What is a Steamship?
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.
The term steamboat is usually used to refer to smaller steam-powered boats working on lakes and rivers, particularly riverboats; steamship generally refers to larger steam-powered ships which are usually ocean-going. The term steamwheeler is archaic and rarely used.
Steamships gradually replaced sailing ships for commercial shipping through the 19th century and in turn were overtaken by diesel-driven ships in the second half of the twentieth century. Most warships used steam propulsion until the advent of the gas turbine. Today, nuclear-powered warships and submarines use steam to drive turbines, but are not referred to as steamships or steamboats.
Screw-driven steamships generally carry the ship prefix "SS" before their names, meaning 'Steam Ship' (or Screw Steamer, or 'screw-driven steamship'), paddle steamers usually carry the prefix "PS" and steamships powered by steam turbine may be prefixed "TS" (turbine ship). The term steamer is occasionally used, out of nostalgia, for diesel motor-driven vessels, prefixed "MV".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat
The St. Johns River Steamboats
From Savannah, the George Washington became the first steamboat to visit Jacksonville in 1827. Over the next seventy years, steamboats would transform the St. Johns River and Jacksonville into an epicenter for the distribution of goods, people and supplies throughout the east coast. At the height of the steamboat era, there were 38 stops along the St. Johns between Jacksonville and Enterprise, FL.
The steamship Fred & Debary on the St. Johns River. This steamer was operated by the DeBary-Baya Merchants' Line in the late 19th century.
1829 - 1835 Early beginnings - sporadic communication
1835 - 1842 Second Indian War lasted seven years
1842 - 1850 Regular service - Savannah - boat building
1860 - 1865 Civil War - invasion from the north - cessation of travel
1865 - 1875 Reconstruction - re-establish old travel patterns
1875 - 1887 Golden age - river steamboat service
1884 - 1885 The first railroad connecting Florida from the northeast is completed and extended to Titusville.
1887 - 1920 Gradual decline of steamboats because of railroads and freezes
The Steamer "Magnolia" on the St. Johns River by the Acosta Bridge in 1917.
The "City of Jacksonville" moored at a Northbank dock in 1912.
160 feet in length, the City of Jacksonville steamboat was built in 1882 in Wilmington, DE.
Workers unload a shipment of bananas in Jacksonville at the Caribbean Fruit and Steamship Company's terminal.
Merchants and Miners Transportation Company Steamship Line
Known as the "Queen of Sea", the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company Steamship Line operated one of the finest fleets of passenger steamers on the Atlantic Coast and ranked foremost as one of America's top tourist routes. It was said to be the only line plying between Baltimore, Savannah and Jacksonville.
Quote
Founded in Baltimore in 1852 to operate a cargo and passenger steamship line between Baltimore and Boston, Mass. The service initially operated with two wooden hulled side wheelers, but in 1859 built two iron hulled steamers to augment services and extended services to call at Providence, Rhode Island. Services were disrupted by the American Civil War, but resumed in 1864. After a period of decline after the war, the company slowly recovered and by 1869 were able to order a new ship. Further ships were built in the 1870s and in 1876 the Baltimore & Savannah SS Co. was purchased which allowed the company to enter the cotton trade between Savannah, Charleston and New York. The company expanded in the 1880s and added several new ports of call including Newport News and Norfolk to their routes. In 1900 a Philadelphia - Savannah service was started and in 1907 the Winsor Line of Philadelphia was purchased with their fleet of seven steamers. A new route between Baltimore and Jacksonville commenced in 1909 and in 1920 a service was initiated to Havana, Cuba, but this was discontinued after about a year. A service to Nassau, Bahamas started in 1939, but on the entry of the United Stated into World War II in 1941, most of the company's ships were requisitioned for war duty. Limited services continued, but after the war, it was not considered financially viable to re-purchase ships which had been sold to the Government or to build new ships and in 1948 it was decided to cease trading. The company was officially liquidated in 1952.
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/merchants.htm
Clyde Steamship Company
Clyde-Mallory Lines once provided downtown Jacksonville with passenger and freight services to New York, Miami, Boston, Wilmington, Charleston, Key West, Galveston, Tampa, New Orleans and Mobile. They claimed to have the newest, largest and most magnificent ships serving the South. Clyde's terminal was located where the CSX headquarters building sits today.
