WAR VESSELS IN THE EAST RIVER 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/instantaneousvieOOwitt 
 
YACHTS RACING 
 
 EXCURSION STEAMER „C O L U MBI A". 
 
SCHOONER & YACHT. 
 
„ BREEZY AND SLEEPY.' 
 
BUSY TUGBOATS 
 
FLOATING GRAIN ELEVATOR. 
 
ST E AM ER, ALASKA': 
 
A FOUR MASTED SCHOONER. 
 
 E AM YAC HT /( ATAL AN TA" PASSING STEVENS 
 
 POINT 
 
25* 
 
 iEx Htbrtja 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 -t ' 'Tort nivuw ^4m/lerd<im. oj> Je JAanhatatus 
 
 "When you leave, please leave this book 
 
 Because it has been said 
 " Ever' thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned book." 
 
 PC / :.<i 
 
INSTANTANEOUS VIEWS 
 
 —OF- 
 
 NEW YORK HARBOR. 
 
 New York's predominant position as one of the great eommercial centres of 
 the world depends principally on its excellent location for maritime traffic. 
 Evidently, the Dutch traders who selected in 1610 the southern part of Man- 
 hattan Island for a settlement, laying so the foundation of the future metro- 
 polis of the New World, had been fully aware of the advantages this site 
 offered for mercantile pursuits. It may be considered doubtful, however, if 
 any vision of futurity presented to the minds of those pioneer merchants the 
 present importance and celebrity of their first settlement in America, 
 
 The harbor of New York, formed by the Upper and Lower New York 
 Bay, the Hudson and East Rivers, has few equals in dimensions and natural 
 beauty. The outer bar begins at Sandy Hook, a bare, low peninsula, eighteen 
 miles from the Battery on the South end of the city, and is crossed by two 
 ship channels of considerable depth, which admit vessels of the greatest 
 draught. A few miles farther up the shores of Long Island and Staten Is- 
 land approach within a mile of each other, forming a strait, the Narrows, by 
 which the inner bay communicates with the outer or maritime bay. Forts 
 Wadsworth and Tompkins, on the verge of the Staten Island shore, and Fort 
 Hamilton on Xhe Long Island shore are supposed to protect in the case of 
 war this national gateway from the ocean, but being rather antiquated and 
 badly armed, they would hardly fulfill that requirement. In fact, compe- 
 tent military men assert, that New York City would be entirely at the mercy 
 of an enemy, as, under the existing circumstances, any modern man-of-war 
 could easily force its way through the Narrows or shell the city from the 
 Lower Bay. The question of a better system of coast and harbor defence 
 has lately been often brought before the nation, and will have sooner or later 
 to be solved. 
 
 Nothing contributes more to facilitate the maritime commerce of New 
 York than its situation amidst the stately waters of the Hudson— popularly 
 known at this point as the North River— and the East River, the latter an 
 arm of the sea. or a continuation of Long Island Sound — which afford an 
 
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available, triangularly-shaped water-front of 25 miles in length, densely lined 
 with piers, warehouses, grain-elevators, dry-docks, basins, etc. The water- 
 fronts of the neighboring cities, Brooklyn, Jersey City and Hoboken belong, 
 in every essential sense, to New York. Extensive docks have also been re- 
 cently erected at Staten Island, Bay Ridge and other available points on the 
 Bay. 
 
 The natural advantages of the harbor do not require such radical and 
 extensive improvements as were made in the leading European sea-ports, 
 nevertheless the constantly increasing traffic created in recent years a demand 
 for better accommodations. The wharves and the buildings on them are of 
 the most primitive style, presenting a very picturesque aspect, but lacking 
 greatly in convenience. A permanent river- wall, so located as to widen the 
 river street considerably, and a series of piers of ample dimensions and 
 adequate construction, allowing an unobstructed passage of the water, and 
 covered with suitable sheds, are now in progress of erection. The dilapitated 
 old piers and tumbledown rookeries of warehouses will gradually disappear and 
 with them a good deal of the picturesqueness that now surrounds the water- 
 front. 
 
