Can anyone ID this ship?

Thats the Alexandeer Hamilton. She was the last operating sidewheeler on the Hudson and ran through the 1970 season. Sharon and I rode her round trip from NYC to Poughkeepsie in 1966. She was retired in 1970 and her ultimate demise is a sad, sad story. She was the last of her kind. All the more reason to save the DQ.

Oops! mis-spelled Alexander. Artists can't spell, ya know.

Steamboating colleagues:
John Fryant is KERRECT on the identification of the ALEXANDER HAMILTON. She was a real beauty on the Hudson River if ever there was one. The eventual fate of the HAMILTON was a crime against the maritime world. The DAY LINE was one big company with a long history. Not long ago STEAMBOAT BILL did a fine article on the DAY LINE ownership, boats and history and there were some pretty prominent old New York names in the stock holders and management of the company. Robert indicates he took this photo in September, 1968. I saw the HAMILTON in August the same year standing on the stern of the old QUEEN ELIZABETH at the CUNARD pier when she came tooling down the river with flags and banners whipping in the wind...and was she FAST. Some years back film footage of the HAMILTON was shown at an S&D of Pioneer Rivermen meeting in Marietta. The audience was most impressed with somebody saying, "Is that film speeded up or did she really run that fast." Her triple incline steam engines really rolled those sidewheels. She was not a walking beam boat. Well, not inland steamboats but part of the family. Thanks Robert and John for the memories.
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

More on the Alexander Hamilton from the Hudson River Valley

Here's a link that has a little info on the Alexander Hamilton.

http://www.worldshipny.com/AHessay.html

I also posted a photo from the HRMM's website. It's low res but you can still read the name when you hit the zoom after opening.

P.R.Baker

Can anyone ID this ship?

Thanks, guys, for the quick replies. I was having no luck at all trying to Google up that mystery ship until I found this site. I even enlisted the help of a friend out in Hawaii who's something of an expert on old liners (His father was the master of a Matson Lines freighter), and he didn't know who she was, either.

There was a book written some years ago titled THE HUDSON RIVER DAY LINE by a gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment--who worked for the State of New York and who rode the DQ at least once---that is a superb history of the Company and its many boats over the years. I believe the Alexander Hamilton had feathering buckets on the wheels.

She sure did, Jim. She also had a Lunkenheimer whistle.

Another excellent book with wonderful steamboat photos, including the ALEXANDER HAMILTON, DELTA QUEEN, BELLE of LOUISVILLE, et.al. is David Plowden's "Farewell To Steam." It's a real treasure for both its boat and rail photos.

Alexander Hamilton

Try the ALEXANDER HAMILTON. It retired in 1971. Donald C. Ringwald, author of Hudson River Day Line and frequent passenger on the DELTA QUEEN, helped me obtain an offer to become an officer aboard the HAMILTON the last year she ran, but I had to chose between being the First Mate on the DQ or leave for the Hudson River. I chose the QUEEN, but what an experience that would have been.

Dale, when we rode the Hamilton in 1966 I asked one of the engineers what the normal cruising speed was and I was told it was about 15 mph. I'm sure she was cpable of more than that. Standing down on the main deck guard and looking down at the water it appeard that she was really tearing along. Also if you were standing forward of the wheels, they made a sound sort of like distant thunder as those feathering buckets cut into the water.

Shipyard, Frank, John & others posting on this interesting thread:
Not to 'over-work' this topic on my part as it isn't "inland rivers steamboats" but, nonetheless, interesting. John, Bob Whittier's classic paper bound volume, 'Paddle Wheel Steamers and their GIANT ENGINES,' Seamaster, Inc., 1987, is a definitive treatise on steamers like the ALEXANDER HAMILTON. The book would be analogous to the CYCLOPOEDIUM series written by Alan Bates. Whittier provides much technical information with calculations on the speed, power and handling of the huge walking beam engine and later triple incline types. He relates that the long, slim, shallow hulls could be driven at speeds in the range of 15 - 20 m.p.h. The earlier famed MARY POWELL along with the HAMILTON were known to reach speeds of 20 - 22 m.ph. and higher in a pinch. John, you're right about the "thunder sound" of the HAMILTON's feathered wheels.

Hey, Shipyard. Glad you stayed with the DELTA QUEEN, but it sure would have been the experience of your life to have served on/with the HAMILTON. You would have been one of the 'last of the breed' on her providing grist for many a posting or even a book in time. I'm 'fuzzy' but what ever happend to the HAMILTON's engines? Saved? Junked?

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

Link to Alexander Hamilton Status

Here's a link to a scuba dive website with information on the remains of the Hamilton. Scroll down about 1/2 way through the page. It appears nothing was salvaged.

http://njscuba.net/sites/site_raritan_bay.html

Wesley

Intersting, it won't let me in because I have an "obsolete browser" and thinks I need to upgrade--right, at 19K dial-up-I think NOT!
Gotta go put some more wood in the boiler, the electricity is getting low. . . .
🙂
S'
David D.

See attached photo.

From njscuba.net, shown after sinking in 1977 at the Navy pier in Raritan Bay, NJ. Click the link in my earlier post to see additional details.

Wesley

David,

Thanks! I will share your Link with The Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, NY.

Pete Baker
West Hurley, NY