Lawrence & Foulks
Encyclopedia
Lawrence & Foulks was a 19th-century American shipbuilding company based in New York
. Established in the early 1850s, the company built 144 vessels of all types over the course of some fifty years, but is best known for its production of high-speed wooden-hulled
steamboat
s and steamships. Notable vessels built by the company include the record-breaking Hudson River
steamboat Chauncey Vibbard
, the luxury Long Island Sound
steamer Commonwealth
, and the fast oceangoing steamships—later U.S. Navy gunboat
s— and . In addition to the domestic market, the company also built ships for service as far afield as South America
and China
.
Lawrence & Foulks was one of the few New York shipyards to survive the post-Civil War
slump, but was either unwilling or unable to make the postwar transition from wooden to iron shipbuilding, and closed its doors around the turn of the century.
In 1850, William Foulks, a British
-born ship's carpenter then aged 37, partnered with a young engineer named Humphrey Crary to build a steamboat in New York, which was named Catherine after Foulks' wife. Foulks received contracts to build several more vessels over the next two years. At this time, his shipyard was located at the foot of Cherry Street, Manhattan
.
By 1852, Foulks had established a partnership with Herbert Lawrence, and the company was renamed Lawrence & Foulks. Lawrence, then barely in his twenties, was the son of Herbert Lawrence Sr., former co-proprietor of the prominent early New York shipbuilding firm of Lawrence & Sneden. By 1854, the Lawrence & Foulks shipyard had relocated to North Fifth Street, Williamsburg
(now a part of Brooklyn
), where it would remain for the next 17 years.
or two, a derrick
to lift heavy components, a large crosscut saw and a few other tools.
Since New York was already well served by a number of existing marine engine
plants, Lawrence & Foulks, like the other New York shipyards, had no need to establish an expensive engine plant of its own, but could rely upon outsourcing for its steamship engines. Companies which would build marine engines for Lawrence & Foulks prior to the Civil War included leading firms such as the Allaire Iron Works
, Morgan Iron Works
, Henry Esler & Co. and the Novelty Iron Works. After the war, when many of New York's marine engine manufacturers went out of business, Lawrence & Foulks appears to have come increasingly to rely upon New Jersey
's Fletcher, Harrison & Co.
to meet its machinery requirements.
As with other shipbuilders of the era, the size of Lawrence & Foulks' workforce could fluctuate greatly depending upon the available work. The company appears to have employed about 50 people for every ship under construction, and it was capable of building as many as four ships at once.
Through the 1850s, Lawrence & Foulks built a number of steamers and other vessels for South American clients, including the 300-ton Spanish
steamers General Concha and General Serrano for Cuba
n service; a large steamer for the Rio de la Plata
; and two small high-pressure riverboats for the Peru
vian government destined for service on the Amazon
. Two 1,300-ton steamers for California
n service were also completed.
In 1855, Lawrence & Foulks completed construction of the Long Island Sound
steamer Commonwealth
. Setting a new standard of elegance for Sound steamers, this large, lavishly outfitted steamer quickly became a favorite with the travelling public. In 1859–60, Lawrence & Foulks built the fast oceangoing steamships and , sister ships designed for passenger-cargo service between New York and New Orleans. Both vessels were later purchased by the U.S. Navy and would serve with distinction during the Civil War as gunboat
s.
thumb
In 1861-62 Lawrence & Foulks completed at least three screw steamers for U.S. companies operating in China: Flambeau, Kiang-Tsze and Sze-Chuen. The latter two were duly despatched to China but Flambeau was purchased by the U.S. Navy to serve as the gunboat . The company also completed a number of screw steamers for domestic American service during the war, including , D. S. Miller and John L. Hasbrouck, all for Hudson River service. After a few months on the Hudson, Isaac Smith, like Flambeau, was requisitioned by the Navy for conversion into a gunboat. All the above-mentioned screw steamers were powered by beam-propeller engines—a transitional technology that mated the old, slow-rpm beam engine with the screw propeller by mounting the engine athwartships and gearing it up (at a ratio of one to three or more) to the propeller shaft.
Another newly-built Lawrence & Foulks ship to be requisitioned by the Navy at this time was the small sidewheel steamer . In an attack on Mathias Point, Virginia
on 27 June 1861, Thomas Freeborns commander, James H. Ward
, became the first U.S. Navy officer killed in action in the war.
thumb
In 1864, Lawrence & Foulks completed the Hudson River steamboat Chauncey Vibbard
. Soon after entering service, the 280-foot vessel proved to be the fastest steamer on the highly competitive route from New York to Albany, making the trip in a new record time of 6 hours 42 minutes. With boilers carefully balanced to eliminate vibration, and a hull said to "cut the water as a knife blade", Chauncey Vibbard helped establish a reputation for Lawrence & Foulks as America's leading designers of high-speed watercraft.