 The trade in New York Harbor has in the last twenty-five years risen to 
 really astonishing dimensions. The number of vessels of all descriptions en- 
 gaged in foreign and coastwise trade entering and clearing the harbor in 
 1883 was 11,646. Numerous steamship companies carry on an immense 
 passenger and merchandise traffic between New York and European ports, 
 the West Indies, Bermuda Islands, Mexico, Central and South America. Be- 
 sides this an immense fleet of steamers and ferry-boats plies the Bay, Long 
 Island Sound and the Hudson, bringing daily many thousands of passengers 
 to and from the city. 
 
 In making a general survey of the harbor and its varied picturesque associ- 
 ations, we take best a standpoint on the roof of the new Produce Exchange 
 on Whitehall Street, facing Bowling Green, the historical spot, where the 
 Dutch settlers erected the first buildings of "New Amsterdam," the New 
 York of to-day. From here we obtain a view of the city, the immense Bay 
 and the surrounding beautiful couutry, that will remain ineffaceably stamped 
 upon the memory. Just below, the blue waters of the rivers girding the city, 
 fairly swarm with coming and going steamers, stately sailing vessels, squat 
 ferry-boats, crowded with passengers, dingy sloops and schooners, fishing and 
 oyster boats, dainty yachts, row boats, here dodging, there chasing each other, 
 the whole seemingly an inextricable chaos and yet guided and controlled by 
 strict rules. 
 
 Looking towards East the eye strikes the gigantic dimensions of the great 
 Suspension Bridge, the Eighth Wonder of the world, which spans in one bold 
 leap, 1600 feet long, the East River from shore to shore, connecting New 
 York with its great suburb, Brooklyn. The total length of the Bridge with 
 
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its huge viaducts measures GOUu feet. As far as the eye reaches in the round 
 expands a vast sea of streets and buildings, charmingly dotted with squares, 
 gardens and parks— the cities of New York, Brooklyn, Long Island City, 
 Jersey City, Hoboken and numerous villages, all of which are closely con- 
 nected with each other by the interests of business and daily life, and could 
 almost be considered one gigantic city. 
 
 Glancing over the immense, beautiful Bay we observe in the foreground 
 charming patches of green— Governor's, Ellis' and Bedloe's Islands. The 
 latter, a mere bank holding a fort, will be the site of the colossal statue of 
 Libert y, the gift of the French Nation, a testimonial of her enthusiasm for 
 great ideas and the arts and of a corresponding warm-hearted conception of 
 the outside world. Governor's Island, lying at the mouth of East River, about 
 a mile distant from the Battery, with its sweeping green glacis, the tiny south 
 battery, Fort Colombus and Castle William frowning in picturesque useless- 
 ness, forms a conspicuous feature in the harbor sceneiy. Ellis's Island, pro- 
 jecting only a few feet above the water, contains nothing but a large powder 
 magazine. 
 
 Beautiful Staten Island, charmingly girded with green hills and cosy 
 cottages, has seen days of great prosperity, but gradually lost its former im- 
 portance. To-day it appears a mere abode of fishermen, sailors and small 
 shopkeepers and a convenient dormitory for New Yorkers. Behind the long- 
 drawn village that skirt the. Bay and the Kill von Kull channel, comprising 
 New Brighton, Stapleton, Tompkinsville, Clifton, etc., lies a "terra incog- 
 nita" given over to slack and wasteful farming, or even worse, to the sullen 
 aggression of nature, dispossessed years ago, but now returning in the shape 
 of weeds, small timber and coarse, ruinous underbrush. On all sides appear 
 evident signs of departed prosperity. The people who formerly lived iuland 
 have either gone down to the water to mingle with the scaut influx of new r - 
 comers, or have vanished altogether, leaving rank the spots which half a cen- 
 tury ago were beautiful parks and gardens. 
 
