run down Commander Elbridge T. Gerry's steam yacht Electra and knock off her stem.  Old harbor men say that the Providence is 'hoo dooed,' but she probably needs only a new captain."

Most accounts saddled Providence Captain John Hammond with responsibility for the terrible wreck off the shores of Pelham that terrible night. 

The Providence Steamship of the Fall River Line Involved In A

Collision Off the Shores of Hart Island in Pelham on September

26, 1889.  Source:  Fifty Photographic Views of the Steamers of

the Fall River Line, p. 32 (Chicago & NY, NY:  Rand, McNally &

Co. for J. J. Murphy, 1900).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"SCARE IN THE DARK ON THE SOUND
-----
The Big Steamboat Providence in Collision in the Storm Off Gangway Buoy.
-----
THREE HUNDRED LIVES IN PERIL.
-----
Five Staterooms Gutted and the Side of the Vessel Torn Away by the Schooner Avis.
-----

Three hundred people narrowly escaped death in a collision on the Sound, on Thursday evening, between the Fall River line steamer Providence and the British schooner Avis.  The vessels crashed together off Gangway buoy shortly before eight o'clock.  It was raining and the night was very dark.  The steamer suffered extensive damage and the schooner was wrecked.

It was the merest chance that the glancing blow of the Avis did not send the big steamer to the bottom with all on board.  The Providence has run down so many craft that she was thought to be unfortunately named, but yesterday the passengers were thanking their stars that they were saved and they concluded to trust in that name yet.

It was fifteen minutes past six o'clock when the big steamer  backed out of her slip at the foot of Murray street on Thursday evening.  She started off around the Battery at a rattling rate of speed and was bound for Newport on her last trip for the season.  Nearly three hundred passengers were on board, and most of them had finished supper at ten minutes before eight o'clock, when the vessel had reached that part of Long Island [Sound] midway between Gangway Buoy and Sands Point Light, about eighteen miles from the Battery by the water route.  Many of the passengers were in their staterooms and the weather was so disagreeable that nobody ventured outside.

A TERRIFIC CRASH.

Without a second's warning the passengers were startled by a terrific crash, and the grinding crunching noise was kept up for a minute or two.  The shock was so great that people were thrown off their feet, and the utmost confusion followed.

After the first rush for the life preservers the frightened passengers ventured out to the rail to ascertain the cause of all the disturbance.  The Providence had come into collision with a little sailing vessel that was plain to be seen and both were badly damaged.  It was the little schooner Avis.  Captain Farnsworth, bound from St. John, New Brunswick, to New York, and heavily loaded with piles.  The vessels were going in opposite directions when they met.  If the schooner had bee a larger boat the beautiful steamer Providence would most likely have been sent to the bottom of the Sound.  The Avis struck the Providence head on, just forward of the starboard paddle box, tearing away sixty feet of the main deck guards.  A big hole was made in her hull, forty feet of the upper deck guards ripped out and five staterooms destroyed.  The crushing of the light joiner work and the heavy planking made a noise which struck terror to all who heard it.

AN OLD LADY'S ESCAPE.

White haired Captain John Hammond, of the Providence, was on hand in a moment to save his steamer if possible, and the hurrying to and fro of crew and passengers almost started a panic.  The anchor was let go and the boats lowered in case of need.  Then attention was turned toward the big hole in the steamer's side.  The five staterooms carried away were numbered 138 to 142 inclusive and were on the extreme outward row furthest forward.  Everything about them was crushed into kindling wood, and right here occurred a very narrow escape.  It was a curious incident.  An old lady living in Newport was occupying No. 142, and at the moment of the collision she was reclining on the bed.  When the bowsprit of the schooner swept along the steamer's quarter with such furious impacts the entire floor of the stateroom was torn away as if cut with a great knife.  This occurred as quick as a flash, and the old lady, still lying on her bed, was suddenly dropped to the deck below and landed on a pile of meal bags, unimpaired and apparently not in the least frightened.  She looked about in a wondering manner and rubbed her eyes.  While everybody about her was scrambling for life preservers and catching for breath in their terror she calmly picked herself up and quietly inquired how to get up stairs again.