, helped prolong the slump to the end of the decade. The slump had a devastating effect on the New York shipbuilding industry, with most of the city's shipbuilders and marine engine manufacturers going out of business in this period.
Lawrence & Foulks was one of only four New York shipyards to survive the prolonged slump, aided in part by a flurry of orders in 1864-65. Livingston, Fox & Co., preparing to resume its prewar New York to New Orleans service, ordered a total of six sub-1000 ton steamers from Lawrence & Foulks in this period, including Herman Livingston, General J. K. Barnes and the four sister ships Albermarle, Hatteras, Raleigh and Rapidan. Two large 1,300 ton steamers, Vera Cruz and Manhattan, were also built in 1865 for Charles A. Whitney's American and Mexican Mail Steamship Company. In 1866, Lawrence & Foulks built the 2,200-ton steamship Oregonian for Californian service—probably the largest steamship ever built by the company.
By 1869 the slump had reached its nadir. Lawrence & Foulks managed to secure a couple of contracts early in the year, for the ferry Sylvan Glen and a small 100-ton steamer, but by September, only one vessel was under construction in the whole of New York.
The long postwar slump finally ended in 1871, as shipowners began to return to U.S. shipyards to replace their ageing fleets. In April 1871, after almost twenty years at Williamsburg, Lawrence & Foulks relocated their shipyard to the foot of Noble Street, Greenpoint
, on the site of E. S. Whitlock's former shipyard, who had retired from the business in 1865. The new shipyard had a frontage of 200 feet along the river and 500 feet on land.
From 1871 to 1873, New York shipyards remained busy. By this time however, the larger oceangoing steamship contracts were going to the builders of iron-hulled ships on the Delaware
—to firms such as John Roach & Sons
, William Cramp & Sons, and Harlan & Hollingsworth—leaving New York shipbuilders to fulfill contracts for smaller vessels such as ferries, commuter and excursion steamers, steam yachts and tugboats.
Lawrence & Foulks secured a substantial number of such contracts in this period. A notable example was Sylvan Dell, a ferry built for the Harlem & New York Navigation Company. With a speed in excess of 20 mph, Sylvan Dell was New York Harbor's fastest vessel in her class, and remained popular with the public for many years, eventually being dubbed "Queen of New York Harbor". In 1873, Lawrence & Foulks built Jennie Stout—the first schooner built in New York since the war, and the largest three-masted schooner built there to that date.
. The subsequent recession would drag on until 1879, but by 1875 there was a widespread recognition that this time there would be no recovery for New York shipyards. Not only were the iron shipbuilders of the Delaware now dominating the contracts for larger ships, but the locus of wooden shipbuilding in the U.S. had moved to the state of Maine
, where lower prices for timber, and lower wages, enabled the construction of wooden-hulled vessels as much as 20% cheaper as in New York.
The extent of New York's decline as a shipbuilding center from 1873 is well illustrated by the fortunes of Lawrence & Foulks itself. In the 24 years from 1851 to 1875, Lawrence & Foulks built a total of 122 vessels, an average of more than five per year. In the firm's remaining 25 years, from 1876 to 1901, it built only another 22 vessels, an average of less than one per year. Among the latter were San Rafael and Saucelito, sister ferries built in 1877 which were shipped overland in pieces to San Francisco. After reassembly, the two vessels quickly established themselves as the fastest ferries on the Bay.
Among the last notable steamers built by Lawrence & Foulks were Albertina, built in 1882 for the Red Bank Line, and the steam yacht Clermont for Commodore Alfred van Santvoord of the New York and Albany Line. In August 1886, William Foulks fell from scaffolding while inspecting a vessel at his shipyard, suffering internal injuries. He died at home, aged 74, a few days later. His partner, Herbert Lawrence, retired not long after, but maintained the shipyard until shortly before he died, aged 73, in 1902. In total, the Lawrence & Foulks shipyard built 144 vessels of all types in the fifty years to 1901.
Vessels which had more than one name during their career have their later names listed below the original name, followed (where available) by a two-digit number representing the last two digits of the year in which the rename took place. In the following tables, "n/a" stands for not available (i.e. not known). For other abbreviations, see the linked notes in the table column headers.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Established in the early 1850s, the company built 144 vessels of all types over the course of some fifty years, but is best known for its production of high-speed wooden-hulled
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s and steamships. Notable vessels built by the company include the record-breaking Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
steamboat Chauncey Vibbard
PS Chauncey Vibbard
Chauncey Vibbard, often abbreviated as C. Vibbard or just Vibbard, was a steamboat built in New York in 1864 for passenger service on the Hudson River...
, the luxury Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
steamer Commonwealth
PS Commonwealth (1854)
Commonwealth was a large sidewheel steamboat built in 1854–55 for passenger service on Long Island Sound. The most celebrated Sound steamer of her day, Commonwealth was especially noted for the elegance and comfort of her passenger accommodations, which included gas lighting, steam heating,...
