Brooklyn Eagle/1895/The Sloop Emperor

The Sloop Emperor. The Story of a Stanch and True Old Boat. (Special to the Eagle) Port Jefferson, Long Island; February 10, 1895. The sloop Emperor rides peacefully at anchor in Port Jefferson bay for the sixty-sixth winter. This once famous old craft has an interesting record extending back to the good old days when such property was considered valuable, and a person with ready cash was always eager to invest it in such a boat. The Emperor has always proved a money maker from the day she was launched. She was sold last summer, with all her sails, rigging, etc., complete, it is said, for an even hundred dollar. Her usual good luck went with her, for the purchaser cleared that amount on the first trip she made. The sloop has always been a flyer and, even up to this time, has never been beaten by any sailing vessel of her dimensions. For many years the boat ran as a packet between Port Jefferson and New York, and at that time was the only means of communication with the metropolis, with the exception of a stage coach which made weekly trips and carried the mail. At that time it is said there was not a mile of railroad track on Long Island. When the Emperor was first built and placed on the line she was considered as great an innovation as the railroad which came later. Sail would be set at Port Jefferson bay at 10 o'clock in tho morning, and with a good stiff breeze the boat would be alongside of her wharf in New York long before the sun went down. Not only freight was carried but also many passengers. Travel in those days was cheaper than at the present time. The fare on the packet was 50 cents, while those who dined at the captain's table were charged a shilling a meal. In the spring of 1828, Captain Caleb Kinner of Port Jefferson, contracted with Messrs. Zephaniah and Israel Hallock, ship builders of Derby, Connecticut, to build him a sloop. The firm was instructed to build a vessel which would prove to be a fast one. How well they succeeded is shown by the Emperor's record. At this time Elisha Bayles was the boss caulker on Long Island, and of course was sent for by the Messrs. Hallock to work on the new sloop. Elisha, with his son Alfred and brother Lloyd, embarked in a yawl boat and together rowed the Long Island sound and up the Housatonic river to Derby, a distance of forty miles. They caulked and rigged the sloop and assisted with the launching. It was taken at once to Port Jefferson and placed on the route as a packet, where it remained for 30 years. Four years later, when cholera became epidemic in New York it was necessary to make extra trips in order to accommodate the many extra passengers who were fleeing from the city. Many times the Emperor had sixty passengers on board and all were obliged to find accommodation in a cabin twenty-feet square.