Name/Title
Steamer Gratitude (1880), Later named Captain MillerEntry/Object ID
2017.14.008Description
GRATITUDE (1880)
Year Built: 1880
Built By: William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company
Built At: Philadelphia, PA
Built For: Delaware Transportation Company
Hull Number: 208
Official Number: 85607
Purchase Price: $40,000
Length: 124.7 feet
Beam: 20.5 feet
Depth of Hold: 7.0 feet
Gross Tons: 214 gross, 157 net
Propulsion: Sidewheel
Hull: Iron
Engine:
Passenger Capacity: 300 when built in 1880
Purchased by: Sold to interests in Florida in 1882 and renamed Captain Miller but her home port remained listed as Philadelphia in the Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States until 1885 when the home port was listed as Narchez, MS. At some point Edwin Levy purchased Captain Miller and in 1886 her home port was again listed as Philadelphia. Corsica River Steamboat Company.
Route: Service on the Corsica River out of Centreville, MD
Captains: Medford M. Larrimore in 1887
Previous Name:
Later Name: Captain Miller in 1882, Renamed Gratitude in 1887
Comments:
1887, 25 April; The Baltimore Sun reported that the steamer Captian Miller was burned at her wharf at Centerville Landing. The hull and machinery are in good condition however all the woodwork was entirely consumed. No lives were lost, and no one was seriously injured. The origin of the fire is unknown.
She was rebuilt and renamed Gratitude, with a propeller replacing her side wheels.
Purchased in 1887 from Philadelphia for service on river associated with Chesapeake Bay service. Sold to Chester River Steamboat Company in 1890. Chartered to Queen Anne's Ferry and Equipment Company in 1897. In 1905 the Pennsylvania Rairoad Company purchased the Queen Ann Railroad Company, the Chester River Steamboat Company and the Weems Steamboat Company. A new subsiderary of the Railroad was incorporated, the Maryland, Delaware and Virginia Railroad Company (MD&V), to manage and operate the acquisition. Included in the transaction were the Weems steamers ST. MARY’S, WESTMORELAND, LANCASTER, POTOMAC, ESSEX, CAROLINE, NORTHUMBERLAND, MIDDLESEX, CALVERT, and ANNE ARUNDEL. Also acquired were the steamers GRATITUDE, CORSICA, EMMA A. FORD AND B. S. FORD of the Chester River Steamboat Company and the Queen Anne’s Railrod network on the Eastern Shore. Used for excursions from Suffolk, VA to Jamestown, VA. Rammed and sank by the steamer Cambridge in April 1914. Sold to private interests in 1914. Severely damaged in collision with sunken barge in Norfolk Harbor in July 1924. Sank, refloated and repaired. 200 passengers rescued.
Disposition: Sold to private interests in Cuba in 1926.