, and the fast oceangoing steamships—later U.S. Navy gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s— and . In addition to the domestic market, the company also built ships for service as far afield as South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Lawrence & Foulks was one of the few New York shipyards to survive the post-Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
slump, but was either unwilling or unable to make the postwar transition from wooden to iron shipbuilding, and closed its doors around the turn of the century.
Origins, 1850–54
In 1850, William Foulks, a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-born ship's carpenter then aged 37, partnered with a young engineer named Humphrey Crary to build a steamboat in New York, which was named Catherine after Foulks' wife. Foulks received contracts to build several more vessels over the next two years. At this time, his shipyard was located at the foot of Cherry Street, Manhattan
Cherry Street (Manhattan)
Cherry Street, is a one-way street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It currently has two sections, mostly running along parks, public housing, co-op buildings, tenements, and crossing underneath the Manhattan Bridge overpass....
.
By 1852, Foulks had established a partnership with Herbert Lawrence, and the company was renamed Lawrence & Foulks. Lawrence, then barely in his twenties, was the son of Herbert Lawrence Sr., former co-proprietor of the prominent early New York shipbuilding firm of Lawrence & Sneden. By 1854, the Lawrence & Foulks shipyard had relocated to North Fifth Street, Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
(now a part of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
), where it would remain for the next 17 years.
Plant, equipment and labor force
While the specific plant and equipment utilized by Lawrence & Foulks is not known, wooden shipbuilding firms in this era could be established for a remarkably small outlay—as little as $11,000, and rarely more than $20,000. Tradesmen at this time mostly supplied their own tools, so a shipyard needed little more than a waterfront property large enough to hold a timber yard and a slipwaySlipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
or two, a derrick
Derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed of one tower, or guyed mast such as a pole which is hinged freely at the bottom. It is controlled by lines powered by some means such as man-hauling or motors, so that the pole can move in all four directions. A line runs up it and over its top with a hook on...
to lift heavy components, a large crosscut saw and a few other tools.
Since New York was already well served by a number of existing marine engine
Marine steam engine
A marine steam engine is a reciprocating steam engine that is used to power a ship or boat. Steam turbines and diesel engines largely replaced reciprocating steam engines in marine applications during the 20th century, so this article describes the more common types of marine steam engine in use...
plants, Lawrence & Foulks, like the other New York shipyards, had no need to establish an expensive engine plant of its own, but could rely upon outsourcing for its steamship engines. Companies which would build marine engines for Lawrence & Foulks prior to the Civil War included leading firms such as the Allaire Iron Works
Allaire Iron Works
The Allaire Iron Works was a leading 19th-century American marine engineering company based in New York City. Founded in 1816 by engineer and philanthropist James P...
, Morgan Iron Works
Morgan iron works
The Morgan Iron Works was a 19th century manufacturing plant for marine steam engines located in New York City, United States. Originally founded as T. F...
, Henry Esler & Co. and the Novelty Iron Works. After the war, when many of New York's marine engine manufacturers went out of business, Lawrence & Foulks appears to have come increasingly to rely upon New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
's Fletcher, Harrison & Co.
W. & A. Fletcher Company
W. & A. Fletcher Co. was an American manufacturer of marine boilers and steam engines for Hudson River Steamboats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
to meet its machinery requirements.
As with other shipbuilders of the era, the size of Lawrence & Foulks' workforce could fluctuate greatly depending upon the available work. The company appears to have employed about 50 people for every ship under construction, and it was capable of building as many as four ships at once.
Early years, 1850s–1860
thumbThrough the 1850s, Lawrence & Foulks built a number of steamers and other vessels for South American clients, including the 300-ton Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
steamers General Concha and General Serrano for Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n service; a large steamer for the Rio de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
; and two small high-pressure riverboats for the Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian government destined for service on the Amazon
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
. Two 1,300-ton steamers for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
n service were also completed.
In 1855, Lawrence & Foulks completed construction of the Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
steamer Commonwealth
PS Commonwealth (1854)
Commonwealth was a large sidewheel steamboat built in 1854–55 for passenger service on Long Island Sound. The most celebrated Sound steamer of her day, Commonwealth was especially noted for the elegance and comfort of her passenger accommodations, which included gas lighting, steam heating,...
. Setting a new standard of elegance for Sound steamers, this large, lavishly outfitted steamer quickly became a favorite with the travelling public. In 1859–60, Lawrence & Foulks built the fast oceangoing steamships and , sister ships designed for passenger-cargo service between New York and New Orleans. Both vessels were later purchased by the U.S. Navy and would serve with distinction during the Civil War as gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s.
