Bell's Steam Engine Works, David Bell, Buffalo NY
David Bell, an immigrant from Scotland, was an engine builder first and a shipbuilder second. He started in business in 1845, as Bell & McNish, later becoming Bell's Steam Engine Works. In 1858 he started building ships under his own name and in 1862 built the Merchant, the first coal-powered, propeller-driven, iron-hulled ship to be built on the Great Lakes. The company's plant was on the east side of the Evans Ship Canal (which was where the north-south stretch of Erie Street is now), roughly where the western side of the Marine Drive Apartments complex is today: see the site from the air on Google here. If anyone can add to the table below, please e-mail info@navalmarinearchive.com.
Most recent update: 15 October 2016.
Hull# | O.N. | Original Name | Original Owner | Type | GT | Feet | Built | Disposition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4991 | City of Buffalo | Cargo Ship | 149 | 1859 | Barge 1871, no record after 1893 | |||
19684 | Philo S. Bemis | Tug | 29 | 1859 | Abandoned 1879 | |||
16332 | Merchant | Anchor Line | Cargo Ship | 721 | 1862 | Wrecked 1875 | ||
10664 | Glen Iris | Cargo Ship | 119 | 1863 | Later Mary O'Riorden, abandoned 1951 | |||
6147 | Dexter | Tug | 36 | 1866 | Abandoned 1911 | |||
na | Metropolitan | City of New York | Police Boat | 149 | 1867 | Abandoned 1867 | ||
18092 | Nellie Cotton | Tug | 37 | 1867 | Abandoned 1929 | |||
20142 | Philadelphia | Erie & Western Tptn. | Cargo Ship | 1,463 | 1868 | In collision and sank 1893 | ||
1734 | Ariadne | Tug | 34 | 1868 | ||||
100042 | Ivanhoe | Sidewheeler | 282 | 1869 | Burned 1899 | |||
Douglas | Tug | 1870 | ||||||
90701 | Mary Bell | Yacht | 34 | 1870 | No record after 1907 | |||
na | Albert Gallatin | U.S.R.C.S. | Cutter | 250 | 1871 | Later Gallatin, sank 1892 | ||
202921 | Alexander Hamilton | U.S.R.C.S. | Cutter | 250 | 1871 | Later Hamilton, sold 1906 as Pilot, later Keechi | ||
8882 | Eliza Williams | Tug | 37 | 1872 | ||||
125149 | Cayuga | Tug | 27 | 1872 | Later S.S. Mac 1941, abandoned 1963 | |||
205203 | George S. Boutwell | U.S.R.C.S. | Cutter | 151 | 1873 | Later Boutwell, sold 1907 as E. T. Chamberlin | ||
90792 | M. D. Carrington | Tug | 64 | 1875 | Scrapped 1949 | |||
145074 | Titania | Yacht | 73 | 1875 | In collision 1908 | |||
110275 | Rosaline | Yacht | 28 | 1876 | Later Volanta | |||
G. W. Gardner | Yacht | 1876 | ||||||
Esperanza | Yacht | 1876 | ||||||
105784 | Arundell | Cole & Holt | Cargo Ship | 306 | 1878 | Burnt 1911, rebuilt as barge 1916, cargo ship Brewster 1920, in collision and sank 1922 | ||
Flora | Yacht | 1879 | ||||||
Vanderbilt | Yacht | 1879 | ||||||
Angelique | Yacht | 27 | 1880 | |||||
106025 | A. W. Colton | M. T. Huntley | Tug | 92 | 1881 | Abandoned 1945 | ||
100302 | Ina | Yacht | 14 | 1881 | Later Service 1919, abandoned 1929 | |||
25243 | Uarda | Dow and Wesson | Yacht | 16 | 1881 | Abandoned 1921 | ||
110536 | Robert H. Cooke | Tug | 157 | 1882 | ||||
207088 | Sand Beach | U.S. Army CoE | Tug | 10 | 1885 | Later Lorene 1909, foundered 1945 | ||
145439 | Theseus | Yacht | 54 | 1886 | ||||
Seneca Chief | Yacht | 1887 | ||||||
81211 | Waller | Yacht | 56 | 1887 | ||||
200702 | City of Buffalo | City of Buffalo | Fire Tug | 133 | 1887 | George R. Potter 1903, sold 1932, Liberty 1940, deleted in 1980s | ||
150462 | Phil Sheridan | Tug | 35 | 1888 | Scrapped 1923 | |||
Florence Rice | 19 | 1889 | ||||||
116305 | Spalpeen | Tug | 29 | 1889 | ||||
161014 | Keystone | Tug | 95 | 1891 | Abandoned 1033 | |||
150524 | Pilgrim | Cargo Ship | 261 | 1891 | Burned 1937 | |||
150536 | Paddy Miles | Tug | 33 | 1891 | ||||
Neversink | Yacht | 1892 | ||||||
200703 | John M. Hutchinson | John M. Hutchinson | Fire Tug | 90 | 1893 | Later Drag 1934, scrapped 1951 | ||
252202 | Calumet | U.S.R.C.S. | Tug | 170 | 1894 | Later Tioga 1934, WYT 74 1942, sold 1947 as John F. Drews, William J. Dugan 1967, Spany Pane | ||
William McKinley | Yacht | 1894 | ||||||
161077 | Katharine T. Wilbur | Tug | 54 | 1895 | Later Cortland 1903, to US Army 1916, sold 1919, Courageous 1973, deleted 1977 | |||
Primrose | Yacht | 1895 | ||||||
Sandusky | Yacht | 1896 | ||||||
107227 | Alert | George Moon | Fish Tug | 102 | 1896 | Later Douglas M (Canada) 1917, Black Hawk 1980 | ||
96399 | Harvey D. Goulder | L. P. & J. A. Smith | Tug | 156 | 1896 | Later A.T.S. Tug No. 7 1920, Frederick T. Kellers 1922, no record after 1960 | ||
81738 | W. J. Warwick | Joseph B. Blake | Tug | 21 | 1901 | Later Susanne S | ||
117072 | Shaun Rhue | Tug | 79 | 1901 | ||||
127678 | Capt. Hemens | Passenger | 34 | 1902 | Later A. B. Sutherland (Canada O.N. 130330), scrapped 1957 |