''Charlotte Webb'' was a 19th-century

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

pilot boat A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting. Pilot boats were once sailing boats that had to be fast because the first pilot to reach the incoming ship ...

built in 1865 at the Webb & Bell shipyard to take the place of the '' James Funk,'' that was destroyed by the rebel ''Tallahassee'' during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. She survived the

Great Blizzard of 1888 The Great Blizzard of 1888, also known as the Great Blizzard of '88 or the Great White Hurricane (March 11–14, 1888), was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in American history. The storm paralyzed the East Coast from the Chesapeake Ba ...

, but was run down by the French steamship ''La Normandie'' in 1889. She was replaced by the pilot boat ''George H. Warren''.

Construction and service

The pilot boat ''Charlotte Webb'' was built by Eckford Webb in May 1865 at the Webb & Bell shipyard in

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn� ...

, to take the place of the '' James Funk,'' No. 22, that was captured and burned by the

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

raiding steamer ''Tallahassee''. On June 15, 1865, she was launched from the Webb & Bell

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

. She was named in honor of the wife of Eckford Webb, which was Mrs. Charlotte Webb. The ''Charlotte Webb,'' was registered as a pilot

Schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

with the ''Record of American and Foreign Shipping,'' from 1871 to 1885. Her ship master was Edward Fryer (1876-1884) and Albert C. Malcolm (1885); her owners were the N. Y. Pilot Association; built in 1865 at the Greenpoint, New York; and her hailing port was the Port of New York. Her dimensions were 79 ft. length on deck; 28 ft. breadth of beam; 8 ft. depth of hold; and 58-tons

Tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically ref ...

. On April 16, 1872, William A. Lucky, a Sandy Hook pilot for 25 years, was with a group of men attempting to board the pilot boat ''Charlotte Webb,'' when the

yawl A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...

they were in capsized. Most the men were able to hold onto the capsized boat but Lucky was drowned. On 2 Apr 1886, Charlotte Webb, No. 8, was towed into New York with her foremast and main masthead gone after a collision with the bark ''Cambusdoon'' off Navesink, New Jersey. On March 17, 1888, the ''Charlotte Webb,'' No. 5, was caught up in the

. She arrived safely back to port with minor damage to her rigging.

End of service

On May 19, 1889, the ''Charlotte Webb,'' was run down by the French Line steamship ''La Normandie,'' in a dense fog eight miles east of Sandy Hook. The pilot boat sank in three minutes. Two pilots on the ''Charlotte Webb'' were lost in the accident. Captain Albert C. Malcolm, one of the oldest and best pilots of New York harbor, was in charge during the accident was one that drowned. He was eighty-eight years old. On June 7, 1889, the ''George H. Warren,'' No. 4. was purchased for $9,250 by Captain J. O'Sullivan and a group of New York pilots that had lost the ''Charlotte Webb''.

References

{{1889 shipwrecks Individual sailing vessels Schooners of the United States Service vessels of the United States 1865 ships Pilot boats Ships built in Brooklyn Maritime incidents in May 1889

Construction and service

End of service

See also

References