American Civil War, 1861–65
With the outbreak of the Civil War, the U.S. Navy quickly purchased or chartered hundreds of ships from private steamship companies, which were needed to establish the blockade of Confederate ports and to transport troops and supplies along the Atlantic coast. The steamship companies were then obliged to return to the shipyards to replace their fleets, only to find themselves vying with the Navy which needed still more ships. The strong demand for new shipping created boom conditions for American shipyards which would last to the end of the war. New York shipyards in this period also benefited from the Treaty of Tianjin. Ratified in 1860, the treaty gave U.S. companies increased access to Chinese waterways and ports, which in turn stimulated demand for steamboats and steamships for Chinese service.thumb
In 1861-62 Lawrence & Foulks completed at least three screw steamers for U.S. companies operating in China: Flambeau, Kiang-Tsze and Sze-Chuen. The latter two were duly despatched to China but Flambeau was purchased by the U.S. Navy to serve as the gunboat . The company also completed a number of screw steamers for domestic American service during the war, including , D. S. Miller and John L. Hasbrouck, all for Hudson River service. After a few months on the Hudson, Isaac Smith, like Flambeau, was requisitioned by the Navy for conversion into a gunboat. All the above-mentioned screw steamers were powered by beam-propeller engines—a transitional technology that mated the old, slow-rpm beam engine with the screw propeller by mounting the engine athwartships and gearing it up (at a ratio of one to three or more) to the propeller shaft.
Another newly-built Lawrence & Foulks ship to be requisitioned by the Navy at this time was the small sidewheel steamer . In an attack on Mathias Point, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
on 27 June 1861, Thomas Freeborns commander, James H. Ward
James H. Ward
Commander James Harmon Ward was the first officer of the United States Navy killed during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
, became the first U.S. Navy officer killed in action in the war.
thumb
In 1864, Lawrence & Foulks completed the Hudson River steamboat Chauncey Vibbard
PS Chauncey Vibbard
Chauncey Vibbard, often abbreviated as C. Vibbard or just Vibbard, was a steamboat built in New York in 1864 for passenger service on the Hudson River...
. Soon after entering service, the 280-foot vessel proved to be the fastest steamer on the highly competitive route from New York to Albany, making the trip in a new record time of 6 hours 42 minutes. With boilers carefully balanced to eliminate vibration, and a hull said to "cut the water as a knife blade", Chauncey Vibbard helped establish a reputation for Lawrence & Foulks as America's leading designers of high-speed watercraft.
Postwar slump, 1865–70
With the end of the war in April 1865, the U.S. shipbuilding industry experienced a severe downturn. The Navy dumped more than a million tons of unwanted shipping onto the market, depressing prices and leaving shipyards with no work. High postwar prices, along with a series of bitter (and unsuccessful) strikes for the eight-hour dayEight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
, helped prolong the slump to the end of the decade. The slump had a devastating effect on the New York shipbuilding industry, with most of the city's shipbuilders and marine engine manufacturers going out of business in this period.
Lawrence & Foulks was one of only four New York shipyards to survive the prolonged slump, aided in part by a flurry of orders in 1864-65. Livingston, Fox & Co., preparing to resume its prewar New York to New Orleans service, ordered a total of six sub-1000 ton steamers from Lawrence & Foulks in this period, including Herman Livingston, General J. K. Barnes and the four sister ships Albermarle, Hatteras, Raleigh and Rapidan. Two large 1,300 ton steamers, Vera Cruz and Manhattan, were also built in 1865 for Charles A. Whitney's American and Mexican Mail Steamship Company. In 1866, Lawrence & Foulks built the 2,200-ton steamship Oregonian for Californian service—probably the largest steamship ever built by the company.
By 1869 the slump had reached its nadir. Lawrence & Foulks managed to secure a couple of contracts early in the year, for the ferry Sylvan Glen and a small 100-ton steamer, but by September, only one vessel was under construction in the whole of New York.
Recovery, 1871–73
thumbThe long postwar slump finally ended in 1871, as shipowners began to return to U.S. shipyards to replace their ageing fleets. In April 1871, after almost twenty years at Williamsburg, Lawrence & Foulks relocated their shipyard to the foot of Noble Street, Greenpoint
Greenpoint
Greenpoint or Green Point can refer to the following places:* Greenpoint, Brooklyn in the USA* Green Point, New South Wales in Australia* Green Point, Cape Town in South Africa* Green Point, Newfoundland in Canada...
, on the site of E. S. Whitlock's former shipyard, who had retired from the business in 1865. The new shipyard had a frontage of 200 feet along the river and 500 feet on land.
From 1871 to 1873, New York shipyards remained busy. By this time however, the larger oceangoing steamship contracts were going to the builders of iron-hulled ships on the Delaware
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
—to firms such as John Roach & Sons
John Roach & Sons
John Roach & Sons was a major 19th-century American shipbuilding and manufacturing firm founded in 1864 by Irish-American immigrant John Roach. Between 1871 and 1885, the company was the largest shipbuilding firm in the United States, building more iron ships than its next two major competitors...
