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ALEXANDER HAMILTON
Built Sparrows Point, Md., 1924 Length, 339 ft. 2,367 tons
Anyone wanting to ride a sidewheel steamboat on tidewater today must take the
A lexander Hamilton, one of the last two boats of the Hudson River Day Line and
one of only three passenger sidewheelers left in service in the United States. She
now runs only in summer, mainly between New York and Poughkeepsie. The
Alexander Hamilton is marked as a Hudson Day Boat by her long pointed bow with
its three tiers of open decks. Her broad superstructure tapers to a narrow stern,
and the position of her funnels aft of amidships shows that her boilers are aft of her
machinery. These are inclined eng hich require no walking beam, because the
slanted pistons are connected directly to the wheel shaft. The Alexander Hamilton
contrasts sharply with the only other active American sidewheelers, the Mississippi
excursion boats Admiral and President. Their bows and sterns are wide and rounded,
their stacks far forward, and their horizontal engines well aft.
EDWARD 0. CLARK
