Steam Ship Eagle 1817

Pete Baker;3159 wrote: Does anyone know anything about the Steamship Eagle 1817. She was a sidewheeler built in Norwich, Connecticut.

Here is what I could find out:

Gilbert Brewster, owner of the Union Hotel in downtown Norwich and builder of a small steamship, the “Eagle,” in 1817.

Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket have had regularly scheduled ferry service since 1817, when the first steamship, the Eagle, made the trip carrying 60 passengers.

1818 NEW! Steamship Eagle's first voyage, Boston to Plymouth 8 hours

I don't see anything about this Eagle having a fire. Someone could be mixing information

1) Baltimore began steamboat service with a boat named Eagle in 1813.

2)
Eagle, a 1517-ton side-wheel steamship, was launched in September 1860 at New York City under the name John P. King. She was badly damaged by fire in December 1860, following her first trials, but was rebuilt and renamed Eagle. The U.S. Navy acquired her in June 1861 and commissioned her the next month as USS Rhode Island. Sold out of Naval service in October 1867, she was subsequently employed as a merchant steamer, under the name Charleston, until about 1885.

This page features the Navy's only views of the steamship Eagle, originally named John P. King and later named Charleston.

The EAGLE that you mention (New York launch) is not the same steamship as the "EAGLE 1817". The boat in question was built in Norwich, CT in 1817. the NY Eagle was built in 1860. It is strange that they both had fires on their initial cruises. SEE PHOTOS...

Thanks for your contribution to the search

Pete