, William Cramp & Sons, and Harlan & Hollingsworth—leaving New York shipbuilders to fulfill contracts for smaller vessels such as ferries, commuter and excursion steamers, steam yachts and tugboats.
Lawrence & Foulks secured a substantial number of such contracts in this period. A notable example was Sylvan Dell, a ferry built for the Harlem & New York Navigation Company. With a speed in excess of 20 mph, Sylvan Dell was New York Harbor's fastest vessel in her class, and remained popular with the public for many years, eventually being dubbed "Queen of New York Harbor". In 1873, Lawrence & Foulks built Jennie Stout—the first schooner built in New York since the war, and the largest three-masted schooner built there to that date.
Decline and closure, 1873–1902
The brief early 1870s boom came to an abrupt end with the Panic of 1873Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression...
. The subsequent recession would drag on until 1879, but by 1875 there was a widespread recognition that this time there would be no recovery for New York shipyards. Not only were the iron shipbuilders of the Delaware now dominating the contracts for larger ships, but the locus of wooden shipbuilding in the U.S. had moved to the state of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, where lower prices for timber, and lower wages, enabled the construction of wooden-hulled vessels as much as 20% cheaper as in New York.
The extent of New York's decline as a shipbuilding center from 1873 is well illustrated by the fortunes of Lawrence & Foulks itself. In the 24 years from 1851 to 1875, Lawrence & Foulks built a total of 122 vessels, an average of more than five per year. In the firm's remaining 25 years, from 1876 to 1901, it built only another 22 vessels, an average of less than one per year. Among the latter were San Rafael and Saucelito, sister ferries built in 1877 which were shipped overland in pieces to San Francisco. After reassembly, the two vessels quickly established themselves as the fastest ferries on the Bay.
Among the last notable steamers built by Lawrence & Foulks were Albertina, built in 1882 for the Red Bank Line, and the steam yacht Clermont for Commodore Alfred van Santvoord of the New York and Albany Line. In August 1886, William Foulks fell from scaffolding while inspecting a vessel at his shipyard, suffering internal injuries. He died at home, aged 74, a few days later. His partner, Herbert Lawrence, retired not long after, but maintained the shipyard until shortly before he died, aged 73, in 1902. In total, the Lawrence & Foulks shipyard built 144 vessels of all types in the fifty years to 1901.
List of ships
The first table below lists ships known to have been built by William Foulks, probably before his partnership with Herbert Lawrence. The second table lists ships built by Lawrence & Foulks. The two lists combined currently represent 101 of the 144 ships known to have been built by Foulks alone or by Lawrence & Foulks. In addition to the ships listed below, Lawrence & Foulks also designed the model for the Hudson River steamer Albany, but as she had an iron hull the construction contract went to Harlan & Hollingsworth.Vessels which had more than one name during their career have their later names listed below the original name, followed (where available) by a two-digit number representing the last two digits of the year in which the rename took place. In the following tables, "n/a" stands for not available (i.e. not known). For other abbreviations, see the linked notes in the table column headers.
| Name | Type | Built | Ton. | Engine | Ordered by | Intended service | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catherine | SB | 1850 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Built in partnership with Humphrey Crary and named after Foulks' wife. |
| n/a | Scn Schooner A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts.... |
1851 | 76 | none | Mexican Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... Govt. |
Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... |
|
| n/a | Scn | 1851 | 76 | none | Mexican Govt. | Mexico | |
| Peter Crary Hazel Kirke Naiad |
T | 1852 | n/a | n/a | Reuben Coffin and others | New York Harbor | Abandoned 1919 |
| Name | Type | Built | Ton. | Engine | Ordered by | Intended service | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n/a | F | 1852 | 500 | n/a | George Law George Law (financier) George Law an American financier, b. in Jackson, Washington Co., N.Y., 25 October 1806; d. in New York city, 18 November 1881.- Early life :George Law was born in Jackson, New York and his only early education had been obtained in a winter night school. At age of eighteen he left his father's farm... |
New York Harbor | "to run in the People's Ferry to Staten Island Staten Island Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay... " |
