Carleton Watkins Steamship Crescent City
while three younger ones, referred to by George Murray as "The Boys," were LeRoy Chamberlin, Egbert Sabin and Carleton Watkins.[14]
The Crescent City was part of a new class of side-wheel steamships designed specifically for routes on the open seas and met more demanding design and construction requirements than ones destined for the generally calmer waters of lakes, rivers and sounds. This new class of vessels was designed for the purpose--very heavily built, and fitted with reliable engines. However, they also had sails [Fig. 5a] because they had to operate in places where there were few, if any, shipyards, docks, or machine shops to make repairs, if needed. The sails were an aid to steam power, but were not intended to replace the engines.
The Crescent City had its maiden voyage June 1, 1848 from New York to New Orleans via Havana.[15] She was designed and built by the New York shipyard of William H. Brown, whose vessels each incorporated design advances learned from its predecessors. For example, the Crescent City was built with diagonal iron strapping-over-wood that allowed an overall length of over two hundred feet and a displacement of more than one thousand tons, which was large for the time.
The Crescent City was one of the fastest and most comfortable steamships of its class with two passenger decks and a grand saloon for eating and recreation [Fig. 5b]. The kitchen was in a small independent structure on the spar deck near the wheel-house. Approximately three hundred-fifty passengers boarded the ship in New York on March 15, including one genuine celebrity: Mrs. Jessie Benton Frémont, the wife of John C. Frémont, who was also the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.[16]
She was traveling with her daughter, Lily and a helper, to San Francisco to be reunited with her husband, who had just completed his arduous fourth expedition exploring the far west. The Frémont party was berthed in first class cabins opposite the grand saloon, while the Otsego County contingent was housed down below in steerage. About her experience on the Crescent City, Mrs. Frémont later recalled, "the ship was crowded, but I was too worn down to care to know [other]
[14] J. Carlyle Parker, et. al. eds., Liberia Martina Spinazze’s Index to [C. W. Haskins], The Argonauts of California [New York, 1890, pp. 422-423, 494], New Orleans, Polyantho, Inc., 1975]. The names are given on the manifest as: C. P. Huntington, D. Hammond, G. W. Murray, L. Chamberlin, E. Sabin, and C. I. Watkins (where the "I" is a misreading of the handwritten "E").
[15] Ridgely-Nevitt, p. 122
[16] Jessie Benton Frémont, A Year of American Travel: Narrative of Personal Experience, San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1960, pp. 13-14.