 Near Stapleton, inside the Narrows, lie the Quarantine buildings, where 
 all vessels coming from foreign ports lay by, until the Health officer has fin- 
 ished the medical examination of the passengers, and given either a permit of 
 landing or ordered the vessel in quarantine at Gravesend Bay. On Hoffman 
 and Dix Islands, both artificial formations, composed chiefly of stone ballast 
 thrown overboard outside the Narrows, stand quarantine hospitals. 
 
 Long Island has also in the course of time undergone many changes, 
 but instead of having deteriorated, like Staten Island, it has gained in pros- 
 perity, alas! at the cost of its former romanticness. Some fifty years ago the 
 green shores of Long Island quietly rested almost in nature's beauty decorate. 
 Here and there a farm house or a villa, and a few windmills, brown with 
 age, varied the scene. Brooklyn had not yet descended from its lofty 
 
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heights to spread itself over the sandy acres in all the ugliness of common- 
 place, becoming thus in size the third city in the Union. The wonderful 
 effect which Brooklyn Heights then had upon the beauty of the Bay has now 
 almost vanished. The pebbled beach at the foot of the heights, once a fa- 
 vorite bathing place, had to give way to the requirements of commerce, and 
 its sides are converted into dingy docks and warehouses. 
 
 THE BATTERY, 
 
 At the extreme southern part of the city, looking out upon the Bay, was the 
 site of a fort in the early years of the City, the Castle Garden of to-day. 
 Later on it was converted into a Summer Garden and Opera House, whence 
 it derives its now not very appropriate name. Many celebrated public men, 
 amongst them Lafayette, when he revisited the country in 1824, were given 
 receptions at this historic spot. The famous Jenny Lind made here her first 
 appearance before the American public. Since 1855 Castle Garden serves as 
 the landing depot for immigrants, the poorer class of which often receive 
 shelter here, while preparing for departure into the interior of the country. 
 A labor bureau connected with the establishment furnishes many with em- 
 ployment in or outside the city. 
 
 The Battery was in former years a fashionable promenade, and many of 
 the wealthiest and socially distinguished people in the town lived in* the 
 lower part of Greenwich Street, State Street and around the Bowling Green. 
 Nowadays this whole district comprises nothing but large business houses of 
 many monotonous stories, the cheapest kind of boarding-houses and saloons. 
 The beautifully laid out Battery Park, embracing 15 acres, still retains some 
 of its former distinction, and presents a magical aspect at night, when the 
 electric lamps glitter through the trees and bushes like so many glow-worms. 
 
 Anchored to the massive sea wall which protects the Battery, floats an 
 immense public bathing establishment, during the hot season daily frequent- 
 ed by thousands. The Battery swarms at all times with newly arrived im- 
 migrants, sight -seers and loungers, who gaze with apparent interest on the 
 bewildering, kaleidoscopic scenes that have made New York Harbor so 
 famous. 
 
 The U. S. Barge Office, adjoining Castle Garden, a new, well-built edi- 
 fice in Byzantine style, serves as the headquarters of the various boats used in 
 the revenue service. A pavilion attached to it has been lately used as the 
 landing depot for cabin passengers from transatlantic steamers. 
 
 NORTH RIVER. 
 Perhaps no part of New York Harbor presents a more animated and 
 pleasing sight than the North River. Hundreds of vessels, highly miscel- 
 laneous in their composition, ply the river in all directions, or are moored to 
 
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the docks, loading or unloading their cargoes. Sloops and schooners of an- 
 tiquated cut, with battered hulls and patched sails, glide lazily over the 
 water, easily overtaken by puffing, hard-working tugs, having long lines of 
 canal boats," barges or scows in tow. The canal boats, which receive the 
 freight of the Erie Canal, are provided with all the comforts for a small 
 family, and present a characteristic sight with playing children on deck, 
 strings of family washing fluttering in the breeze, cradles, cats, dogs, flower- 
 pots, etc. 
 