Chief Engineer Saulspaugh sprang to her assistance, and even then she seemed to be only concerned for the safety of her daughter in another part of the boat.

CAPTAIN FARNSWORTH HURT.

The Avis was lying off Sand's Point Light, half full of water and almost a total wreck, when I visited the scene last night.  The first mate said the schooner had both lights burning and the night was fairly clear, with the wind northwest by north and light when the steamer was seen approaching.  The course of the Providence was laid to pass under the schooner's stern, but for some reason or other the steamer's course was suddenly altered to go across the sailing vessel's bow.  They came together with great force, and the schooner's bows were stove in and the bowsprit, flying jibbon [sic], head gear, and in fact everything forward, carried away.  The shock of the collision broke the rim of the wheel and sent it flying out of the hands of Captain Farnsworth, who was steering at the time.  The recoil of the spokes struck the Captain and inflicted a very ugly wound in the thigh.

The entire blame for the accident is laid to Captain Hammond, of the Providence, while the steamer's people claim that the schooner had no lights out.

The boats of the Providence came alongside and assistance was offered to the schooner's crew, but declined.  Pilot Lawrence took off the wounded captain to Hart's Island, where Dr. Smith attended to his injuries.  Captain Farnsworth was afterward conveyed to the Lawrence residence at City Island.  The crew of the Avis knew that she would not sink with her load of lumber, and so they stuck to the vessel all night, perched on top of the house.  Everything was submerged below.

RECORD OF DISASTERS.

After a delay of an hour the Providence was got under way and proceeded to Newport, where she was laid up for the season, and the Old Colony put in her place in the schedule.  She is a very unfortunate boat and has caused a good deal of damage within the past year, and had no end of narrow escapes.  About twelve years ago she ran down and sunk [sic] the steam yacht Adelaide in the Sound, and shortly after that she collided with a schooner near Throgs Neck and inflicted heavy damage.  Then she crashed into the steamer Lucy B. Miller and knocked a big hole in her bow.  One of the latest adventures of the Providence was to run down Commander Elbridge T. Gerry's steam yacht Electra and knock off her stem.

Old harbor men say that the Providence is 'hoo dooed,' but she probably needs only a new captain."

Source:  SCARE IN THE DARK ON THE SOUND -- The Big Steamboat Providence in Collision in the Storm Off Gangway Buoy-- THREE HUNDRED LIVES IN PERIL-- Five Staterooms Gutted and the Side of the Vessel Torn Away by the Schooner Avis, N.Y. Herald, Sep. 28, 1889, p. 3, col. 3.  

"WHICH BOAT WAS AT FAULT!
-----
THE PROVIDENCE AND A SCHOONER CRASH TOGETHER IN THE SOUND.
-----
The Schooner's Captain Thrown Upon the Wheel and Disembowelled -- Not Expected to Live -- The Floor of a Stateroom on the Steamer Ripped Out and an Old Lady Falls to the Lower Deck Unhurt.

Another collision in the Sound has been added to the record of such disasters.  The Fall River line steamer Providence, which seems to be peculiarly unfortunate in this respect, was in collision with the British schooner Avis while the former was on her way to Newport at full speed Thursday night.  The captain of the Avis, R. C. Farnsworth, of St. John, N. B., one of the oldest and best-known seamen sailing into this port, was at the wheel of his vessel when the accident occurred, and received injuries which may cause his death.  Strangely enough, the collision occurred at a time when the atmosphere was unusually clear, and ship lights were visible long distance away.

The time of the crash was 8 o'clock at night.  The place was off Schuyler's Light, about twenty-five miles from New York.  A stiff breeze was blowing and the Avis, a two-masted schooner of 130 tons burden, laden with spilings [sic], and bound for New York from St. John, was beating her way across the Sound.  All day she had made but little headway owing to light winds, but soon after dusk the breeze freshened, and under full sail she sped along at a rate of seven or eight miles an hour.  Pilot Cornelius W. Lawrence, of City Island, had boarded her during the forenoon and was guiding her into port.  The Providence was ploughing her way through the Sound in the opposite direction at a speed about double that of the schooner.

