Actaea (pilot boat)
{{short description|New York Pilot boat}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Actaea pilot boat.jpg |Ship caption=Schooner yacht Actaea (or Actea) }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship owner=
|Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1866}} |Ship name= Actaea |Ship namesake= Actaea |Ship christened= |Ship builder= Shipyard in Kennebunk, Maine |Ship operator=
|Ship original cost=$15,000 |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=1880 |Ship out of service= 1 February 1896 |Ship captured= |Ship renamed= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honors= |Ship fate=Sold |Ship struck= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Header caption= |Ship class=Schooner |Ship tonnage=97-tons TM |Ship length={{convert|94|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|22|ft|1|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship depth={{convert|9|ft|1|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan= |Ship propulsion=Sail |Ship complement= |Ship armament= |Ship notes= }} |
The Actaea, or Actea, was a 19th-century Boston yacht built in 1880 by Weld and David Clark of Kennebunk, Maine for David Sears, Jr., of Montgomery Sears of Boston. She was purchased by a group of New York Sandy Hook Pilots in 1890. She was one of the largest and fastest pilot boats in the fleet. In the age of steam, the Actaea was sold in 1896 to John J. Phelps of the New York Yacht Club and used as a pleasure yacht.
Construction and service
The two-masted schooner Actaea was built in 1880 by Mr. Weld and David Clark, as a Boston yacht at Kennebunk, Maine, for David Sears, Jr., of Montgomery Sears of Boston.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70342002/weld/|title=Off For Klondike. The Schooner Actaea Has Been Fitted Out and Will Start Wednesday.|work=Democrat and Chronicle |place=Rochester, New York|date=23 Jan 1898|page=1|access-date=13 Feb 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70344580/montgomery-sears/|title=The Actea Off For The Klondike. Capt. McCarthy's Expedition to Sail from Bay Ridge To-Morrow.|work=The Sun |place=New York, New York|date=1 Feb 1898|page=3|access-date=13 Feb 2021}} Actaea comes from the Greek myth Actaea, which means seashore.
The American yacht Actea of Boston was at Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was repaired and sailed back to Boston on July 24, 1880.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70350994/actea-of-boston/|title=Abbreviated Despatches.|work=The Boston Globe|place=Boston, Massachusetts|date=24 Jul 1880|page=1|access-date=13 Feb 2021}}
The Actaea was registered with Record of American and Foreign Shipping from 1881 through 1900 as a Schooner Yacht, with the David Sears as the owner; built in 1880 at Kennebunk, Maine; Port of call was the Port of Boston; she was thoroughly overhauled in 1891. Her dimensions were 94.9 ft. in length; 22.1 ft. breadth of beam; 9.1 ft. depth of hold; and 97-tons burthen.{{cite web |url=https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l0179721881/111/|title=Index to Ship Registers|website=research.mysticseaport.org|date=19 July 2016 |publisher=Mystic seaport|access-date=11 Feb 2021}}
On May 15, 1882, David Sears sailed his schooner-yacht Actaea from Boston to Cowes, Isle of Wight, that took 24 days. They had a crew of 12 men, including the owner, Charles Longfellow and James Barker.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70124266/david-sears/|title=Yachting.|work=Chicago Tribune |place=Chicago, Illinois|date=16 Jul 1882|page=10|access-date=12 Feb 2021}} On September 1, 1882, they sailed for Brest, France, then to Portugal, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Morocco, Madeira, Cadiz, Cape Verde islands and then to Havana. They arrived in New York on December 24, 1882, and then back to Boston.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70128897/yacht/|title=Yachting. Cruise of the Yacht Actaea.|work=The Boston Globe |place=Boston, Massachusetts|date=31 Dec 1882|page=12|access-date=12 Feb 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70348283/david-sears/|title=Europe and the West Indies in a Yacht.|work=The Boston Globe |place=Boston, Massachusetts|date=20 May 1882|page=4|access-date=13 Feb 2021}}
The Actaea was purchased by the Sandy Hook Pilots in 1890 for $15,000 to replace a pilot boat that was lost off the Highlands. She was one of the largest and fastest boats in the pilot fleet. She had flaring shaped bows. The boat number "15" was painted as a large number on her mainsail, that identified the boat as belonging to the Sandy Hook Pilots.
