Captain William Vaughan and the steamboat Martha Ogden

 

 Captain William Vaughan (Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812 by Benson J. Lossing)

         The old Vaughan home at Sackets Harbor.

    Monuments  to  Captain Vaughan and his wife in Lakeside Cemetery, Sackets Harbor. 

(caption) Painting of first battle of Sackets Harbor

Captain William Vaughan and the Steamboat Martha Ogden

by Richard F. Palmer

   Captain William Vaughan was born at Vicksburg, (also spelled Vixburg)  Pennsylvania on August 15, 1775,  son of Richard and Ellen Vaughan. They later lived in Wyalusing,  Pennsylvania. The family eventually moved to Oswego and  Sackets Harbor. William became one the earliest sailing masters on Lake Ontario. He also became a hero of the first battle of Sackets Harbor that occurred on July 19,1812. The house still stands on East Main Street.  He died in Sackets Harbor December 10, 1857 at the age of 81, leaving a widow, Abbey (McMullen) and several children. 

   Abbey recalled in 1867 that when he was two years old he and his mother fled “over the mountains. At the age of 18, he visited Canada. At that time the military posts on the northern frontier at Oswego, Carleton Island and what is now Ogdensburg were held by the British. This required having a passport to go from one American post to another on American soil. In 1797, after these posts were given up by the British, he engaged in lake navigation. 

   For many years he was a vessel pilot. He entered the U. S. Navy as sailing master on August 22, 1812. After the war he returned to the occupation of mariner and at different times was master of six steamboats on Lake Ontario. After 1850 he fell on the ice trying to rescue a man and two women from destruction by floating ice, He never recovered.  (1)

                                                      Vaughan’s Encounter with Provincial Marine

   This legandary story is told concerning Vaughan. The U.S. Navy had a heavy 32-pounder nicknamed  “Old Sow” because they had found it partially embedded in the mud along the lake shore in Oswego.  On June 18, 1812 the United States declared war on Great Britain.  The cannon was taken to Sackets Harbor  to arm the merchant schooner Julia for service as a gunboat. While negotiations were underway to purchase the Julia, the gun was mounted atop the cliff overlooking Black River Bay, later called Fort Tompkins.

  As an experienced Great Lakes pilot, on the morning of the first battle of Sackets Harbor, (first battle of that war) Vaughan had charge of this 32-pounder which had been removed from the brig Oneida. It was deemed  too large for it and it was mounted on a pivot carriage above the bluffs at the foot of Main Street. The first Battle of Sackets Harbor and the first of the War of 1812  on the Great Lakes occurred on July 19, 1812 when five Provincial Marine;; vessels moved in for an attack. Captain Vaughan’s gunners opened fire with the “Old Sow.” But the shot went wild because it was a 24-pound ball, wrapped in the petticoat belonging to Vaughan’s wife to make it fit. The incident drew a shout of derisive laughter from the British. 

   Standing off out of range of the Americans’ smaller guns, the enemy went into action. Most of their shots crashed against the rocks below the battery. But one, a 32-pound ball, came hurtling over the bluff, plowed a deep furrow in the ground. It came to rest at the feet of Sergeant Thomas Spicer, a local militiaman. Picking it up, he ran to Captain Vaughan and said, “See! I've been playing ball with the Redcoats and caught ‘em out. See if they can catch it back again!”

   In an instant Vaughan’s men rammed the ball down the throat of the “Old Sow.” It fit perfectly! As the flagship Royal George sailed in close to deliver a a broadside, the “Old Sow" roared. The 32-pound ball crashed through the stern of the  vessel,  raked her from end to end, killed 14 men and wounded 18 more. Vaughan, who had commanded the 32-pounder, claimed the honor of having fired the first hostile gun of the war. 

          Depiction of the first Battle of Sackets Harbor, July 19, 1812

                                                            (U.S. Navy)

  At a short range of 100 yards, a 32-pound iron cannonball could cause considerable damage and penetrate three feet of solid oak. Seeing the destruction this one shot wrought, the British commander gave the signal to retreat. As his ships veered off, a mighty shout arose from the shore. The Americans had the last laugh. The “Old Sow’s" one shot had saved Sackets Harbor. 

