West Street Foundry
# West Street Foundry

The West Street Foundry was an American steam engineering works notable for producing marine steam engines in the mid-19th century. Based in Brooklyn, New York, the company built at least 27 marine engines between 1845 and 1855, including engines for some of the fastest and finest steamboats of the era. The company also built and repaired steam engines and boilers of all types, as well as doing other metalwork. The company failed and was liquidated in 1855.

## History

The earliest known records of the West Street Foundry, also known at this time as Howell & Coffee, date to 1839. Principals of the firm were Joseph E. Coffee, then a 28-year-old engineer, and Maelzaer Howell. With Howell's death in 1842, Coffee became sole proprietor, and would continue his association with the firm throughout its history. Coffee's younger brother, George Wayne Coffee, was also an engineer and an associate of the firm. The business was located on the northwest corner of West and Beach Streets, Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to marine engines, the company built stationary steam engines, and built and repaired both marine and stationary boilers as well as doing a variety of other metalwork. The company also bought and sold steamboats on commission, and sometimes offered steamboats in its possession for excursions or charter. The foundry's services were advertised as far afield as Alabama.

By 1850, the company had been acquired by Wilson Small, a prominent figure in the New York branch of the Democratic Party, with Coffee remaining as superintendent and agent. The company had 140 employees in 1850; by 1851 this number had risen to 200.

The foundry is known to have built the engines for at least 27 steam vessels, though more are likely unaccounted for. Among the more notable vessels powered by West Street Foundry engines were Santa Claus and Mountaineer—two Hudson River passenger steamboats noted for their speed—and State of Maine and Daniel Webster, both considered on debut to be the finest and fastest steamboats in Maine coastal service.

Wilson Small was forced to make an assignment of the business in 1855. He subsequently joined the civil service, while Coffee established a new steam engineering works in Keyport, New Jersey.

### About the proprietors

Joseph Ellis Coffee was born in Philadelphia on December 27, 1811. After training as an engineer and serving as a principal of the West Street Foundry until its closure, he established a new business offering similar services in Keyport, New Jersey, near the steamboat landing. The location was close to the shipyard of Benjamin C. Terry, with whom Coffee and Small had a longstanding business relationship; Coffee sometimes supervised the construction of steamers at Terry's yard, and Small was the original owner of at least seven vessels built there. In later years, Coffee served as Chief of Bureau of Steam with New York's Metropolitan Police.

Coffee was a director and later vice-president of the Mechanics' Institute of New York, and a director of the Brooklyn Fire Insurance Company. He died December 5, 1869, at the age of 58, and is buried at Green Grove Cemetery, Keyport.

Wilson Small was born in New York City on February 13, 1810. Entering the workforce at the age of twelve, he trained as a jeweller, continuing in the trade until the panic of 1837. A growing engagement with politics led him to stand for political office, and he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1846 and 1847. Later, he served as president of New York City's Tenth Ward. Following the failure of the West Street Foundry, Small joined the civil service, and subsequently obtained a variety of government positions. He was a Sachem and later, the longterm Sagamore of Tammany Hall, and a Grand Master of the Odd Fellows. He died October 21, 1886.

## Production table

The following table lists marine steam engines known to have been built by the West Street Foundry; the list is likely incomplete.

Marine steam engines built by the West Street Foundry :

