Swiftsure drawing by Samuel Ward Stanton

SWIFTSURE 1825, pencil drawing by Samuel Ward Stanton (1870-1912)
in American Steam Vessels series no. 5, Steamboats of the River Hudson

Number 5 in the American Steam Vessels series (Meriden Gravure Company, 1962-5) of drawings by marine artist and historian Samuel Ward Stanton (1870-1912) is titled Steamboats of the River Hudson. Published by Stanton's daughter Elizabeth Stanton Anderson, this pamphlet edition reproduces some early work not found in American Steam Vessels (New York, 1895), including the rare pencil drawing of the Swiftsure in 1825, towing the "safety barge" Lady Van Rensselaer.

Numbers 1-5 in the American Steam Vessels series of drawings by Samuel Ward Stanton are collected in one volume at the University of Michigan Library, now Google-digitized and accessible online courtesy of HathiTrust Digital Library.

Pertinent history of the Swiftsure is given under Stanton's picture of the "SWIFTSURE 1825 pulling safety barge LADY VAN RENSSELAER":

Built at Brooklyn, N. Y., wood, 265 tons, by C. Bergh for A. Van Santvoord's Steam Navigation Co. for route between New York and Albany. SWIFTSURE and COMMERCE usually had in tow, for those afraid of steamboats, so-called safety barges connected to them by swivelled platforms over which passengers could walk. Practice discontinued after 1829 due to resulting slowness, and barges converted for freight. SWIFTSURE abandoned in 1856. -- Steamboats of the River Hudson, American Steam Vessels series no. 5 (Meriden Gravure Company, 1965). 

Tue, Sep 6, 1825 – Page 1 · The Evening Post (New York, New York) · Newspapers.com
Samuel Ward Stanton died at sea on April 12, 1912 in the Titanic disaster. Stanton's early Swiftsure drawing did not appear in American Steam Vessels. His model is not identified exactly, but in the 1895 Preface Stanton avowed that his illustrations were all "drawn from reliable sources" such as "early prints, lithographs, drawings and paintings, mostly in the possession of private parties or steamboat companies." Also acknowledging his use of old newspapers and hand-bills, Stanton further specified that he had drawn

the United States from a wood cut that appeared in the New York Evening Post, of June 23, 1821; the Constitution from a wood cut on a hand-bill of 1826, and the Albany, 1839, is likewise from a wood cut.

For representations of some early Hudson River steamboats including the Commerce, DeWitt Clinton, and Highlander, Stanton credited "the pictures of Mr. James Bard, a gentleman who began this class of work before 1830."



Shown above via Wikimedia Commons, the image of the steamboat Highlander from American Steam Vessels by Samuel Ward Stanton is also accessible online courtesy of HathiTrust Digital Library

• https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015018442189?urlappend=%3Bseq=48

and Google Books

• https://books.google.com/books?id=lQ8fAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false

Stanton describes the Highlander, built in 1835 for the Hudson River, as 

"one of the best boats on the river when she first came out, as well as one of the fastest. She ran on the Newburgh and New York line until the Thomas Powell appeared, 1846. She was then used as an excursion boat."  --American Steam Vessels

Wed, Oct 9, 1839 – Page 4 · The Evening Post (New York, New York) · Newspapers.com
In Redburn (1849) Herman Melville gave the name "Highlander" to the merchant vessel that takes the green hero Wellingborough Redburn across the Atlantic and back. The Highlander in Redburn is a fictionalized version of the real St. Lawrence which did in fact sail to Liverpool in June 1839 with Herman Melville on board. Melville shipped as an inexperienced "boy," although he would celebrate his 20th birthday in Liverpool, waiting to sail home. As William H. Gilman reported in Melville's Liverpool Trip, Modern Language Notes Vol. 61, No. 8 (December 1946) pages 543-547, the crew list of the St. Lawrence had Herman Melville enrolled under the name "Norman Melville."

