Clara Clarita was a fast screw steamer originally built as a luxury steam yacht for New York City financier Leonard Jerome (grandfather of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill). On her trial trip, Clara Claritas original engine proved so ineffective it was removed before the vessel entered service and replaced by machinery from a different supplier. Jerome sold the yacht after only a short time and she was converted into a towboat, becoming the fastest such vessel in New York Harbor, before being converted into a fireboat in the same locality.
In the 1870s, Clara Clarita underwent a third conversion, into a passenger steamer, in which role she set an all-time speed record for a steamer on Penobscot Bay. Her final conversion was into an oceangoing tug, some time after which her crew and captain were presented with a heroism award for a rescue at sea. The vessel was abandoned in 1908 after a long and varied 44-year career.
Construction and design
Clara Clarita was built for Leonard Jerome in 1864 at Williamsburg, New York by Lawrence & Foulks,"Mr. Jerome's Yacht", Scientific American, New Series, Volume 11, Issue 7, p. 106, 13 August 1864. a company with a reputation for building fast and elegant steamers.Morrison 1909, p. 163. Her construction was supervised throughout by W. W. Vanderbilt, Chief Engineer of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The vessel was named after Leonard Jerome's wife Clara and/or his daughter Clarita, also known as Clara.
Clara Claritas frames and outer planking were of white oak, the latter inches thick. The cabin hatches and combings above deck were mahogany, "plainly but beautifully finished". The vessel was in length along the keel, and on deck, with a beam of and hold depth of . She had a high bow, two raking masts, schooner-rigged, and a single raked smokestack. For protection, she was armed with two steel 12-pounder (5.4 kg) Wiard boat howitzers with brass carriages. Overall, she was described as a vessel "of an exquisite model, every graceful line proclaiming her speed."Day, p. 92.
Interior
Clara Claritas interior was designed by one of America's leading ship joiners, William Rowland,"The Clara Clarita Controversy", The New York Times, 10 February 1864. the "Lorenzo Ghiberti" of his trade.Swann, p. 56. Below deck, the steamer contained sleeping berths, two cabins, one forward and one aft, a pantry and "a dainty little wash-room aft". The panelwork in the after cabin was white with "faint pink tints" and gold highlights, while the forward cabin was "handsomely furnished". The berths were fringed with green silk curtains lined with canary-yellow satin, and a black walnut beaufet held the silverware.
In her memoirs, Jerome's daughter Jennie (later Lady Randolph Churchill and the mother of Sir Winston Churchill) recalled the "dismay" on her mother's face when she first saw the ship's extravagant velvet and silver fittings, installed as a result of the free rein extended by Jerome to the upholsterer.Churchill, p. 43. Total cost of the vessel was $125,000 ().
Original engine controversy
While Clara Clarita was under construction, Jerome was persuaded by a number of acquaintances to avail himself of the services of E. N. Dickerson, a prominent patent lawyer with some novel engineering ideas. Impressed by Dickerson's claim that he could adapt an ordinary land engine to power Clara Clarita, saving both space and weight at no cost in performance, Jerome decided to hire him."Mr. E. N. Dickerson and the Steam Yacht Clara Clarita: Note From the Owner of the Yacht", The New York Times, 6 February 1864.
For the adaptation, Dickerson purchased a $5,000, stationary horizontal engine, with a cylinder and stroke, built by the Fishkill Landing Machine Works."Local Intelligence: The Metropolitan Fair", The New York Times, 26 April 1864. Dickerson took eight months to adapt the engine to the yacht, at an overall cost of $16,178.08. On Clara Claritas trial trip, Dickerson's engine adaptation proved a complete failure. After Dickerson failed to return to rectify the problems, Jerome hired two qualified engineers, who, after another trial, agreed that the machinery was unfit for service.
Because Dickerson was also known for his vocal criticism of the Chief of the US Navy's Bureau of Steam Engineering, Benjamin Isherwood, whose warship engine designs for the ongoing Civil War Dickerson claimed were slow and inefficient,"Mr. Dickerson and Engineering: Note from Mr. E. N. Dickerson", The New York Times, 13 February 1864.Bennett, pp. 517-526. the failure of Clara Claritas engine soon came to public attention. After Dickerson was perceived to be attempting to shift the blame to others for the failure of his engine adaptation in a letter to The New York Times, his claims were rebuffed in the pages of the Times by several parties, including Jerome himself. Jerome described Clara Claritas initial trial trip in the following terms:
We started from the Continental Works down the river. The day was fine, everything was in order, the model of the boat was pronounced perfection, and we started off with flying colors.
Her machinery alone remained to be tried. To the best of my recollection we made one mile and a quarter in just two hours and a half. It was ... a brief if not a pleasant trip, to all on board—including myself—especially considering that I had waited eight months for the adaptation of this machinery. I could have had fifty engines built during this time notwithstanding the "Government pressure". We should have proceeded further down the river, but at Corlear's Hook we were driven back—by the tide.
