by Maeve Carey-Kozlark, Glucksman Ireland House, New York University

© Maeve Carey-Kozlark 2024. All rights reserved.

The Adirondack was a steam packet ship completed in 1838 by Byrnes, Trimble, & Company; a shipping line based between New York and Fredericksburg, Virginia that, until the early 1830s, primarily dealt with the transport of flour and grain from the Chesapeake Bay region.[1] The largest of Brynes, Trimble, & Co.’s fleet at just shy of 700 tons, The Adirondack saw its first arrival to New York on August 2, 1839 and appears to have made two regular round-trip voyages between New York and Liverpool (with the exception of one voyage from London in 1848) each year until its final arrival in New York on November 12, 1849. Another passenger steamship by the same name began departing Glasgow for New York in 1854, but it is difficult to discern whether this was the same ship based on the records available (much less what may have accounted for this five-year gap in service).

Between 1848 and 1852, passenger ships completed the journey between Liverpool and New York in an average of 33.3 days.[4] Per period newspapers, The Adirondack made this voyage as much as 85% faster–or just 18 days–as early as 1846.[5] Advertised as a “Magnificent First Class ship” with several types of staterooms, little can be discerned about the day-to-day conditions for lower-class passengers on board; however, advertisements mention several provisions of “one pound of good American Biscuit or Flour and three quarts of water per day” or second-class and steerage passengers.[6] The ship saw at least four captains during its tenure: brothers N. & J Cummins, William Hackstaff, and Thomas Shipley.[7]

Per auction listings for a number of his personal effects, Captain William G. Hackstaff (1795-1869) “had a long and illustrious career as a packet ship captain plying the Atlantic,” noting that he was “clearly very popular, as a group of his passengers took out an advert in the Liverpool General Advisor in 1826 to thank him for the way they had been treated during their ‘boisterous passage”; he was later elected into and honored by the Marine Society of New York for having never lost a ship across his entire career. At the time of his retirement in 1851, Hackstaff made at least 54 recorded voyages between New York and Liverpool and an additional three between New York and Le Havre, France before retiring and moving from New York to Middletown, Connecticut, where he served as an alderman until four years before his death in 1869.[8]

Among the passengers on The Adirondack’s third journey from Liverpool, arriving in New York on July 27, 1840, were Ellen and John Baggin of 287 Plymouth St. in Irishtown (listed in Emigrant Savings Bank Records as “Began”) originally from Derrintonney, Co. Monaghan.[9] The Baggin couple (both b. 1813), in addition to two travel companions Rosain (b. 1830) and Mary (b. 1839 – relation unknown, as bank records indicate no children) were one of 200 listed passengers on their particular voyage.[10] It appears that this may have placed The Adirondack, which primarily carried packages and mail––per a number of records citing the ship as the source of news between New York, Liverpool, and, by extension, Ireland––near its passenger capacity, as most manifests list between 50-70 individuals.[11]

[1] Across the Oceans: Development of Overseas Business Information Transmission 1815-1875 pg. 41

[2] New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, via AncestryLibrary, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/7488/?f-Self-Travel-Ship=Adirondack

[3] See footnote 2.

[4] George Rogers Taylor, The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860, 110. Via https://ethnic-village.org/leaving-ireland/emigration-aboard-the-henry-clay-1845-1853/#_ednref12

[5] Irish Examiner, Feb 13 1846 (image below); bio of Capt. William Hackstaff per https://www.bada.org/object/silver-goblet-presented-captain-w-g-hackstaff-1830

[6] Irish Examiner, Feb 13 1846; Nation Aug 31 1844

[7] Irish Examiner, Feb 13 1846 (image below); Nation Aug 31 1844

[8] The British Antique Dealers Association, “A silver goblet presented to Captain W. G. Hackstaff, 1830,” via https://www.bada.org/object/silver-goblet-presented-captain-w-g-hackstaff-1830

[9] New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, via AncestryLibrary; Adirondack, July 27, 1840, pg. 3. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/7488/images/NYM237_43-0151?treeid=&personid=&rc=&queryId=de276380-1c22-45f8-8b0a-adfc1e7299a3&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Xwj156&_phstart=successSource&pId=1022644964

[10] See footnote 2.

[11] Examples: Kilkenny Moderator 1814-1840, Wednesday, September 16, 1840; https://immigrantships.net/v2/1800v2/adirondack18420225.html; 48 ticketed passengers, no births or deaths