 A highly interesting feature in the North River scenery consists in the 
 numerous passenger steamers, going daily and nightly up and down the Hud- 
 son or the Long Island Sound— real leviathans, with tier on tier of comfort- 
 able staterooms, huge saloons and diningrooms, fitted up in gorgeous style. 
 Gayly decorated excursion steamers, crowded with passengers, who often 
 enjoy on the upper deck dancing to the tunes of a band, enliven in the 
 summer months constantly the waters. The "Columbia" represents a fine 
 specimen of this latter craft. Some of them, in keeping up with the fashion 
 or craze of the time, have even been provided with skating rinks. 
 
 In the North River concentrates the transatlantic steamship traffic. 
 Both riversides are densehy lined with the immense docks of the numerous 
 steamship companies, all of which have a fleet of admirably equipped and 
 swift vessels. These great ocean steamers represent the triumph of marine 
 architecture, and rival in comfort any first class hotel, providing also ample 
 accommodations for travelers with limited means. The "Oregon," of the 
 Cunard, the ' ' Westernland, " of the 1 'Red Star, " the ' 'Hammonia, " of the Ham- 
 burg and the "Ems" of the Bremen line, etc., vary from 4000 to 8000 tons and 
 accommodate each over 1500 passengers. They perform wonderful feats of 
 speed. The "Oregon" crossed the Atlantic in 6 days and 11 hours, and the 
 shortest trip on record has lately been made by the "Etruria" in 6 days and 2 
 hours. Transatlantic steamers leave and arrive daily, often 5 or 6 at one 
 time. The parting of such a monster, decked with flags and covered with 
 hundreds of cheering and saluting passengers, attracts always a great crowd 
 on the wharves. 
 
 A ramble along the docks gives an insight into the maritime commerce 
 of New York. Stevedores, athletic men with bare breasts and arms, unload 
 here an immense four-masted schooner, that brought the various products of 
 the tropics, there another one, moored to a gigantic floating grain elevator, 
 receives its load of wheat. Freight steamers, orange schooners, oyster boats, 
 fishing smacks, etc., empty their welcome cargoes in kingly profusion on the 
 wharves, from where they are shipped inland or hauled for consumption by 
 the capacious stomach of the metropolis and her suburbs. Thousands of 
 busy people, numberless vehicles of all description, etc., throng the river 
 street, everywhere contending and bustling elements, all having their share 
 of the gigantic work that raised New York to such a proud position amongst 
 the emporiums of the world. 
 
WAR VESSELS IN THE EAST RIVER. 
 
 The scene, as here pictured occurred on the memorable 24th of May, 1883, 
 when the New York and Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic. 
 
 The Brooklyn Navy Yard on the south shore of Wallabout Bay, 
 East River, embraces a total area of 144 acres, including a mile of 
 splendid wharfage. Here anchors a part of the United States Navy, consist- 
 ing of steam frigates, some sailing frigates, sloops of war, etc., vessels of an- 
 tiquated construction and poor armament, the last remnants of a once efficient 
 navy. Efforts to raise the same to the modern standard have repeatedly 
 failed. If picturesqueness were the only thing desirable in a man-of-war, 
 our rotten ships would be everything needful. 
 
 TYPES OF VESSELS. 
 
 Our instantaneous views present a number of vessels, of which we give 
 the main characteristics: 
 
 Here we have a ship. It has a bowsprit and three masts: a main-mast, 
 a fore-mast and a mizzen-mast, each of which being composed of a lower 
 mast, a top-mast and a topgallant mast, and is square rigged. 
 
 Barks are threemasted, having their fore and main-masts rigged as a ship, 
 and her mizzen-mast as a schooner. 
 
 Sclwoners are small, sharpbuilt vessels, usually having two masts, with 
 fore and aft sails, but sometimes carrying a square foresail, square fore-top- 
 sail and top-gallantsail. Some schooners have three and four masts. The 
 rirst schooner ever constructed was built in Gloucester, Mass., in 1713, and 
 it is said to have received its name from the way it skipped ("scooned") 
 along the water. 
 
