The ''Mary Ann, No. 13'' was a 19th-century

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern ...

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 for the New York pilots. She helped transport

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pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. In 1860, the ''Mary Ann'', was one of only twenty-one pilot boats in the New York and New Jersey fleet. She went ashore outside Sandy Hook in 1863.

Construction and service

There are many reports of the pilot-boat ''Mary Ann'' from 1830 to 1863 in the New York newspapers. One of the first reports of the ''Mary Ann'' appears on 1837, when pilots James M. West and Edward Maull, of the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'' passed the pirate ship ''Susquehennah'' near

Cape Henlopen Light Cape Henlopen Light was a lighthouse near Lewes, in present-day Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, United States. The lighthouse was on the north side of the Great Dune on Cape Henlopen, Delaware. It was the sixth lighthouse built in the colo ...

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. Thomas Rowland, one of the pilots on board the ''Mary Ann'' said that they passed the ''Susquehennah'' and could see a cross in her fore

topsail A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. Square rig On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a typically trapezoidal shaped sail rigged above the course sail and ...

. John Taylor did his apprentice on the 45-ton pilot boat ''Mary Ann'' in the early 1830s. In 1830, Richard Westley, in the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'', came across a shipwrecked schooner at Bareford Bar. In 1833, Westley, in the ''Mary Ann'', used the

Breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

as a harbor in bad weather. On April 23, 1852, pilot boat ''Mary Ann'' launched a yawl with two men to bring back a pilot that was on the bark ''Southerner'' in a heavy storm. The yawl came alongside the bark, when it filled with water and capsized, drowning the two men. On April 6, 1856, the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'', No. 13 was on station when she was run into by a unknown schooner. She was towed into port by the steamtug ''Hector''. On September 18, 1857, Captain James R. Murphy, from the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'', No. 13 boarded the Spanish ship ''Emilia.'' The ship then went out at sea in heavy gales where she received further damage. On October 30, 1859, pilots Francis Pennea, Peter R. Ballie, and Thomas Atiken were on the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'', No. 13 when they rescued three men in a yawl twenty-five miles off Sandy Hook. The men were blown out to sea during a storm, while they were returning 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 after picking up Charles C. Freeman from the Merchants' Express Line Clipper ship ''Richard S. Ely.'' In 1860, the ''Mary Ann'' was one of only twenty-one pilot boats in the New York and New Jersey fleet. The boat number "13" was painted as a large number on her

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot i ...

, that identified the boat as belonging to the Sandy Hook Pilots. On October 10, 1860, New York Sandy Hook Pilot John Cannon, of the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'', No. 13 signed a statement along with other pilots, that he was satisfied with the representation he had received from the New York Board of Commissioners of Pilots. One of last reports of the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'', No. 13 was on August 28, 1863, when she went ashore outside

. She was later able to get off the bar without any damage. Sandy Hook pilot, Captain David Anderson Thomas purchased a controlling interest in the pilot boat ''Mary Ann'', which he had up to his death in 1864.

References

{{List of Northeastern U. S. Pilot Boats Schooners of the United States Service vessels of the United States Pilot boats

Construction and service

See also

References