| n/a | F | 1852 | n/a | Allaire Allaire Iron Works The Allaire Iron Works was a leading 19th-century American marine engineering company based in New York City. Founded in 1816 by engineer and philanthropist James P... |
n/a | New York | "for Green Point" |
| n/a | F | 1852 | n/a | Allaire | n/a | New York | "for the Houston street ferry" |
| n/a | F | 1852 | n/a | Allaire | n/a | New York | "for the Williamsburgh ferry" |
| n/a | SS | 1852 | n/a | Allaire | "Capt. Day" | Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In... |
|
| Josephine Henry E. Bishop |
F | 1852 | n/a | n/a | Tompkinsville & Stapleton FC | New York | |
| Joseph Johnson | T | 1852 | 240 | n/a | Parks & Duvall | New York Harbor | |
| n/a | S | 1853 | 1,300+ | n/a | n/a | Rio de la Plata Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and... |
|
| n/a | S | 1853 | 1,300 | n/a | n/a | California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
|
| n/a | S | 1853 | 1,300 | n/a | n/a | California | |
| n/a | RB Riverboat A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such... |
1853 | 120 | Fulton | Peru Peru Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.... vian Govt |
Amazon River Amazon River The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined... |
|
| n/a | RB | 1853 | 80 | Fulton | Peruvian Govt | Amazon River | |
| J. S. Underhill | T | 1853 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
| William H. Brown | SB | 1853 | 450 | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
| n/a | F | 1854 | n/a | n/a | n/a | New York | Houston St. ferry |
| Henry Munsi | T | 1854 | 150 | n/a | A. O. Jackson | n/a | "Harbor towing" |
| Neptune | SB | 1854 | 160 | n/a | Peter Crany | Boston Harbor Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:... |
|
| Surprise | S | 1854 | 456 | n/a | Edgar Wakeman | Pacific Coast | |
| Commonwealth PS Commonwealth (1854) Commonwealth was a large sidewheel steamboat built in 1854–55 for passenger service on Long Island Sound. The most celebrated Sound steamer of her day, Commonwealth was especially noted for the elegance and comfort of her passenger accommodations, which included gas lighting, steam heating,... |
SB Steamboat A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels... |
1855 | 1,732 | Morgan Morgan iron works The Morgan Iron Works was a 19th century manufacturing plant for marine steam engines located in New York City, United States. Originally founded as T. F... |
Norwich & New London SBC | Long Island Sound Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx... |
Destroyed by fire at Groton, CT, 1865 |
| Corilla | B | 1856 | 600 | none | Johnson & Lowden | "for the South American trade" | |
| John Farrow | SS | 1856 | 500 | n/a | n/a | n/a | "for a New York company" |
| James A. Stevens | T | 1856 | 100 | n/a | Palmer & Crary | New York | |
| n/a | T | 1857 | 100 | n/a | Peter Crary | New York | |
| n/a | T | 1857 | 100 | n/a | Roy, Coffin & Co | New York? | |
| n/a | S | 1857 | 300 | n/a | "Captain Porter" | New Orleans—Mobile | |
| General Concha | S | 1857 | 300 | Birkbecks | Spanish Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... Govt. |
Cuba Cuba The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city... |
|
| General Serrano | S | 1857? | 300 | n/a | Spanish Govt. | Cuba | |
| n/a | Scn | 1858 | 150 | none | Spanish Govt. | Cuba | For dredging Matanzas Matanzas Matanzas is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. It is famed for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore.It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas , east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero.Matanzas is called the... harbor |
| n/a | Scn | 1858 | 150 | none | Spanish Govt. | Cuba | As above |
| n/a | Scn | 1858 | 150 | none | Spanish Govt. | Cuba | As above |
| n/a | F | 1859 | 60 | n/a | n/a | Havana, Cuba | |
| SS | 1859 | 1,675 | Morgan | Livingston, Crocheron & Co. | NY New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... –New Orleans |
USN gunboat, 1861-68. Destroyed by fire south of New Orleans, 1870 | |
| align="left" | | SS | 1860 | 1,558 | Morgan | Livingston, Crocheron & Co. | NY–New Orleans | USN gunboat 1861-65. Destroyed by fire at sea off Bahamas The Bahamas The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States... 1872, 41 killed |
| align="left" | | T | 1860 | n/a | Allaire | Richard M. Squires | New York? | USN gunboat 1861–65. Her commander James H. Ward James H. Ward Commander James Harmon Ward was the first officer of the United States Navy killed during the American Civil War.-Biography:... was first USN officer killed in Civil War. |
| William Foulks Venezuela |
S | 1859 | 293 | n/a | Dallett & Bliss | n/a | Sold to Venezuela Venezuela Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south... n Navy, 1860 |
