The "Boston boat" New York, built post-World War I, lacked some of the charm of earlier steamers. Photo, Steamship Historical Society.
The magnificent Commonwealth, Priscilla's consort in the Fall River Line, shows turn-of-century grandeur. Photo, Author's Collection.
The Fall River Line's smaller Plymouth struts her stuff in 1937. Note narrow hull under superstructure. Photo, Author's Collection.
Colonial Line's small sisterships Concord and Lexington competed on the New York-Providence run. Photo, Steamship Historical Soc.
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By the time the big Boston boat had passed, the next steamer would already be in view following along about half a mile astern. This one-definitely the main attraction of our summer evening's outing-would be one of the great sidewheelers of the Fall River Line, either the Priscilla or the Commonwealth. While the Priscilla of 1894 and the Commonwealth of 1908 were older than the Boston boats and to the modem-minded passengers of the thirties decidedly old-fashioned by comparison, they were considerably larger and, to those who could still appreciate their more ornate decor, far more elegantly appointed. And while the Commonwealth was the larger and more modern of the two, most steamboat lovers agree that, among the steamers then sailing on the Sound, the Priscilla was by far the most beautiful. Since the Boston boat and the Fall River Line both sailed at five-thirty and the other three lines as six, it was another half hour after¡ the Priscilla or the Commonwealth had passed (leaving us gripping the gunnels trying to keep our balance in the swirling wake kicked up by their sidewheels), and sometimes beginning to get dark, before the somewhat smaller steamers of the other three lines appeared. The first of these was usually the Providence Line steamer. The New England Steamship Company, which operated the Fall River Line, also ran two smaller steamers to Providence, Rhode Island. During the thirties the fast propeller steamers City of Lowell and Chester W. Chapin were on this run. Next, following closely astern, came either the Plymouth or the Providence headed for New Bedford. These two sidewheel steamers were the winter boats of the Fall River Line and thus essentially smaller versions of the Commonwealth and the Priscilla. The Providence, which at 397 feet was considerably smaller than the Commonwealth, nevertheless resembled her in exterior outline. The still smaller Plymouth (366 feet) was designed with lines similar to those of the Priscilla, but, as the only steamer in the ninety-year history of the Fall River Line with only one smokestack, she presented a profile distinctly her own. While the larger Common wealth and Priscilla were needed to handle the heavy summer traffic on the Fall River Line, the smaller and less coal-hungry Providence and Plymouth took their places during the leaner winter months. Then, during the summer, they were placed on a line to New Bedford to carry vacationers headed for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, or Nantucket. The last of the steamers to file past Fort Schuyler and turn into theSound was also the smallest. This would be either the Concord or the Lexington of the Colonial Line, an independent company which ran these two small (260 foot) steamers between New York and Providence in competition with the New England Steamship Company's more prestigious Providence Line. By operating these two small steamers, which were low on coal consumption and required a relatively small crew, the Colonial Line could offer clean if not luxurious accommodations for its passengers at a rate about two-thirds that of the Providence Line or the Fall River Line.
* * * * * Far more exciting of course than merely watching the nightboats pass up the Sound was actually taking a trip on one of them. The favorite steamer for most passengers in those days was still the aging Priscilla of the Fall River Line. Sailing up Long Island Sound overnight aboard the Priscilla was never merely transportation; it was an experience in itself. Reaching Pier 14 in lower Manhattan could be risky, for West Street in those days was a wide cobblestone street alive with trucks of every description making deliveries of supplies or freight to the steamers docked at the row of piers which stretched out perpendicularly into the North River (as the Hudson is called in lower New York). Passengers wishing to avoid the confusion, however, could take the footbridge that led across West Street to the nearby Chambers Street ferry. SEA HISTORY, SPRING 1981