The Avis crashed head on into the starboard side of the steamer, tearing off long sections of her main and upper deck guards, with a small part of her hull, and taking out five of the outside staterooms.  The schooner did not fare so well.  Her bowsprit, jibboom, stem and figure-head were broken and all her headgear was carried away.  A big hole was stove in her side, and in less than five minutes the cabin was full of water and she had sunk until her deck was flush with the water.  The nature of her cargo alone prevented her from going almost instantly to the bottom.

Her crew of six, including the captain, were all on deck at the time.  They had seen the Providence over a mile away, they say, and until within two hundred yards of her had no thoughts that a collision was possible.  Capt. Farnsworth and Pilot Lawrence had both been at the wheel for an hour or more, but when the crash came the latter was standing on the quarter a few feet behind the captain.  Farnsworth had his wheel turned hard to starboard, and the shock of the impact hurled him violently against it, relaxing his grasp.  The pressure of the water sent the wheel whirling around like a buzz saw.  The spokes tore open the lower portion of the skipper's abdomen, lacerating it in a horrible manner, and he fell back unconscious into the arms of the pilot, who carried him towards the cabin, but as that place was rapidly filling with water, Lawrence conveyed him as quickly as possible into one of the small boats, which, manned by the crew, was headed for the pilot's home at City Island seven miles away, and thither the injured man was taken.

The crew of the Avis declare that they had rowed back to their submerged vessel from Pilot Lawrence's home, a pull of fourteen miles, before any offer of assistance came from the Providence.  They remained over night on the Avis, sleeping in the sails.

Dr. Bening, of City Island, attended Capt. Farnsworth and said last night that his condition was critical.  Peritonitis is almost sure to set in, in which case chances for recovery are slight indeed.  He is fifty-three years old, was a part owner in the Avis and has a wife and children at St. John.

Pilot Lawrence, who is an old and grizzled mariner, told his story of the collision to a WORLD reporter last night.

'I saw the Providence,' said he, 'when she was a full mile off.  I could see both her lights, which showed she was coming head on.  When she got within 200 yards of us I could still see both her lights.  I thought that her pilot would surely port his wheel and go astern, but instead of that he starboarded her and tried to cross our bow.  If he had given me the signal -- one whistle for port and two for starboard -- even then I could have harded up and kept her off.  But she never made us a sign, and we couldn't get out of the way to save our lives.  I tried it, by letting go the main sheet, but it was no use.

'The crash was awful.  Our boat was bounced back in the opposite direction from which she was going like a rocket.  Our lights were all up and burning.  I am positive of this, for I saw the mate haul them down after the collision.  The minute it happened I set to work to lower all the sails, for we otherwise would have capsized at once.  I have been a pilot on these waters for eighteen years and this is my first accident.'

A WORLD reporter was rowed out to the scene of the collision yesterday afternoon.  The Avis was lying not far from the Gangway Buoy, almost entirely under water.  Mate George Neaves and four seamen were still aboard to prevent the appropriation of the vessel for salvage.  Neaves corroborated the pilot's statement that lights were properly displayed.  The schooner is owned by R. C. Elkins of New York.  Arrangements have been made for towing her to this city today.

The disaster recalls the collision of two weeks ago between the steamer Old Colony, of the same line, and the schooner Wildfire.  A fatality seems to hang over the steamers of this line for running down vessels.  The Wildfire had her stern shaved right off and was otherwise damaged.  A suit is now pending against the Company for damages.  Commodore Gerry's superb steam yacht Electra is also a victim of one of the Fall River boats.  She was nearly sunk about a month ago, and Mr. Gerry and the Fall River line are now trying to see who was responsible for the disaster.  Last summer the steam yacht Adelaide was sunk off Whitestone by the Providence.  The Providence is commanded by Capt. Hammond.  He is one of the oldest captains on the Sound and is considered a very careful navigator.

NEWPORT, Sept. 27. -- The steamer Providence arrived here several hours late to-day, bringing tidings of the collision with the schooner Avis.  Her starboard side is open forward of the paddle wheel for fully sixty feet.  Long sections of the main and upper deck guards are ripped off, a small section of the hull is gone and five outside staterooms destroyed.  The pilot says the schooner displayed no lights.  According to his story, the Providence came to anchor at once and sent out two small boats, in which the crew of the schooner were taken off and landed at Hart Island. 