 The Yacht among boats may be likened to the fashionable fine lady in 
 contrast to a robust country girl. These beautifully-shaped crafts are used 
 only for pleasure trips, racing and the like, being often fitted up with the ut- 
 most elegance. Of late steam yachts are much in vogue. A representative 
 specimen of this class, the swift and gorgeous ''Atalanta," belonging to a 
 railroad magnate, has cost over $300,000. Yachting as carried on in New 
 York befits rich men's purses only. Twelve yacht clubs have their head- 
 quarters in New York Harbor, the most important being known as the New 
 York Club, which has an estimated valuation of vessels amounting to 
 $3,000,000. 
 
 The catamaran "Jessie" represents a new type of pleasure sailboats. - \ 
 She is an almost flat-bottomed vessel, with two hulls, held several feet apart 
 by connecting rods, and (tarries but one mast and bowsprit. Such vessels 
 can only be used in smooth water, where they perform wonderful feats of 
 
 speed. 
 
RIVER SCENES. 
 
 The peculiar and individual beauty of River scenes can especial!}' well 
 be observed from aboard of one of the oddly shaped ferry-boats, which like 
 enormous turtles cross the waters about New York in all directions. Early 
 in the morning, when the fog still spreads over the waters and the fashionable 
 portions of the cities are not yet aroused from their slumbers, the first ferry- 
 boat passengers already arrive, drowsy looking toilers whose vocation calls 
 for early hours, and hundreds of milk and provision wagons file into the boats. 
 When the sun appears above the hill tops, casting long bars of gold across the 
 gently rolling waters, the busy life in the thoroughfares leading to the ferries, 
 gradually rises to a roaring racket and din, with struggling masses of carts and 
 drays, shouting drivers and thousands of pedestrians, pushing hastily forward 
 to secure a comfortable place on the boats, which are usually crowded to their 
 utmost capacity. A trip on such a boat in the bright sunshine and the refresh- 
 ing breeze of a summer morning, passing hundreds of vessels of all descrip- 
 tions, the picturesque waterfronts full in view, impresses one deeply with 
 the beauty and grandeur of New York Harbor. Some of the ferry-boat 
 routes on the Hudson River have a length of several miles, offering a delight- 
 ful sail amid charming scenery, and at such a small cost, that even the poor- 
 est can indulge in it. On evenings during the heated term these routes are 
 frequented by many hundreds for the sole purpose of an airing. Such a sail 
 is highly fascinating. Lights flash in all directions over the water, and from 
 time to time the white sails of ships glide ghost-like by, while on both sides 
 of the river thousands of street lamps glow in the hazy air. On winter days 
 the scene presents a different aspect. Heavy fog settles often for days on 
 the rivers, and the ferry-boats move along with utmost precaution to avoid 
 collisions. Huge floating ice-blocks make the passage often quite dangerous, 
 but the pilots are so skilled and careful, that accidents rarely occur. 
 
 A trip up the East River and the Long Island Sound, passing along the 
 various islands, with their charming parks and green lanes, offers enchanting 
 pieces of river-side landscape. On a holiday, the river present- a gay and 
 lively aspect. Excursion boats, steam launches and sailing vessels, laden with 
 pleasure seekers, fill the water on all sides. Blackwells Island, 120 acres in 
 extent, contains a number of public institutions— the penitentiary, almshouse, 
 hospitals, etc. "Hell Gate," a short distance farther up, was long the terror 
 of all vessels entering or leaving the harbor by w T ay of Long Island Sound. 
 It was a collection of rocks in the channel, which offered so much resistance 
 to the tides as to cause a succession of whirlpools and rapids. A few years 
 ago the largest rocks were blasted by dynamite, and the few remaining will 
 soon be removed. Ward's Island divides the Harlem from the East River. 
 Randall's Island, the last of the group, is separated from Ward's Island by a 
 narrow channel. The gem of Long Island Sound, Glen Island, may be con- 
 sidered the most charming resort for the day in the vicinity of New York. 
 
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