On June 13, 1891, pilot James J. Keeley came into port with and the steamer Caledonia. He reported that when he was on the Actaea, he ran into a school of whales, 350 miles east of Sandy Hook. They were moving at a rate of 20 knots an hour. One of the whales did not dive soon enough and the sharp bows of the boat struck him on the back, which caused a large gash in the fish and a loud thump on the boat, causing everyone on the boat to wake up.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70013859/whale/|title=Collided With A Whale. The Experience of the Pilot Boat Acaea Off Sandy Hook|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|place=St. Louis, Missouri|date=13 June 1891|access-date=18 August 2020}}
On May 7, 1894, pilot James J. Keely, on the station boat Actaea, went aboard the French steamship La Champagne to help bring the vessel into the New York Bay. Because of dense fog, he had difficulties bringing the vessel through the channel and around the buoys. The steamship landed on the sand bar off Fort Hamilton. 14 lifeboats were placed in the water to lighted the load, but this did not help. As a result, 329 passengers had to be transferred to the boat Rosa.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70138536/station-boat/|title=La Champagne In The Mud. Big Steamship Fast On A Bank Off Fort Hamilton.|work=The New York Timesplace=New York, New York|date=7 May 1894|page=1|access-date=12 Feb 2021}}
End of service
File:John J. Phelps pennant flag.jpg
On February 1, 1896, the New York Sandy Hook Pilots discarded sixteen sailboats and moved them to the Erie Basin in Brooklyn. They were replaced with steam pilot boats. Actaea was purchased by John J. Phelps of the New York Yacht Club for $4,500.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70016693/sold/|title=Not Up To Date. Why New York Pilots Are Discarding Sailboats.|work=The Standard Union|place=Brooklyn, New York|date=1 February 1896|pages=7|access-date=8 September 2020}} She was then towed from Erie Basin to the C. & R. Poillon shipyard on May 13, 1896, to be overalled.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70013396/phelps/|title=Yachting Notes.|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |place=Brooklyn, New York|date=13 May 1896|access-date=11 Feb 2021}}
{{cite book|last=Allen|first=Edward L.|date=1922|title=Pilot Lore From sail to Steam|url=https://archive.org/stream/pilotlorefromsai00unit/pilotlorefromsai00unit#page/28/mode/1up/search/Actaea+|location=New York|publisher=The United New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Benevolent Associations}}{{rp|p83}}
The Actaea was registered to John J. Phelps, with the Atlantic Yacht Club of the New York Harbor. Phelps had a private pennant flag with the letter "P" on it.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZwZAAAAYAAJ&dq=Actaea+yacht+John+J.+Phelps&pg=PP9 |title=Atlantic Yacht Club |place=New York|date=1899|page=|access-date=2021-02-13}}
John J. Phelps of Newark, sold the Actaea to Captain Charles A. McCarthy of Brooklyn, his brother Frank and a cousin, W. R. McCarthy. On January 26, 1898, the Actaea left the South Ferry, Brooklyn and traveled around the Cape Horn to the Strait of Magellan, San Francisco, then to St. Michael, Alaska on a Klondike voyage. The voyage took 120 days to complete.
{{cite book|last=Russell|first=Charles Edward|date=1929|title=From Sandy Hook to 62°|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KBOAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Williams,%20No.%2014:|publisher= Century Co.|oclc=3804485}}{{rp|p380}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70176652/klondike/|title=Fifteen Klondike Passengers. They will Sail on a Pilot Boat Saturday.|work=The New York Times
|place=New York, New York|date=26 Jan 1898|page=5|access-date=2021-02-12}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70332983/actea/|title=Actea Lifts Her Anchor. On Her Way for the Golden Regions of Alaska.|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|place=Brooklyn, New York|date=31 Jan 1898|page=3|access-date=13 Feb 2021}}
On April 19, 1900, John J. Phelps sold his steam yacht Actaea to M. L. Williams of Montreal, to be used on Lake Memphremagog, Vermont. The boat had to reach the lake by train from Nyack, New York because there was no direct water access to the lake.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70049577/moved/ |title= Actaea To Be Moved Overland.|work=The New York Times |place=New York, New York|date=19 Apr 1900|page=8|access-date=2021-02-13}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{List of Northeastern U.S. pilot boats}}
Category:Individual sailing vessels
Category:Schooners of the United States