Chesapeake 1880 by Ken Rossignol

Author:Ken Rossignol [Rossignol, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Huggins Point Publishing LLC
Published: 2014-12-12T00:00:00+00:00

Kecoughtan ties up at Virginia landing.

Steamer Chesapeake

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Competition

Old Bay Line continued to have tough competition on the Washington D.C. runs though it was dominant in the middle and upper Bay.

My four main competitors were the Inland and Seaboard Coasting Company, the Clyde Line, Washington Steamship Company Ltd. And the Potomac Steamboat Company. My brother William’s line, the Norfolk, and Baltimore Company was larger than Old Bay and for good reason – it was Williams sole project and he grew it well.

The Inland and Seaboard ran the John Gibson and E. C. Knight on the New York run. The Knight was lost in a collision with a schooner near Hog Island and the following year the New York run was simply abandoned and the Gibson sold in 1884.

The older vessels of the Inland and Seaboard, the Lady of the Lake and the Jane Mosely were still on the run to Norfolk from Washington until 1892. With a heavy investment into palatial steamers by the Norfolk and Washington Steamboat Company, those vessels were soon unable to compete and sought routes where they could do business. The John W. Thompson was the flagship of Inland and Seaboard Coasting until the line was closed, and then the ship was sold to E. S. Randall and renamed the Harry Randall.

The Old Bay Line began to see serious completion by 1900 as some lines consolidated and others went out of business. The Clyde Line had begun operations with the side-wheeler Sue in 1878 and stopped at all the river landings between Washington and Baltimore. The Sue was soon purchased by Charles Lewis, who owned the John E. Taggart and then sold out the bustling Weems Line.

The Weems Line was out to be the principal competition with Old Bay Line. With its new Northumberland placed into service, replacing its iron screw Potomac, and adding the Anne Arundel and then the Three Rivers, each upgrade meant more competition for the passenger trade and larger cargo holds to pick up the freight business.

By 1906, the Chesapeake and Potomac Steamboat Company had acquired the Randall Line and changed the name of the Harry Randall to the Capital City.

George E. Mattingly was a shrewd operator of steamships and owned the Potomac Steamboat Company. His ships, the Excelsior and George Leary and his line were taken over by the Norfolk and Washington Steamboat Company in 1891. The Excelsior had been built for the purpose of moving railroad cars across Aquia Creek for the connection between Richmond and Washington. Picking up passengers from Washington to Quantico until the railroad bridges were completed was an important part of their business.

As the turn of the century approached, the competition for Old Bay Line had grown to new levels, making it tough to see the profits as in earlier years.

The Norfolk and Washington Steamboat Company began operations in 1891 the screw steamers Washington and Norfolk were like floating palaces. In 1895, the company inaugurated the even larger Newport News; in 1905 the Southland and in 1912 the Northland entered service on the Chesapeake.

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