Bell's Steam Engine Works, David Bell

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. In 1907, David Bell Engineering Works was merged with the Buffalo Foundry and Machine Company. 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.

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	First iron propeller on the Great Lakes, 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	137x23.5x9.3	1871	Later Gallatin, sank 1892
202921	Alexander Hamilton	U.S.R.C.S.	Cutter	250	137x23.5x9.3	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

These shipbuilding pages are part of an ongoing project; new material and data is added regularly.

Back to Shipbuilding History main page.