REMEMBERING 40 YEARS AGO – AUGUST 25, 1966
A HUDSON RIVER DAY LINE CRUISE UP THE HUDSON ABOARD THE
SIDEWHEEL STEAMBOAT ALEXANDER HAMILTION
 By Theodore W. Scull



The graceful ALEXANDER HAMILTON became the last side-wheel steamboat built for the famed Hudson River Day Line. Competed in 1924 at Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Sparrows Point, Maryland, she was 338.6 feet in length, had a gross tonnage of 2,367 and could carry up to 3,717 passengers and a crew of 50 at 21 miles per hour. She had inclined triple expansion engines, four boilers and 3,900hp.
By the time this all-day trip up the Hudson was taken on August 25, 1966, she was owned by Circle Line Sightseeing who operated her under simply the Day Line. Sailing from Pier 81, foot of West 41st Street, Manhattan, she called at Bear Mountain State Park and West Point and made her turn back at Poughkeepsie without docking, then returned downriver to re-embark passengers at West Point and Bear Mountain.
The ALEXANDER HAMILTON remained in service until Labor Day 1971 when she was retired. There were attempts at preservation while she was berthed at South Street Seaport and the Brooklyn Navy Yard but ultimately she was lost while tied up off the North Jersey Coast. She was replaced in June 1972 by the DAYLINER, a twin-screw diesel boat (two General Motors 1750hp engines) that could take 3,200 passengers and a crew of 43.

The Ektachrome slides were taken by Theodore W. Scull, and the last three as labeled.


Hudson River Day Line's Alexander Hamilton at Pier 81 foot of West 41st Street.


Two rows of the reserve fleet at Jones Point south of the Bear Mountain Bridge.


Reserve Fleet seen from the Alexander Hamilton


A laid up former troop transport at Jones Point.


A line of cargo vessels in the reserve fleet.


Alexander Hamilton after passing under the Bear Mountain Bridge.


Bay Belle docked at Bear Mountain was built in 1910
as the Wilson Line's City of Wilmington - modernized in 1941.


Alexander Hamilton disembarking passengers for a tour of West Point.


Cunard's 34,172 gross ton Caronia and a Cunard cargo vessel
as seen from the Alexander Hamilton.


SS United States at her West Side berth as seen from the Alexander Hamilton.


Alexander Hamilton at Pier 81 at the end of the day in 1968.
(Vincent Messina photograph.)


Alexander Hamilton, far left, at the South Street Seaport Museum in 1974.


Alexander Hamilton at the South Street Seaport Museum in May 1972.
(Richard Sandstrom photograph.)


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