Nettle (pilot boat)

The Nettle, was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built for the New York Pilots in 1844. She helped transport maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. In 1868, she found the wreck of the bark Henry Trowbridge, forty miles from Sandy Hook. The Nettle, sank in 1876 at the Pensacola Bay.

Oil painting of the New York Pilot Boat Nettle, No. 9., by Antonio Jacobsen, ca. 1850–1921.
History
United States
Name: Nettle
Owner: New York Pilots, E. C. Mosser
Operator:
  • James Calahan (1844)
  • F. Willis and Johnson
Launched: 1844
Completed: July 19, 1844
Out of service: February 28, 1876
Homeport: New York
Status: Sank
General characteristics
Class and type: Schooner
Displacement: 32 tons TM
Draft: 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m)
Propulsion: sails
Sail plan: Schooner-rigged

Construction and service

Pilot boat Nettle, No. 20, was built in 1844, by S. Hall of East Boston, Massachusetts. She was copper fastened and built with white oak and hackmetak. She had a 27-ton iron ballast. The Boston Merchant's Exchange put her up for sale in the summer of 1845. The ad said she was one year old and the price was $1,000.[1]

The Nettle was registered with the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, from 1870 to 1879, as a Pilot Schooner, with E. C. Mosser as the owner and pilots F. Willis and Johnson as the Masters; built in 1845 at East Boston; belonging to the Port of New York. Her dimensions were 9 ft. in draft; and 31-tons burthen.[2]

On September 25, 1845, George W. Blunt signed a letter to the editor of the Washington Union, to insert a message in the paper, which said he was the true and only owner of the Nettle, of New York, built at Boston, Massachusetts in the year 1844, per enrollment in the port of Boston. On July 19, 1844, he became the owner of the Nettle, and that James Calahan was the master or commander.[3]

In 1860, the Nettle, was one of only twenty-one pilot boats in the New York and New Jersey fleet. The boat number "20" was painted as a large number on her mainsail, that identified the boat as belonging to the Sandy Hook Pilots.[4]

On April 23, 1860, the pilot boat Nettle, No. 20, came across the wreck of the Bark Belle. The following report was recorded in the ship's Logbook: "Sunday 15th, at three P.M. fell in with the wreck of bark Belle of Boston, dismasted and waterlogged; attempted to tow her, but wind being light made no impression upon her; lay by her all night... At noon nothing of her was above water but the stern and rudder. She lays lame literally in the track of vessels bound to and from the eastward, being 70 miles from Sandy Hook in 20 fathoms of water" [5]

Wreck of the bark Henry Trowbridge, and the pilot boat Nettle.

On March 29, 1864, the pilot boat Nettle, came up to the Portland, Maine port and saw a vessel with two bright lights from Cape Elizabeth Lights. She then saw a fire at Saco, Maine, on the mainland.[6]

On August 6, 1868, Captain Joseph Lockman of the pilot boat Nettle, found the wreck of the bark Henry Trowbridge, forty miles from Sandy Hook. Lockman of the Nettle, took her in tow to Sandy Hook. The hold of the vessel contained the bodies of three seamen found in the forecastle.[7] The Nettle received $3,300 salvage for saving her. [4]:p267–268 The Captain, wife, children and most of the crew abandoned the boat and escaped in a boat to Halifax.[8]

End of service

In 1876, pilot boat Nettle, was still registered with the Port of New York. However, by 1877, she was registered with the Port of Pensacola.[2]

On February 28, 1876, the wreck of the pilot boat Nettle, was reported lying one mile from the outer bar buoy in 4 1/2 fathoms of water, with her bowsprit underwater; in the Pensacola Bay.[9] In November 1878, there was a contract made with George W. Le Gallais, to remove the sunken wreck of the pilot boat Nettle, and other boats, by July 1, 1879, to improve the Pensacola harbor.[10][11]

See also

References
  1. "Pilot Boat For Sale". New York Daily Herald. New York, New York. July 27, 1845. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  2. "Index to Ship Registers". research.mysticseaport.org. Mystic seaport. Retrieved 4 Jan 2021.
  3. "To the Editor of the Union". The Washington Union. Washington, District of Columbia. 19 Feb 1846. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  4. Russell, Charles Edward (1929). From Sandy Hook to 62°. New York: Century Co. p. 159. OCLC 3804485. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  5. "Marine News". New York Morning Express. New York, New York. 23 April 1860. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  6. "PORTLAND, Monday, March 28". New York Times. New York, New York. March 29, 1864. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  7. "A Marine Mystery". Liverpool Mercury etc. Liverpool, Merseyside, England. 24 Aug 1868. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  8. "The "Henry Trowbridge."". Harper's Weekly. 24 Aug 1868. p. 578. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  9. "Notice to Mariners". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts). 8 Feb 1876. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  10. "Annual Reports of the War Department". U.S. Government Printing Office. 1880. p. 1066. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  11. "SUBMERGED. HISTORICAL RESOURCES OF PENSACOLA BAY, FLORIDA, The Pensacola Shipwreck Survey Phase One, 1991". U.S. Government Printing Office. 1991. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
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