| P | 1861 | 791 | Esler | P. S. Forbes & Co | China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... |
USN gunboat 1861-65. Grounded, wrecked at New Inlet New Inlet New Inlet was an inlet along the Outer Banks of North Carolina joining the Pamlico Sound with the Atlantic Ocean. It has not existed since 1933.-History:... , N.C. North Carolina North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte... 1867 |
|
| align="left" | CSS Stono 63 |
P | 1861 | 453? | Fletcher W. & A. Fletcher Company W. & A. Fletcher Co. was an American manufacturer of marine boilers and steam engines for Hudson River Steamboats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.... |
Hamilton & Smith | Hudson River Hudson River The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York... |
USN gunboat 1861-63. Captured by Confederacy Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S... 1863, renamed Stono, fate uncertain |
| n/a | P | 1862 | 160 | Polly | Carey & Co. | n/a | |
| n/a | P | 1862 | 160 | Polly | Carey & Co. | n/a | |
| n/a | P | 1862 | 160 | Polly | Bronder & Borlis | n/a | |
| D. S. Miller Poughkeepsie |
P | 1862 | 593 | Fletcher | Hamilton & Smith | Hudson River | |
| James F. Freeborn | S | 1862 | 380 | Fletcher | Richard M. Squires et al | ||
| John S. Williams | P | 1862 | 170 | Stanton | B. U. Crary | New York Harbor | |
| Paquete de Maule Paquete de Maule Paquete de Maule was a small merchant sidewheel steamer built in the United States in 1861 for operation along the Chilean coast... |
S | 1862 | 400 | Novelty | G. K. Stevenson & Co | Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... |
Gunboat during Chincha Islands War Chincha Islands War The Chincha Islands War was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost... , captured and scuttled by Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... , 1866 |
| Kiang-Tsze | P | 1863 | 1,100 | Esler | P. S. Forbes & Co | China | |
| Sze-Chuen | P | 1863 | 1,090 | Esler | P. S. Forbes & Co | Yangtze R., China Yangtze River The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the... |
|
| John L. Hasbrouck Marlboro |
P | 1864 | 710n | n/a | Hamilton & Smith | Hudson River | Broken up, 1917 |
| Chauncey Vibbard PS Chauncey Vibbard Chauncey Vibbard, often abbreviated as C. Vibbard or just Vibbard, was a steamboat built in New York in 1864 for passenger service on the Hudson River... |
SB | 1864 | 1,158 | Fletcher | A. Van Santvoord | Hudson River | Record fast time NY-Albany Albany, New York Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River... 1864; lengthened, re-engined 1866; rebuilt 1880; broken up 1902 |
| Clara Clarita Clara Clarita Clara Clarita was a fast screw steamer originally built as a luxury steam yacht for New York financier Leonard Jerome . On her trial trip, Clara Claritas original engine proved so totally ineffective it was removed before the vessel entered service and replaced by machinery from a different supplier... |
SY | 1864 | 231 | Novelty | Leonard Jerome Leonard Jerome Leonard Walter Jerome was a Brooklyn, New York, financier and grandfather of Winston Churchill.- Early life :... |
New York | All-time steamboat speed record on Penobscot Bay Penobscot Bay Penobscot Bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River. There are many islands in this bay, and on them, some of the country's most well-known summer colonies. The bay served as portal for the one time "lumber capital of the world," namely; the city of Bangor... . Abandoned 1908 |
| Oriflamme | SS | 1864 | 1,204 | Morgan | U.S. Navy | Civil War American Civil War The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25... |
Built for Civil War service but sold on completion. Scrapped on or after 1878 |
| General J. K. Barnes | SS | 1864 | 1,365 | Morgan | Atlantic Coast Mail SSC | NY–New Orleans | Sunk by hurricane off Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America... , 1878 |
| Herman Livingston | SS | 1864 | 1,314 | Morgan | Atlantic Coast Mail SSC | NY–New Orleans | Scrapped after 1878 |
| Albemarle | SS | 1865 | 871 | Morgan | Atlantic Coast Mail SSC | NY–New Orleans | Barge 1882; schooner 1883; sunk in squall 1885 |
| Hatteras | SS | 1865 | 868 | Morgan | Atlantic Coast Mail SSC | NY–New Orleans | Schooner barge, 1882 |
| Raleigh | SS | 1865 | 868 | Morgan | Atlantic Coast Mail SSC | NY–New Orleans | Caught fire and sank off Charleston, S.C. 1867, 24 killed |
| Rapidan | SS | 1865 | 868 | Morgan | Atlantic Coast Mail SSC | NY–New Orleans | Disappeared en route to West Indies, 1886 |
| Sleepy Hollow | SB | 1865 | n/a | Secor | Lower Hudson SBC | ||
| Manhattan | SS | 1865 | 1,337 | Morgan | Amer. & Mexican Mail SSC | Schooner barge, 1877; sunk 1882 | |
