Carlisle, the town, is widely known. Its place in history is secured by the accomplishments of many famous residents, institutions and events. It has earned many accolades over the centuries but there is one unique honor bestowed upon the community that is little known and that is the fact that the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad named one of their tugboats Carlisle. That fact never seems to have entered the collective memory of the town. There are several reasons this was the case: the tugboats christening took place on the day of the death of President McKinley in September 1901; the ceremony was held in Philadelphia and was attended by a few of Carlisle’s citizenry and after that, possibly no one from Carlisle ever actually saw the tugboat in person. This narrative will provide an overview of the boat, a brief history of the company that built it, an overview of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad’s maritime operations and the ceremonial events attached to its launch.
Construction of the steel, sea-going tug was announced in the New York Times on December 19, 1900. At the time it was reported the tug would be named Carlisle and that it would be used by the Philadelphia and Reading Transportation Line between Port Richmond (Philadelphia) and New England. The construction contract was awarded to the Neafie and Levy Ship and Engine Building Company and the boat was to be 170 feet in length, 29 feet beam (wide) and 15 feet draught (below the water line) when loaded.
Neafie and Levy, was located along the Delaware River in Philadelphia just south of Port Richmond. Established in 1844, it is described as the first American company to combine the building of iron ships with the manufacture of steam engines used to power them. It eventually became a builder of small, high quality steam yachts and tugs. One of its better known boats was J.P. Morgan’s yacht, Corsair II, built by them in 1890. The company ceased operations in September 1908. Its works, located on the Delaware River, later became the site of a power plant, now idle.
The Carlisle was owned and operated by the Philadelphia and Reading Transportation Line, which was in turn owned by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company. The company provided the distribution system for the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company. The coal company owned extensive mining operations in the anthracite regions, centered in Schuylkill and surrounding counties and the railroad conveyed coal to Philadelphia and other regional markets. As production increased the company sought to expand its market share by shipping coal to New England and other ports on the eastern seaboard. Because water shipments were cheaper than rail shipments and to eliminate as many middlemen as possible the Reading chose to use marine transport.
The Reading built rail-to-marine transfer facilities in Philadelphia at Port Richmond, and by 1851 more than a million tons of anthracite were being shipped from the company’s piers annually. By 1858 they had eighteen piers in operation capable of loading ninety vessels simultaneously. The same facility in 1874, operating from twenty-one wharves could load 175 ships.
The company experienced difficulty obtaining sufficient vessels to ship its coal and eventually purchased their own steamers. By 1874 they were operating fourteen steam ‘colliers’ and 121 schooners and barges. The colliers were small boats that carried limited tonnage and by 1897 the Reading began to replace them with tug boats and barges. A single tug could pull three or four barges, increasing the payload per trip.
The advancement of civilization demands a full development of the minds of our girls. The day when the boy is to be educated and the girl neglected has, like other relics of barbarism, passed into history.