Jerome's account, including his cited average speed of only , was corroborated by two further letters to the Times, from E. Riggs and Clara Claritas commander, Captain Alex Smith. In his response, also published in the Times, Dickerson did not deny the abysmal performance of his engine adaptation, confining his comments instead to a denial of the charge that he had lied in his previous letter. The spectacular failure of the engine was not lost on Dickerson's enemies in the Navy Department, some of whom quickly published a satirical piece on him entitled Uncle Samuel's Whistle And What It Costs.Weir. The piece was later reproduced in Frank M. Bennett's book The Steam Navy of the United States.Bennett, pp. 919–948.
Re-engine
After the failure of Dickerson's engine, Jerome went to a leading marine engineering firm, the Novelty Iron Works of New York, for a replacement. The Novelty Works supplied a pair of single-cylinder, inverted direct-acting engines with bore and stroke, designed by J. V. Holmes and built under the supervision of W. W. Vanderbilt. The engines, described as "beautiful specimens of workmanship", were made more compact by the use of the engines' frame as the surface condenser, while the air-pump gearing was arranged to balance the moving parts. The engines operated a single four-bladed iron screw propeller, with a diameter of and pitch of .
In a new trial trip on 28 July 1864, the engines attained a rate of 96 rpm, equivalent to about , while maintaining a "remarkably smooth and regular" action. It was noted however that the engines could be expected to "run much faster" in future.
Service history Jerome ownership, 1864–65
In July 1865, about a year after Jerome took possession of Clara Clarita, a public clamour arose for the repair of the Gulf of St. Lawrence submarine telegraph cable, linking Newfoundland with the North American mainland, in time for the arrival of a new telegraph cable then being laid between Great Britain and Newfoundland by the steamship . Jerome decided to make Clara Clarita available for the task."Mr. Leonard W. Jerome and His Yacht Clara Clarita", The New York Times, 20 July 1865.
Accordingly, Clara Clarita departed New York with two cable experts and their assistants on 23 July,"Naval Items", The New York Times, 24 July 1865. arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 28th, having shown herself on the voyage to be "an excellent sea-boat"."Arrival of the Clara Clarita at Halifax", The New York Times, 29 July 1865."The Clara Clarita", The New York Times, 25 July 1865. At Halifax, some brief preparations were made before the vessel continued on to Aspy Bay on Cape Breton Island, where the cable retrieval operation began."Local and Other Matters", Morning Chronicle, p. 2, 29 July 1865. Clara Claritas return was awaited with great anticipation, but when she finally arrived in the port of North Sydney, Nova Scotia on 11 August, it was with the disappointing news that the cable was damaged beyond repair."The St. Lawrence Cable Gone", The New York Times, 12 August 1865. Clara Clarita returned to New York a few days later via Newport, Rhode Island."The Yacht Clara Clarita at Newport", The New York Times, 17 August 1865.
Jerome's enthusiasm for yachting is said to have been considerably dampened by his experiences with Clara Clarita.Clews, p. 669. In early November, after owning the vessel for only some 20 months, he sold her to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for use as a towboat."Sale of the Yacht Clara Clarita", The New York Times, 11 November 1865.
New York towboat and fireboat, 1865–early 1870s
Clara Clarita was converted into a towboat at Novelty Iron Works, after which, Pacific Mail employed her to tow its Atlantic Line vessels in and out of dock. In her new role, Clara Clarita soon established a reputation for herself as the fastest towboat in New York Harbor. In May 1870, the vessel was listed as a $30,000 asset in a Pacific Mail report.Dana, p. 65.
Clara Clarita came into the possession of the New York Harbor Protective Company in 1870, when she was converted into a fireboat."United States District Court—In Admiralty" (pdf), The New York Times, 25 October 1871. In August 1870, Clara Clarita was towing a burning ferryboat out of harm's way when the tow rope burned through, allowing the ferry to collide with a schooner and set it on fire. In a later landmark ruling, the courts ruled that although the damage was caused by the ferry not the tug, and regardless of whether or not the schooner was anchored improperly, the tug was still at fault through negligently using a rope rather than a chain to tow the ferry.Canfield, p. 166.Farwell, pp. 233-235.
Passenger steamer, 1870s
By 1873, Clara Clarita had undergone another conversion, to a passenger steamboat, although she retained the heavy brass fire monitors from her fireboat days. At this time, she was acquired by the Fox Island and Rockland Steamboat Company of Maine as competition for a rival steamer Ulysses, which had proven faster than the company's existing steamer Pioneer on the Vinalhaven to Rockland route. Clara Clarita quickly drove the challenger away with her superior speed, and as long as she remained on the route, was a popular vessel among passengers. Her owners, however, considered her a "coal hog" and soon replaced her with a more economical vessel. In this period of her career, Clara Clarita recorded the fastest ever time by a steamer across Penobscot Bay.Richardson, pp. 73-75.
Maine tugboat, 1880s–1897
By the mid-1880s, Clara Clarita had passed into the hands of the Knickerbocker Steam Towage Company and been converted into an oceangoing tug. Along with Ice King, Clara Clarita was one of the company's largest tugs."Bath Locals", Lewiston Evening Journal, p. 2, 20 July 1885.