| Vera Cruz | SS | 1865 | 1,340 | Morgan | Amer. & Mexican Mail SSC | Struck and sank near Oregon Inlet Oregon Inlet Oregon Inlet is an inlet along North Carolina's Outer Banks. It joins the Pamlico Sound with the Atlantic Ocean and separates Bodie Island from Pea Island, which are connected by a 2.5 mile bridge that spans the inlet... , N.C. 1866 |
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| n/a | SB | 1865 | 360 | n/a | n/a | NY–Stamford, CT | |
| Maspeth | F | 1866 | n/a | n/a | n/a | New York | "to be placed on the Grand and Houston street ferry" |
| Oregonian | SS | 1866 | 2,200 | Allaire Allaire Iron Works The Allaire Iron Works was a leading 19th-century American marine engineering company based in New York City. Founded in 1816 by engineer and philanthropist James P... |
Oregon SNC | West coast West Coast of the United States West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in... |
Scrapped on or after 1886 |
| Isaac Bell | SS | 1868 | 1,500 | Allaire | Old Dominion SSC | n/a | |
| Sylvan Glen | F | 1869 | 350 | Fletcher | Harlem SBC | New York | Scrapped 1915 |
| n/a | PY | 1869 | 100 | n/a | "Mr. Cheeseborough" | n/a | |
| Americus Myndert Starin Newark |
SB | 1870 | 600 | Burdon | Norwalk Line | NY-Greenwich, CT Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ... |
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| James G. Bennett | PB | 1870 | n/a | n/a | n/a | New York | |
| n/a | SB | 1871 | n/a | Burdon | New Bedford & Nantucket SBC | NY–Nantucket | |
| n/a | T | 1871 | n/a | Reaney | n/a | "to replace the Phenix" | |
| Farragut | F | 1871 | n/a | n/a | Fulton FC | New York Harbor | Iron hull by Continental Iron Works |
| Fulton | F | 1871 | n/a | n/a | Fulton FC | New York Harbor | Iron hull by Continental Iron Works |
| Harlem | SB | 1871 | n/a | Fletcher | Morrisania SBC | ||
| Morrisania | F | 1871 | n/a | Burdon | n/a | New York | |
| Sylvan Dell | SB | 1872 | 440 | Fletcher | Harlem & New York NC | New York | Struck and sank, 1919 |
| Midland | F | 1872 | n/a | n/a | New Jersey Midland R. | ||
| Day Star | SB | 1873 | n/a | Burdon | American SBC | Long Island Sound | |
| Amos C. Barstow | SB | 1873 | n/a | n/a | n/a | NY-Providence | |
| Fidelity | PL | 1873 | n/a | n/a | Commissioners of Charities & Correction | New York | Sunk in collision, East River East River The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland... , 1879 |
| Jane Mosely | S | 1873 | n/a | n/a | Long Island RRC | Long Island Sound | |
| Jennie Stout | Scn | 1873 | 600 | none | F. Alexander & Son | NY-Savannah Savannah, Georgia Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important... |
"largest three-masted schooner ever built" in New York. Sank in storm off Cape Hatteras 1875, 8 killed |
| Jessamine | S | 1873 | n/a | n/a | Revenue Service | n/a | |
| Governor Andrew | S | 1874 | 503 | Fletcher | Boston & Hingham SBC | Boston Boston Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had... –Hingham |
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| n/a | SB | 1875 | n/a | n/a | City of Boston | Boston Harbor | "to convey prisoners to Deer Island Deer Island (Massachusetts) Deer Island is a peninsula in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Since 1996 it is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Although still an island by name, Deer Island has been connected to the mainland since the former Shirley Gut channel, which once separated the island from the... " |
| n/a | SB | 1875 | n/a | n/a | St. John's Guild | New York | Floating Hospital |
| Crystal Wave | SB | 1875 | 700 | Hubbard | American SBC | Long Island Sound | |
| Fanwood | F | 1876 | 1,300 | Fletcher | New Jersey Central RR Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey , commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s, lasting until 1976 when it was absorbed into Conrail with the other bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States... |
n/a | "Monster ferry" |
| Saucelito | S | 1877 | 692 | Fletcher | n/a | San Francisco | Shipped overland in sections to S.F. Destroyed by fire, 1884 |
| San Rafael | S | 1877 | 692 | Fletcher | n/a | San Francisco | Shipped overland in sections to S.F. Collision off Alcatraz Island Alcatraz Island Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal... , 1901 |
| n/a | RB | 1879 | n/a | n/a | n/a | NY–Yonkers | |
| Northampton | PC | 1880 | 483 | n/a | Old Dominion SSC | n/a | Caught fire and beached at Norfolk, VA 1898 |
| n/a | SL | 1881 | n/a | Sullivan | Old Dominion SSC | n/a | |
| Albertina | SB | 1882 | n/a | Fletcher | Red Bank Line | ||
| F. P. James Bronx 02 |
F | 1884 | 445 | n/a | n/a | n/a | Broken up 1917 |
| Jacob H. Tremper | SS | 1885 | 571 | n/a | n/a | n/a | Broken up 1929 |
| Haarlaem Harlem 22 |
F | 1889 | 382 | n/a | New York & East River FC | New York? | Abandoned 1927 |
| Clermont | SY | 1892 | n/a | n/a | A. Van Santvoord |