|
22 February 2024 — “The noisemaking, the illuminations, and the general gayety”—the Hudson-Fulton Celebration
From 25 September to 9 October 1909, the City of New York and towns along the Hudson River threw themselves a tremendous party, honoring historic events in their own history and the exciting advancement of technology into the new century. The event was the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, marking the 300th anniversary of explorer Henry Hudson’s voyage in the Half Moon along the river that would someday bear his name, and the 102nd anniversary of Robert Fulton’s boat that demonstrated the viability of steam power afloat. The latter wasn’t quite a round-number anniversary, but it was considered “close enough” to mash together the two events that figured so prominently in history of the region. The Celebration was years in the planning and represented the efforts of no fewer than 52 committees.
The New York Times referred to the goings-on as “the noisemaking, the illuminations, and the general gayety.” Lectures were on offer wherever a decent-sized audience could be seated. The schools were encouraged to hold commemorative pageants and student essay contests on themes of New York history, and to assign the students projects such as building models of the celebrated historic ships and presenting tableaus representing moments in their local history. There were tie-in children’s festivals, art shows, and musical concerts, historical-themed parades and carnival parades—the latter presenting an eclectic range of themes drawn from mythology, allegory, and art. There were races of different kinds of watercraft, and aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright flew his airplane in a demonstration of the next wave of travel and transportation. The “illumination” of the city and waterfront must have been truly something to see; each night the vessels in the harbor and the buildings, bridges, and just about everything that wasn’t moving were strung with lights. The Times reported:
Conservative estimates place the number of lights to be used, in addition to the regular lighting, at between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 incandescents, 7,000 arc lights, 3,000 flare arcs, one battery of four searchlights of 100,000 candle power each, and one battery of twelve searchlights, aggregating 1,700,000 candle power. It is calculated that the total candle power of this array of lights will reach 26,260,000. The amount of special display advertising done during the illumination will bring the aggregate even higher.
|
 | The 1909 replica of Half Moon. (PD, Library of Congress) | Centerpieces for the celebration were two replica vessels: the Half Moon and Clermont (the original was also called the North River Steamboat), icons of the two historic events being honored. The Half Moon was a gift from The Netherlands. She was designed by C. L. Loder, based on documentation from the period, and constructed under the supervision of the Dutch admiralty. Measuring 58.6 feet by 16 feet, she was transported across the Atlantic by the Holland-American Line freighter Soestdyk. The Clermont replica was launched at Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island. Her sponsor was Mrs. Alice Crary Sutcliffe, great-granddaughter of Robert Fulton, christening the vessel with waters from the Livingston estate at Clermont. |
 | The original North River Steamboat/Clermont was described by one writer as “an ungainly raft looking precisely like a backwoods saw-mill mounted on a scow and set on fire.” 102 years later, the New York Times was similarly unimpressed by her appearance, recreated after painstaking research into contemporary documents and observations: “The workmen, clustered around her sides, seemed more inclined to laugh at the work of their hands than to be proud of it. For now they are used to turning out ships with great beauty of line, and none could call the Clermont a thing of beauty.” However, this replica was saluted as an icon of the progress into the modern era. Just a few of the hundreds of ships and boats on display that day can be seen in the background. (Library of Congress/Detroit Publishing Co.) | Half Moon and Clermont were accompanied by ships from around the world in naval parades around the boroughs and up the Hudson; after the first week off the New York City waterfront, they participated in events along the river up as far as Troy, New York. The American fleet, led by Rear Adm. Seaton Schroeder aboard Connecticut, included the US Navy battleships Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Louisiana, Kansas, Vermont, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Virginia, Rhode Island, Nebraska, New Jersey, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, and New York, along with the cruisers Birmingham, Salem, and Chester. There were also other, smaller US Navy and US Revenue Marine craft in escort. They were joined by the cruisers Morelos (Mexico); Presidente Sarmiento (Argentine Republic); Etna and Etruria (Italy); Bremen, Dresden, Hertha, and Victoria Louise (Germany); Utrecht (The Netherlands); Argyll, Duke of Edinburgh, Drake, and Inflexible (UK); and the battleships La Liberté, La Verité, and La Justice (France), joined by New Jersey Naval Reserve’s Portsmouth and the Dutch merchantman Nieue Amsterdam. One report estimated that another 500 vessels were on the water for the parades and reviews. |
|
This stereographic image shows just some of the magnificent ships, festooned with flags, on hand for the naval parade. Image: PD, Library of Congress. | |
|
Of course, nothing ever goes quite as planned, and that goes double when you have an inexperienced crew handling a replica vessel the likes of which hasn’t been sailed in centuries. A booklet released by the Society of Iconophiles after the event reports that there was some excitement, indeed:
It had been a question whether the Half Moon would use her sails or depend upon towing. The Clermont, of course, was to steam under her own power. Two hours before the start up the river, when the two vessels were being escorted to a point off Stapleton, S. I., the Dutch naval officer, Lieutenant Willem Lam, who was made up to impersonate Hudson, “even” as one newspaper writer put it, “to the largest display of unharvested whiskers recently seen in these parts,” decided that the stiff breeze from the north warranted his casting off the tow line. This done, the eighteen Dutch sailors on the Half Moon’s deck, all garbed in the style of two centuries ago, but accustomed to manoeuvre on the deck of a modern warship and not on that of a self-improvised seventeenth-century one, laboriously dropped the great square sails of the fore and mizzen masts into position and slapped her full into the wind. The result was that she cut through the water at a rate that surely would have lowered Hudson’s record in crossing the Atlantic. It would have been a fine sight, but for the fact that the Clermont lay in her path. Henry Hudson, having preceded Robert Fulton by two centuries, never had had any trouble with him, but it seemed as if the Half Moon, possibly jealous of the Clermont’s motor power, was bent upon putting her out of commission. Bearing down upon her and, at this critical moment, failing to obey the tiller, the Half Moon crashed into the Clermont and shattered about twenty feet of her rail abaft her port paddle wheel and battered her own prow. Fortunately tools and a carpenter were part of the kit and complement of each vessel, and the damage done at least was masked, if not wholly repaired, in time for the programme of the day to be carried out, although before the Half Moon was gotten completely under tow she made another attempt at ramming—this time the U.S.S. Prairie.
|
|
Crowds take in the spectacle of the naval parade. Photo: PD, Naval History and Heritage Command. | |
|
However, on the whole, the grand weeks-long party on the Hudson was a spectacle that left an impression, drawing on the stories of our past and yet celebrating the promise of the future. Will we see another celebration anything like it again? Our nation is celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026, and Sail4th250 is planning to mark the occasion with a celebration in five American ports, with a centerpiece event in the waters around New York. There’s plenty of time for you to get involved.
Extra Credit
River of Mountains - The Hudson Fulton Celebration of 1909
Official Program of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration
Sea History Today is written by Shelley Reid, NMHS senior staff writer. Past issues can be read online by clicking here.
| | | | |