| Ship | Ship | Ship | Ship | Ship | Ship | Ship | Engine | Engine | Engine | Engine | Ship notes; references |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Name | Type | Yr. | Builder | Tons | Original owner and/or operator | Intended service | Type | # | Cyl. (ins) | Str. (ft) | Ship notes; references |
| NaushonNewsboy $^{48}Naushon$ $^{51}$ | Steamboat | 1845 | W. &. T. Collyer | 230 | New Bedford & Martha's Vineyard SBC | New England | Ch | 1 | 34 | 8 | New Bedford, MA – Vineyard Haven, 1845–48; mail steamer, New York Harbor, 1848–50; Coney Island ferry, 1850–62; animal carcass transport, NY Harbor, 1862-79; broken up 1880. |
| Santa ClausA. B. Valentine $^{69}$ | Steamboat | 1845 | W. & T. Collyer | 385 | E. Fitch & Co. | Hudson River | VB | 1 | 42 | 10 | Fast boat. Kingston/Rondout – New York City and Albany – NYC. Converted to towboat 1855, rebuilt 1869, broken up 1901. |
| Mountaineer | Steamboat | 1846 | William H. Brown | 513 | Isaac Newton | Hudson River | VB | 1 | 54 | 11 | Fast boat. Peekskill – New York City 1846, later NYC – Bridgeport, CT. Stranded and wrecked off Cape Henlopen, Delaware Bay, 1850. |
| State of MaineSan Pelayo $^{71}$ | Steamboat | 1848 | Bishop & Simonson | 806 | Penobscot SNC | New England | VB | 1 | 54 | 11 | Largest, fastest and finest steamer in Maine coastal service when new. Boston—Bangor, ME, 1848; Fall River, MA—NYC 1849–60; hospital boat, USQMD and US Sanitary Commission, 1861–65; excursion boat, New York, postwar; sold for Cuban service, 1871; subsequent disposition unknown. |
| George W. Coffee | Steamboat | 1848 | (Jersey City, NJ) | 177 | O. B. Hilliard | South Carolina | | | | | Built to run from Charleston to Sullivan's Island. Destroyed by fire, 1865. |
| Niagara | Ferry | 1849 | Perine, Patterson & Stack | 411 | Williamsburg FC | East River | VB | 1 | 38 | 9 | Sold to Erie Railroad, ca. 1860; destroyed by fire in alleged arson attack, 1868. |
| Oneota | Ferry | 1849 | Perine, Patterson & Stack | 411 | Williamsburg FC | East River | VB | 1 | 38 | 9 | Sold to U.S. govt., 1863. |
| Oneida | Ferry | 1849 | Perine, Patterson & Stack | 313 | Williamsburg FC | East River | VB | 1 | 32 | 8 | Abandoned 1876. |
| A. H. Schultz | Steamboat | 1850 | | 164 | Wilson Small | | | 1 | 24 | 6 | |
| Sea Witch | Steamship | 1850 | | | G. W. Coffee | California | VB | 1 | 40 | 9 | |
| Independence | Steamship | 1850 | William H. Brown | 600 | Independent Line | San Francisco | | 1 | 42 | 9 | San Francisco – San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Wrecked, Santa Margarita Island, Mexico, 1853. |
| Canada | Ferry | 1851 | Perine, Patterson & Stack | 338 | Williamsburg FC | East River | VB | 1 | 32 | 9 | Abandoned, 1876. |
| Wilson Small | Steamboat | 1851 | Isaac C. Smith | 258 | | NYC–New Jersey | | | | | Sunk in collision with steamer Mary Augusta off Poplar Island, Maryland, 1867, 2–3 killed. Steamer later raised, wreck sold at auction 1867. |
| Golden Gate | Steamboat | 1852 | Isaac C. Smith | 170 | Middletown & Shrewsbury S&TC | NYC–New Jersey | | 1 | | | Sold USQMD, 1863; returned to merchant service 1867. Out of documentation ca. 1880. |
| Junior | Steamboat | 1852 | John Terry | 204 | Capt. Joe Armstrong | Mobile Bay | VB | 1 | 28 | 6 | Last enrolment 1856. |
| UnderwriterUSS Underwriter $^{61}$ | Steamship | 1852 | (Brooklyn, NY) | 341 | | | | 1 | 48 | 9 | USN gunboat, 1861–64. Captured and burned by Confederate troops, 1864. |
| | Steamboat | 1852 | | | Capt. Baldwin | | | 1 | 28 | 7 | "Built at Astoria". |
| | Steamer | 1852 | | | | | | 1 | 32 | 9 | "[F]or parties south". |
| Cornelia | Steamboat | 1853 | Isaac C. Smith | 250 | Wilson Small | | | 1 | 28 | 6 | |
| Alice C. Price | Steamboat | 1853 | W. Collyer | 283 | Red Bank SBC | NYC–New Jersey | | 1 | 32 | 10 | USQMD 1863; sunk by Confederate torpedo (ie mine), St. John's River, Florida, 1864. |
| Thomas G. Haight | Steamboat | 1853 | Benjamin C. Terry | 256 | Red Bank SBC | NYC–New Jersey | | 1 | 28 | 8 | NYC – New Jersey, 1853–55; St. John's River, FL, 1855–56; destroyed by fire Savannah, GA, 1856. |
| Peter G. CoffinAlexis $^{71}Riverdale$ $^{79}$ | Steamboat | 1853 | Isaac C. Smith | 350 | | Hudson River | VB | 1 | 34 | 10 | Ran on Hudson River for entire career. Nyack – Albany, later Nyack – NYC. Lengthened 1865, rebuilt and lengthened 1871. Wrecked by boiler explosion, 6+ killed, 1883. |
| Daniel WebsterDaniel Webster No. 2 $^{62}Expounder$ $^{62}Daniel$ Webster $^{64}Saguenay$ $^{72}$ | Steamboat | 1853 | Samuel Sneden | 630 | Maine SNC | New England | VB | 1 | 52 | 11 | Largest, fastest and finest steamer in Maine coastal service when new. Portland, ME – Bangor, ME, 1853–61. USQMD troop transport and Sanitary Commission hospital boat (intermittently), 1861–65. Boston – Bath, ME, 1864–66. Baltimore, MD – West Point, VA, 1871–72. Excursion boat, Quebec, Canada, 1872–84. Burned and sank, Pointe au Pic, Quebec, Canada, 1884. |
| | Towboat | 1853 | | | Capt. David Cox | | | 1 | 28 | 6 | |
| Washington | Ferry | 1854 | John Crawford | 435 | Peoples FC | Boston | Inc | 1 | 38 | 9 | Boston – E. Boston, 1854–62. Lengthened and rebuilt 1864 and readmeasured at 618 tons. Cleared New York for Shanghai, China, in 1864 but sold instead at Rio de Janeiro; subsequent disposition unknown. |
| John Adams | Ferry | 1854 | Benjamin C. Terry | 465 | Peoples FC | Boston | | | | | Boston – E. Boston, 1854–62; US Army transport, 1862–65; returned to merchant service, Boston – E. Boston, 1867–76; Hudson River etc. service, 1876–88; destroyed by fire, Port Richmond, NY, 1889. |
| Jefferson | Ferry | 1854 | Joseph Beers | 443 | Peoples FC | Boston | | | | | Boston – E. Boston, 1854–64; USQMD 1864–65; returned to merchant service, Boston – E. Boston, 1867–74; converted to barge, 1874; struck and sank 1877. |