Clyde Steamship Co., Philadelphia (later New York) (1844-1932)
The Clyde Line was established in 1844 by Thomas Clyde, connecting Philadelphia with other
east coast ports. The headquarters moved to New York in 1872. Besides connecting the northeast and southeast, the line also served the West Indies, especially Dominican Republic, after 1870s.
The company was purchased in 1907 by Charles W. Morse's Consolidated Steamship Lines, which collapsed in 1908. Clyde Line was then taken over in 1911 by the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines, a combine of a number of lines, but the Clyde Line name and flag continued in use until 1932, when Clyde was combined with the Mallory Line name to form the Clyde-Mallory Line.
Clyde-Mallory Line, New York (1932-1949)
A combination by the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies SS Lines parent company of the old Clyde Line and the old Mallory Line. Clyde-Mallory existed for only 17 years; it was sold to the Bull Line in 1949 and the Clyde-Mallory name and flag went out of use.
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us~hfcl.html#clyde
Jacksonville, Miami, Charleston and New York were the Ports of call for many Clyde Line vessels. They include the Apache, Mohawk, Cherokee, Algonquin, Seminole, Lenape, Huron, Comanche and the Arapahoe.
http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/clyde1.htm
Jacksonville's Clyde Line docks burned to the ground in 1941.
Conclusion
While the steamships and the benefits that came with the maritime industry are no longer a part of the Downtown Jacksonville scene, they were an important economic element of what once made downtown special.
As the mayor's office prepares to decide the future of Jacksonville's waterfront, considerable thought needs to be given to uses that can become economic anchors for a 21st century central business district.
Article by Ennis Davis and Daniel Herbin
Share this article
RSS
BridgeTroll
October 14, 2009, 06:59:16 AMGreat article!
lindab
October 14, 2009, 08:04:07 AMI loved those images. Great story.
hooplady
October 14, 2009, 11:21:46 AMThank you so much for posting this story! My mom worked for Merchants & Miners in the '30's and had so many fond memories of her adventures. If she had her way she would have continued forever, but proper ladies of that era got married and had children so that's what she did. But every time she talked about her work aboard ship she got all misty-eyed...she died this year at the age of 92.
JeffreyS
October 14, 2009, 12:41:46 PMCondolences.
BridgeTroll
October 14, 2009, 12:58:40 PMWhat did she do Hoop? Was she actually on the ships? Do you remember any stories?
hooplady
October 14, 2009, 01:03:11 PMBT,
I believe she was the equivalent of a stewardess...basically she helped the passengers. This is one of those things I wish I had written down when she talked! I know she loved visiting Jacksonville and she also remembered the original "waving girl" in Savannah. She also said that she loved her job so much she didn't want to accept tips...which got her in lots of trouble with her co-workers.
It was only a couple of years ago that she took the AutoTrain down from Baltimore for a visit and drove across Florida to see one of her old shipmates in Sarasota. She was pretty spry up to the very end!
hooplady
October 14, 2009, 01:09:22 PMOh yeah...one funny story. Mom was the oldest of seven and supported the family after my ne'er-do-well grandfather abandoned them during the Depression. She was gone for weeks (months?) at a time with little or no communication. Once when she came back to Baltimore she discovered that her mother had moved the whole brood - she had to go asking around to see where "home" was!
BridgeTroll
October 14, 2009, 01:45:48 PMVery cool... In her day this was the only way to "see the world" and was probably in the minority of people who actually travelled very far from home. She got to see and do things and meet people she had read about but never really had any hope seeing or doing unless she had a job like hers. No wonder she loved her job... My twenty year Navy career afforded me the same opportunity. I went to places and did things most people will never, ever experience.
stephendare
October 14, 2009, 02:01:06 PMI think we first discussed this when the lost land platts of Jacksonville first emerged.
It seems pretty certain that many of the place names of Jacksonville are from this industry. For example Jacksonville Beach was originally called Manhattan Beach, not to mention the Brooklyn and Fairfield areas of town.
wsansewjs
October 14, 2009, 02:01:37 PMThis is one of my most favorite articles ever posted on MetroJacksonville.com It actually made me go register my new account and post it here. Now, I am hooked on.
stephendare
October 14, 2009, 02:06:38 PMplease pardon the pun, I say it to everyone who joins, Welcome Aboard, wsansewjs !
