The ''Edmund Driggs'' was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1864 at the Edward F. Williams

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 ...

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� ...

. She was built to replace the pilot boat ''Elwood Walter''. The schooner was used to pilot vessels to and from the Port of New York. 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 ...

. In the age of steam, she was sold in 1896.

Construction and service

On February 27, 1864, pilot boat ''Edmund Driggs'', No. 7 was launched from the Edward F. Williams

as the replacement for the ''Elwood Walter'' No. 7. The new pilot boat took her trial trip on March 5, 1864, with Captain Augustus H. Van Pelt in command. He took her down the New York harbor to the

Sandy Hook Light __NOTOC__ The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, located about one and a half statute miles (2.4 km) inland from the tip of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States. It was designed and built on June 11, 1764 by Isa ...

ship and back. There were a large number of guests and pilots on board. She was assigned to the following pilots: Richard Bowen, James H. Tenure, Jacob Vanderbilt, Edward Hilliker, John W. Murray, and Captain Augustus H. Van Pelt. The ''Edmund Driggs'' was named for Edmund Smith Driggs (1809-1889) an old Williamsburg, Brooklyn resident and president of the village of Williamsburg in 1850. Captain William M. Qualey, was also attached to the ''Edmund Driggs'' for many years. The ''Edmund Driggs'' 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 1876 to 1900. Her ship master was Captain A. Bourne; her owners were N. Y. Pilots; built in 1864 at New York; and her hailing port was the Port of New York. Her dimensions were 69.9 ft. in length; 18.6 ft. breadth of beam; 7.6 ft. depth of hold; and 42-tons Tonnage. The ''Edmund Driggs'', No. 7 went ashore near the Upper Bay, in the

but survived the storm with no casualties. On March 27, 1889, the ''Edmund Driggs'' brought into Cape May a life boat and wreckage from the gunboat ''Conserva'', which was lost at sea near the coast of Maryland. On July 27, 1894, a pilot on the ''Edmund Driggs'', No. 7 boarded the French man-of-war ''Huzzard'' outside the Sandy Hook bar in New Jersey. She was flying at her bow the blue peter

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

, signifying that she wanted a pilot.

End of service

On February 1, 1896, in the age of steam and electricity, the New York Pilots discarded sixteen sailboats and moved them to the Erie Basin in Brooklyn. They were replaced with steam pilot boats. The ''Edmund Driggs'' was sold for $3,500.

References

{{List of Northeastern U. S. Pilot Boats, state=collapsed Schooners Pilot boats Service vessels of the United States 1864 ships Ships built in Brooklyn

Construction and service

End of service

See also

References