## Footnotes

* ↑ See table.
* ↑ For example, Small was the original owner of seven steamboats built in Keyport, New Jersey, by Benjamin C. Terry, and Joseph E. Coffee's brother, George Wayne Coffee, also ordered a steamer, named Joseph E. Coffee, from Terry; the engine builder for none of these steamers is known.
* 1 2 Ringwald cites a contemporaneous newspaper report favorably mentioning Santa Claus' speed; according to another such report, Santa Claus and Niagara were the two fastest boats on the New York to Albany route in 1845. The fact that Santa Claus operated for some years on this highly competitive route is further evidence of her speed.
* ↑ While the reasons for the failure are not known, it coincided with a prolonged shipbuilding slump.
* ↑ Coffee's son, Joseph E. Coffee Jr., was also a police engineer.
* ↑ Not to be confused with the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, later known as the Mechanics' Institute.
* ↑ Ridgely gives erroneous dates for Small's election wins.
* ↑ Name=name of ship. Where a ship had more than one name in the course of its career, the later names are presented in chronological order, with each name followed by a two-digit number (in superscript) representing the last two digits of the year in which the rename took place (where known).
* ↑ Type of ship. The generic term "steamer" is used when it is not known whether the vessel was a steamship or steamboat.
* ↑ Year of ship launch where known; otherwise year of completion.
* ↑ The shipbuilder. Where the shipbuilder is not known, the place where the ship was built, where known, is substituted (in parentheses).
* ↑ Gross register tonnage. Source for most tonnages is the Lytle-Holdcamper List, which provides the original official tonnages. These may differ to some degree from those cited in contemporaneous newspaper reports, as the latter were often estimates made before the official measurement.
* ↑ Original owner and/or operator of the ship or their agent. Contemporaneous newspaper sources rarely state to which category a named party belongs, though other sources may provide clarification. Abbreviations: FC = Ferry Company; SBC = Steamboat Company; SNC = Steam Navigation Company; S&TC = Steamboat & Transportation Company.
* ↑ Engine type abbreviations: Ch = crosshead; VB = vertical beam; Inc = inclined.
* 1 2 3 Five ferryboats—Oneota, Onalaska, Niagara, Oneida and Seneca—were built for the Williamsburg Ferry Company in 1849, three of which had engines built by the West Street Foundry and two with engines by George Birbeck Jr. The two ferries with Birbeck engines were Onalaska and Seneca; therefore the three ferries with West Street Foundry engines were Niagara, Oneota and Oneida.
* 1 2 The other part of the article can be found at the bottom of the same page, which is at a different url.
* ↑ Crawford was a master builder at Benjamin C. Terry's shipyard, where the ferry was built.
* ↑ Beers was a master builder at Benjamin C. Terry's shipyard, where the ferry was built.