BridgeTroll
October 14, 2009, 03:38:44 PMWelcome wsan... this site contains many articles of similar quality... along with many discussions of these articles.
Dog Walker
October 14, 2009, 03:41:49 PMThere is a great model of the Fred & deBary on display at the downtown library right now.
When you look at place names on maps of this area, notice how many places have "landing" in them. Up and down the St. John's, these were the places that the river steamboats stopped for people and goods in the days before good roads. The St. John's was the highway.
stjr
October 17, 2009, 10:49:28 PMGreat article.
Just think if Jax recreated an historic reproduction of the "City of Jacksonville" that plied the St. Johns River.
What a unique tourist attraction. It could do daytime historic tours, sunset cruises, and overnights to Palatka and Sanford, or travel to Savannah, Charleston, or St. Augustine as an ambassador of the city.
Ocklawaha
October 17, 2009, 11:41:45 PM"The City of Jacksonville" has a nice ring to it!
Just think if Jax recreated an historic reproduction of the "City of Jacksonville" that plied the St. Johns River.
What a unique tourist attraction. It could do daytime historic tours, sunset cruises, and overnights to Palatka and Sanford, or travel to Savannah, Charleston, or St. Augustine as an ambassador of the city.
We nearly do stjr, there are two ships at the docks in Green Cove Springs, on the closed Naval Station, nee Clay County Port of Green Cove Springs. I understand they were built by Atlantic in Jacksonville but delivery never took place.
This is a subject I have squawked enough about that everyone should know it by heart. Cut deals with a major airline, Trailways, Annett, Greyhound, Disney Express Bus, and AMTRAK... Every adventurer comes in at JIA/JAX, on a single cruise-Florida tour ticket, they are delivered downtown to the river cruise port facility. They board one of the river cruisers for Sanford, two days on the water, overnight tied up at the downtown/waterfront hotel in Palatka. Day two finds them moving into the Port of Sanford, where they are met by a parade of Disney resort, Universal resort, etc... buses. The buses pull off and they head for 2-5 days of non-stop fun. At the end of it all, they again board the riverboats and head for Palatka. We lay our best meals, treats and honors. Once back in a real city (OURS) they are ready for reserved seat or bedroom home on Amtrak. Mr. investor, give me a call, and we'll talk BIG BOATS!
They go home very lucky, they are among the few tourists since the 1800's to have really seen and experienced The Real Florida.
OCKLAWAHA
Dog Walker
October 18, 2009, 11:11:58 AMOck, I can't make out the depths on the bows of those nice looking cruise boats. Surely they aren't double digits?
Ocklawaha
October 22, 2009, 12:39:43 AMI'll have to look next time I go snooping across the river. The channel is good for 11' all the way to Sanford, downtown marina, it should be deeper to Palatka.
OCKLAWAHA
Juker777
October 28, 2009, 07:17:24 PMExcellent article. I really like the 1917 photo showing the steamer heading south from downtown.
Purplebike
November 02, 2009, 03:11:59 AMWhat a beautiful article, great pictures!
auntalva
November 10, 2009, 10:31:12 AMMy great-great grandfather was superintendent of the Clyde and Mallory Steamships lines in Jacksonville from 1907 to 1922. I am a little confused about the history of the company mergers, because his obituary printed in Oct. 24, 1922 issue of The Florida Times-Union clearly names it (more than once) the "Clyde and Mallory" steamships lines, but the article above states that it was in 1932 that it became the "Clyde-Mallory" Steamship Company.
For others who might be interested, there is a permanent exhibit about these steamships included at the Museum of Florida History (an excellent and *free* museum!) in Tallahassee. Also, the State Library of Florida has 79 images related to Clyde Steamship Co. in its Florida Photographic Collections, which is searchable online. I noticed that there is a website where you can buy authentic postcards showing the steamships, but they cost between $15 and $25 each, at: oldpostcards.com
Lunican
November 15, 2009, 10:06:55 PMCame across this article in the NY Times from September of 1899.
ANOTHER CLYDE BOAT STRANDED.; City of Jacksonville Ashore Near Portsmouth, N.C.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D0CE4DE133DE633A25753C2A96F9C94689ED7CF
Dog Walker
November 16, 2009, 12:30:58 PMDon't you just love the reference to the "St. James" river!