Pilot Boat Jacob A. Westervelt, No. 19.
History
United States
NameJacob A. Westervelt
NamesakeJacob Aaron Westervelt, shipbuilder
OwnerNew York pilots
OperatorJohn O’Keefe
BuilderDaniel Westervelt of New York City
Cost$8,000
LaunchedFebruary 4, 1854
CompletedDecember 1853
Out of service20 April 1858
HomeportNew York
FateSank
General characteristics
Class and typeSchooner
Displacement100 tons TM[1]
Length87 ft 0 in (26.52 m)[2]
Propulsionsails
Sail planSchooner-rigged

Jacob A. Westervelt was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat designed by naval architect John W. Griffiths and built by Jacob A. Westervelt in 1853. She was one of the fastest pilot-boats in the fleet. In 1858, while attempting to board the British steamer Saxonia she was fatally run into and sank outside of Sandy Hook. The Edmund Blunt, was built to replace her.

Construction and service

The pilot-boat, Jacob A. Westervelt, No. 19, was designed by John W. Griffiths, who wrote a Treatise on Marine and Naval Architecture. In the Westervelt, Griffiths cut out the traditional drag of the keel, that produced a fast shoal-draught boat.[2] She was built in December 1853 by Aaron J. Westervelt, of the Jacob A. Westervelt Sons & Company for Sullivan & Pratt and the New York pilots: John O’Keefe, John E. Johnson, Charles L. McCummisky, Peter McEnany, Eugene Sullivan, Daniel Baker and William Smith.[3] She was launched on February 4, 1854, for a company of New York Pilots.[1][4]

On May 26, 1857, John L. Roff, boatkeeper on the Jacob A. Westervelt, No. 9, picked up a drowned man at Coney Island and brought the body to the Brooklyn Coroner.[5]

Out of service

The Westervelt spotted the British screw steamer Saxonia on Tuesday morning, April 20, 1858, 270 miles east of Sandy Hook. While attempting to board her, the Westervelt was struck by the steamer. The men on the Westervelt were able to climb the robes thrown over the steamer's bow. Her captain, John O’Keefe, went missing and later reported as drowned. The pilots on board the Westervelt were: John E. Johnson, John Wright, John Hines, Charles L. McCummisky, and Peter McEnany.[2]: p82 [6][7][4] On, April 21, 1858, Maurice O'Keefe placed an ad giving a reward to any person recovering the body of her husband, John O'Keefe.[8]

New York pilot-boat Edmund Blunt, No. 2, was launched on 18 August 1858, by Edward F. Williams to replace the Jacob L. Westervelt, that was run down by the steamship.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "New York Yards. Jacob A. Westervelt & Co. Launched". The New York Herald. New York, New York. 29 Jun 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 11 Nov 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Tom (2001). Pilots, The World Of Pilotage Under Sail and Oar. Brooklin, Maine: WoodenBoat. p. 77. ISBN 9780937822692.
  3. ^ "The City Yards. Jacob A. Westervelt & Co. On the Stocks". The New York Herald. New York, New York. 29 Dec 1853. p. 2. Retrieved 11 Nov 2020.
  4. ^ a b "The Pilot-bat Westervelt Run Down By A Steamship-One of the Pilots Drowned". New-York Tribune. New York, New York. 21 April 1858. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  5. ^ "A Drowned Man". The New York Tribune. New York, New York. 26 May 1857. p. 7. Retrieved 11 Nov 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Allen, Edward L. (1922). Pilot Lore From sail to Steam. The United New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Benevolent Associations. p. 12.
  7. ^ Russell, Charles Edward (1929). From Sandy Hook to 62°. New York: Century Co. p. 114. OCLC 3804485.
  8. ^ "$100 REWARD – TO MASTERS OF PILOT BOATS, FISHING SMACKS". New York Herald. New York, New York. 23 Apr 1858. Retrieved 12 Nov 2020 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  9. ^ "Launched". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. 20 August 1858. p. 3. Retrieved 11 August 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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