1859: The Monday Morning Launch of a Pilot Boat in New York

December 26, 1859

At eleven o’clock on a Monday morning, the pilot boat John D. Jones, No. 15, was launched into a section of the East River within the ward of Williamsburg in the city of Brooklyn (now one of New York City’s five boroughs). J.D. Jones had been built by J.B & J.D. Van Deusen, and her launch specifically took place at the firm’s shipyard at the foot of 16^th Street. This pilot boat was named in honor of John Divine Jones (1814-1895), president of the Manhattan-based Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company.

The pilot boat J.D. Jones was constructed for a company of Sandy Hook pilots. These pilots are transported via such boats to ships bound for or already within that region. After boarding one of those ships, the pilots are responsible for safely guiding the vessel in or out of the East River; the Hudson River; Jamaica Bay; Long Island Sound; Atlantic City, New Jersey; or what is now collectively known as the Port of New York and New Jersey.  (The peninsulas of Sandy Hook and Rockaway in Lower New York Bay mark the southern entrance of New York Harbor at the Atlantic Ocean.)

As of 1860, J.D. Jones was one of 21 pilot boats in operation in that vicinity of the Empire and Garden States. John D. Jones remained in service until March 28, 1871, when — 270 miles (435 kilometers) east of Sandy Hook — she collided with the New York-bound steamship City of Washington while the crew was trying to get pilots on board that vessel. In a span of only 15 minutes, the pilot boat filled with water and then sank.

In reporting on this late-night incident a couple of days later, the New York Evening Express noted that J.D. Jones had been “one of the finest boats sailing” in the region and that this vessel’s pilots and crew were all rescued by the crew of the City of Washington. (The attached painting of J.D. Jones was created that same year.)  

Image Credit: Public Domain

Additional information on the launch of the pilot boat John D. Jones, No. 15, is available at https://www.newspapers.com/image/20370468/?terms=%22john%20d.%20jones%22&match=1

For more information on pilot boats that have operated in the northeastern United States, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Northeastern_U.S._pilot_boat