Sylph - Presidential Yacht - 1909

Here is The Sylph as a Ferry from Sea Gate to The Battery in Manhattan.

 

I recently researched The Sylph. I remember her when she carried my Aunt from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan, NYC. to Sea Gate, Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Sea Gate was a gated community on Coney Island, at the western tip of Long Island, in Brooklyn. I remember, every weekday evening, the disembarked passengers walking by our house which was just a block from the pier where she docked in Sea Gate.

 

www.navsource.org/archives/12/1305.htm

 

Patrol Yacht:

Built by John Roach and Co., Chester, PA

Acquired by the Navy in June 1898

Commissioned USS Sylph 18 August 1989 at the Norfolk Navy Yard for use as a Presidential Yacht

Designated a Patrol Yacht, PY-5, 17 July 1921

Decommissioned, 27 April 1929 at the Norfolk Navy Yard

Struck from the Navy list, 29 April 1929

Sold, 26 November 1929 to Mr. Frank B. Clair of Brooklyn, NY (Mr. Clair was reportedly an ex-bootlegger). Mr. Clair and his partner Captain John Nugent converted her into a party fishing boat and operated her from

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY. The Sylph fished from Sheepshead Bay until April 1939, when she changed her business and ran a ferry service from Sea Gate, Brooklyn to the Battery in Manhattan. In 1941, her owners

defaulted on the mortgage held by the Worthington Diesel Company and they took possession of the vessel

Fate unknown.

Specifications:

 

Displacement 152 t.

Length 123' 8"

Beam 20 '

Draft 7' 6"

Speed 15 kts.

Complement: 1905 - 31

Armament: 1905 - One 6-pounder

Propulsion: One 550ihp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft

1935 - Replaced by a 400hp Worthington diesel engine.

 

www.mels-place.com/Contents/mmm/boats1tn/boats1/boats1_11...

 

 

"The "SYLPH" was the official United States Presidential Yacht for President Theodore Roosevelt. The US Navy originally purchased the "SYLPH" in June 1898 from her builder, John Roach & Co., Chester, PA, and they commissioned the vessel as a Presidential Yacht on August 18, 1898 at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The "SYLPH" served in this capacity for Presidents McKinley (1898-1901), Roosevelt (1901-1909), Taft (1909-1913) and Wilson (1913-1921).

 

In 1921, the Navy re-designated her as Patrol Yacht "PY-5" and she sailed on the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. In 1925, she was permanently moored at the Washington Navy Yard, where she remained until her decommissioning in April 1929.

 

Frank B. Clair of Brooklyn, New York purchased her in November 1929 (Mr. Clair was reportedly an ex-bootlegger.) Mr. Clair and his partner Captain John Nugent converted her into a party fishing boat and operated her from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY.

 

 

In 1935, her boiler failed and she was re-powered with a 400 HP Worthington diesel engine. Also during 1935, Jeremiah 'Jerry' Driscoll purchased Mr. Clair's share of the business. She continued fishing from Sheepshead Bay until April 1939, when she changed her business and ran a ferry service from Sea Gate, Brooklyn to the Battery in Manhattan.

 

 

 

Alas, in 1941, her owners defaulted on the mortgage held by the Worthington Diesel Company and they took possession of the vessel. The "SYLPH" is the only vessel in history to go from presidents to porgies."

Done