Florence (pilot boat)

Florence was a 19th-century Boston pilot boat built in 1867 from a model by Dennison J. Lawlor. The vessel had a reputation for being fast under sail. She had a long career in the Boston service, skippered by many famous pilots. She was the oldest pilot-boat in the service.[3] In 1897, she was sold to a Portland, Maine group for fishing and yachting excursions.

Boston Pilot Boat Florence No. 6, c. 1867.
History
US
Name: Florence
Owner: E. Bruce, William C. Fowler
Builder: Dennison J. Lawlor
Launched: 1867
Out of service: June 1897
Fate: Sold
General characteristics
Class and type: schooner
Tonnage: 50-tons TM[1]
Length: 66 ft 5 in (20.24 m)
Beam: 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Draft: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
Depth: 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m)
Propulsion: Sail
Notes: Her cabin had ground glass in the doors bearing the name, Florence.[2]

Construction and service

Florence was built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1867 for William C. Fowler, who supervised her construction.[4] She was built from a model by the noted Boston builder and designer, Dennison J. Lawlor, at the Lawlor shipyard of East Boston. She had a shallow-draft, whose keel is not far below the waterline. The sister pilot boats, Pet and Phantom, were built on this model by Dennison J. Lawlor, in 1868-1869 for the New York pilots.[5]

Florence was registered with the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, from 1881-1898, to William C. Fowler as the Captain and E. Bruce as the owner. Her hailing port was Boston. Records indicate that she was 68.6 feet long and weighed 50-tons.[1]

William C. Fowler
Captain William C. Fowler, a Boston pilot of the pilot-boat Florence.

Captain William Carlton Fowler, born on March 10, 1809, in Wiscasset, Maine, joined the pilot service in 1833. In 1835, he was captain of John Perkins Cushing's pilot-boat Sylph.[4] He served the pilot service for fifty years as a branch pilot, being attached to the pilot-boats Eben D. Jordan, Florence, and Hesper.[6] His favorite boat was the Florence, No. 6, named for his wife.[7] On June 13, 1892, Captain William C. Fowler died in Everett, Massachusetts. He was 83 years old.[8]

Florence No. 6

From 1879 to 1889, the Boston pilot-boat Florence, had the number 6 painted on her mainsail. On May 2, 1879, a Boston pilot on board the Florence, No. 6 went to court against the steamship USS Asa H Joolun, vs. Alfrea A. Nickerson. The master on the steamship refused to accept his services.[9]

On August 4, 1882, the pilot-boat Florence, No. 6, was on a cruise with Captain Fowler and several other pilots. They left Lewis Wharf, with a view of the Boston harbor. Her cabin had ground glass in the doors bearing the name, Florence.[2]

The pilot-boat Florence, No. 6 was taken out of commission for the winter, on December 21, 1889, and was berthed at Cape Ann northeastern Massachusetts.[10]

Florence, No. 1
Pilot Boat Florence No 1, c. 1895.

By 1893, the number on her mainsail change to No. 1. On 1893, Captain James H. Reid, on the Piot-boat Florence No. 1, picked up wreckage from a vessel named Plymouth, off Highland Light on the Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro, Massachusetts. The debris included a trunk containing a vest, other apparel, and cabin fittings.[11]

On April 5, 1896, during a storm, the uninsured pilot-boat Florence No. 1, was driven ahsore on the Sandy Cove beach, at Little Brewster Island in the [Boston Harbor Islands. Pilot James Reid, Jr., son of Captain James H. Reid, the commander and owner of the Florence, was the only pilot aboard. The rest of the crew were safe and returned to the boat to save her.[3]

End of service

In June 1897, Captain James H. Reid's pilot-boat Florence, No. 1 was at the National dock in East Boston when it was sold to Portland, Maine parties, who used her on fishing and yachting excursions. Reid bought the new America No. 1, on April 19, 1897.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Record of American and Foreign Shipping 1881". Mystic Seaport Museum. New York. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  2. "Crusing In A Pilot Boat". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 4 Aug 1882. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  3. "Florence Ashore. Pilot Boat No. 1 Driven on Sandy Cove Beach". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 5 Apr 1896. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "On The Hesper. Cruise of a Prim Pilot Boat". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 30 Jun 1889. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Chapelle, Howard I. (1960). "The National Watercraft Collection". United States National Museum, Bulletin 219. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. p. 90.
  6. "Fifty Years A Branch Pilot. Recognition of Faithful service of a Boston Pilot by His Associates". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 25 Mar 1886. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-09-29 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  7. Eastman, Ralph M. (1956). Pilots and pilot boats of Boston Harbor. Boston, Massachusetts: Second Bank-State Street Trust Company.
  8. "Funeral of Capt. Fowler". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 13 Jun 1892. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Boston Post Court Record". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 26 Jan 1880. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via NewspaperArchive.
  10. "Marine Notes". The Boston Daily Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 21 Dec 1889. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via NewspaperArchive].
  11. "Along The Water Front". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 29 Aug 1893. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  12. "Along The Water Front". Boston Sunday Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 13 Jun 1897. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via newspaperarchive.com.
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