Wed, Jun 5, 1839 – Page 3 · The Evening Post (New York, New York) · Newspapers.com
Related posts:

• Swiftsure Line in 1830
  https://melvilliana.blogspot.com/2019/11/swiftsure-line-in-1830.html

• Captain Hart L Murray
  https://melvilliana.blogspot.com/2019/11/captain-hart-l-murray.html

Captain Hart L. Murray

Here's more about Hart Leverett Murray (1798-1887), captain of the Swiftsure when that Hudson River steamboat brought Allan Melvill and his son Herman (age 11) up to Albany from NYC in October 1830. Towing the Melvill family's furniture on the freight barge Ontario, as demonstrated in the previous post on the Swiftsure Line in 1830.

From William B. Murray, The Descendants of Jonathan Murray (Peoria, Illinois, 1950) pages 89-90:

HART  L. MURRAY 

Son of Jesse b 9 Nov. 1798 in Essex, Conn. d 7 May 1887 in Deep River, Middlesex Co. Conn. m 25 Sept. 1823 to Temperance H. Brockway b 19 Oct. 1798 d 26 May 1898. Lived in Essex, Conn. & Albany, N.Y. 

Children
i Leverett Wendell b 1 June 1829 d 6 Apt 1889
ii Angenora Manuella b 24 Jan,1834 d 29 Oct. 1927 m John L. Brownell

Starting in 1824 as Capt of the Hudson River steamboat 'Swiftsure' he continued to be a popular captain of the Hudson River boats for 27 yrs, contemporaneous with Alfred Vantvoord, Isaac Newton and Dean Richmond. He was appointed Harbor Master of the Port of New York by Gov Morgan in 1860 and retired from active life in 1867. He was a resident of Albany for 28 yrs, and earnest anti-slavery man and a member of the Baptist church for more than 60 years; a devoted husband and valued citizen. 

In Albany, Murray lived at 60 Westerlo Street. That's according to Joel Munsell's Albany Annual Register for 1849-50 where his name "Murray H L" appears in the alphabetized list of fifteen Albany "Skippers." Same address for "skipper" Murray in the 1853-4 Albany City Directory. In Brooklyn Hart L. Murray resided at 12 Cheever Place.

Tue, May 17, 1887 – Page 1 · The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) · Newspapers.com

OBITUARY.
Captain Hart L. Murray.

Captain Hart L. Murray, who died recently at the old homestead at Deep River, Conn., in the 89th year of his age, was born in the town of old Saybrook, Conn., in 1798. Early in life he worked at his trade of spar making and boat and ship building in Essex, Conn., and commenced steam navigation on the Hudson River in 1824, as captain of the Swiftsure, and for twenty-seven years was a popular commander of Hudson River steamers--contemporaneous with Alford Van Santvoord, Isaac Newton and Daniel Drew. He was appointed Harbor Master of the Port of New York in 1860 by Governor E. D. Morgan, having charge of the Atlantic Dock district. He resided for twenty-eight years in Albany and subsequently was a resident of South Brooklyn fifteen years. He retired from active life in 1865 and has since lived in Deep River on the banks of the Connecticut, near his birthplace. He was married in 1823 to Temperance Brockway, with whom he lived over sixty-three years. They celebrated their golden wedding nearly fourteen years ago, at which time the bridesmaid of fifty years previous came from her Wisconsin home to grace the occasion. Captain Murray was a man of strong convictions, an earnest anti slavery man when it cost something to openly advocate the cause. A real Christian in life and work and a member of the First Baptist Church of Albany, N. Y., for more than sixty years. He was a devoted husband, a loving father, and a valued citizen. He leaves two children--Leverett W. Murray, of Chicago, and Mrs. John L. Brownell, of Nyack on the Hudson. --Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 17, 1887. 

Related post:

• Swiftsure Line in 1830
  https://melvilliana.blogspot.com/2019/11/swiftsure-line-in-1830.html

• Swiftsure drawing by Samuel Ward Stanton
  https://melvilliana.blogspot.com/2019/11/swiftsure-drawing-by-samuel-ward-stanton.html