The Providence came through all right with her side open, the sea having only a slight swell and the steamer being kept well over to port.  The passengers on the starboard side were somewhat frightened, but some on the port side did not know of the collision till morning.  One state-room had its floor ripped out and an old lady who occupied the room fell through on her bed to the deck below, landing on some bags uninjured.  The damage to the steamer is being repaired, but will not be hastened, as the Providence was to come of the line to-morrow and can be replaced by the Old Colony without delay to travel."

Source:  WHICH BOAT WAS AT FAULT! -- THE PROVIDENCE AND A SCHOONER CRASH TOGETHER IN THE SOUND -- The Schooner's Captain Thrown Upon the Wheel and Disembowelled -- Not Expected to Live -- The Floor of a Stateroom on the Steamer Ripped Out and an Old Lady Falls to the Lower Deck Unhurt, The World [NY, NY], Sep. 28, 1889, Vol. XXX, No. 10,266, p. 1, col. 1. 


"COLLISION ON THE SOUND.-----
THE PROVIDENCE OF THE FALL RIVER LINE SINKS THE SCHOONER AVIS.

The steamer Providence of the Fall River line collided with the two-masted schooner Avis of St. John, N. B., off Sands Point on the Sound late Thursday evening.  Fortunately none of her passengers received any worse injuries than a few bruises.  Those on board the schooner were not so fortunate.  Its commander, Captain R. C. Farnsworth, was badly injured about the groin and legs, and it is feared that he will die.  His crew escaped with a few bruises.

Pilot C. W. Lawrence, who was in charge of the schooner when the collision occurred, told the story of the accident to a PRESS reporter last night.  He said it was shortly before 8 o'clock when he first saw the steamer.  The schooner was then off Sands Point and was beating up toward this city.  The steamer made no signals, but when within a short distance changed her course and steamed directly across the schooner's bow.  The next instant the bowsprit of the schooner caught the steamer just forward of the wheelhouse on the starboard side and ripped open her side for a distance of sixty feet, exposing all the staterooms on that side to view.

The force of the collision stove in the schooner's bow below the water line and carried away her bowsprit.  Captain Farnsworth, who was at the wheel, was thrown forward, and as he fell back the flying wheel struck his body and knocked him down.  Then the schooner began filling, and five minutes later had sunk to her deck.  Her cargo of lumber kept her afloat.  Boats were sent from the steamer, but the crew of the schooner, which consisted of five men besides the Captain, refused to leave her, and the Providence proceeded on her way.  Captain Farnsworth was conveyed to the home of Pilot Lawrence at City Island, and placed under the care of a physician.

A lady passenger on the Providence whose stateroom was ripped open by the collision, dropped through on her bed to the deck below, but was fortunately not injured.  There were many other escapes of passengers.  The Providence arrived at Newport yesterday, several hours behind time.  The schooner will be towed to this city and placed upon a dry dock."

Source:  COLLISION ON THE SOUND-- THE PROVIDENCE OF THE FALL RIVER LINE SINKS THE SCHOONER AVIS, The Press [NY, NY], Sep. 28, 1889, Vol. II, No. 668, p. 1, col. 4.  

"HIS INJURIES PROVED FATAL. -- Captain S. F. Farnsworth, of the schooner Avis, who was injured in the collision of his vessel with the steamer Providence, on Sept. 26, died on Tuesday, at City Island, where he had been taken after the accident.  He lived at St. John, N. B."

Source:  HIS INJURIES PROVED FATAL, The Yonkers Statesman, Dec. 12, 1889, Vol. VII, No. 1,868, p. 4, col. 3. 

"CITY JOTTINGS. . . .

Captain S. T. Farnsworth, of St. John, N. B., who was injured in the collision between the steamers Providence and Avis on September 26, died yesterday at City Island. . . . ."

Source:  CITY JOTTINGS,  N.Y. Herald, Dec. 11, 1889, p. 5, col. 4.  

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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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