  The  Albany Gazette of July 23, 1812 recalled of this event:

   Action Upon Lake Ontario. - On Sunday the 19th ult. at 9 A.M. the Royal George, the Prince Regent and two brigs, entered Sackets Harbor, came within one and a half miles of the town and commenced an attack - and continued cannonade about one hour, during which time one ball only (a 32-pounder) reached the shore. The brig Oneida lay in shore, all the guns were unshipped and with two nine’s mounted upon a redoubt thrown up Friday and Saturday preceding by order of Major General Van Rensselaer. Two shot fro the nine’s hulled the Royal George - and carried away the foretop gallant-mast of the Prince Regent, when the British bore away.

   The British squadron had captured a revenue cutter, and sent the men ashore, with a message that unless the brig which had been taken by Captain Woolsey was immediately restored they would burn the town.

                        

                                             Loss of the Steamboat Martha Ogden

    Steamboat Martha Ogden in 1827. Painting by Captain James VanCleve.

  In the 19th century, Mexico Bay was known as the graveyard of ships on Lake Ontario. Prevailing winds from the west and northwest frequently sent scores of schooners and steamboats off course onto sandbars or rocks, victims of unmerciful wind and high waves. 

   Stony Point passage near the north end of Mexico Bay was particularly treacherous. Finally, in 1837 a light was established on the southwest tip of the point. The present, now privately-owned, lighthouse was built in 1869. But prior to lighthouses and the U.S. Lifesaving Service, seamen were “on their own,” except for a few merciful lakeshore residents willing to lend a hand. Lifeboats were furnished along Lake Ontario by the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service. (3)

   One such ill-fated vessel was the steamboat Martha Ogden, owned and home-ported at Sackets Harbor. She and her sister ship, the Ontario (the first steamboat on Lake Ontario) and the Sophia  comprised the fleet of the Lake Ontario Steamboat Co., incorporated January 28, 1831.   Over the years Vaughan was master of all three vessels, according to enrollment records. .  Directors were Joseph and Samuel Denison, Edward Bronson, Gerrit Smith, Elias Trowbridge, Theophilus S. Morgan, Richard L. DeZeng, Frederick Bushnell, Elisha Camp, Jacob Arnold, William Baron, John C. Bush and Thomas L. Ogden.

                                  Advertisement for the steamboats Martha Ogden and Ontario.

                                                           (Ontario Repository, Canandaigua,  October 5, 1825)

 Built by Albert Crane of Sackets Harbor and named for director Thomas L. Ogden's wife,  the steamer Martha Ogden was built in 1823.  Thus, she became the third American steamboat on Lake Ontario. It  measured 104' x 23' x 9' and registered at 150 tons. Machinery came from the Allaire Works of New York City, included a square-crosshead, low-pressure engine to power  the two 20-foot paddle wheels. She was rigged with two masts and three fore and aft sails. It was named for Ogden’s wife, the former Martha Hammond. The Ogdens are buried in  Saint Paul’s Chapel and Church Yard in New York City. (4)

   Captain Daniel Reed was in command on her first voyage, April 1, 1825.  Later he was succeeded by several others,  Captain William Vaughan being the last. It was said the Ogden had more “shear” than the Ontario, but otherwise was rigged the same. Usually during the season, these steamers made three weekly round trips a week between Lewiston and Ogdensburg, with stops at Rochester (Genesee River);  Oswego, Sackets Harbor, Kingston, Brockville, and Prescott. The fares were: $3 from Niagara to the Genesee River; $5 from there to Sackets Harbor; and $5 from there to Ogdensburg.  

During the winter of 1827-28, the Ogden’s engine was transferred to the steamboat Ontario at Hanford’s Landing, on the Genesee River near Rochester, and replaced by a high-pressure engine. The change did not prove a success.

    On the foggy day of October 8, 1830, shortly after Capt. James Van Cleve took command, the Martha Ogden and ran aground on Snake Island Shoal in the channel near Kingston. She was removed with no damage. 

   A story is told that in the early 1830s, Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),   boarded the Martha Ogden at the Port of Genesee (Rochester) with a box of  Books of Mormon which he intended to circulate in the Kingston area.

   On the same voyage was Charles Stuart Dickson, a young English gentleman, who claimed to be an illegitimate son of King George IV. Dickson had a striking resemblance to the monarch, which gave credence to his claim. Dickson and Captain Van Cleve decided to have a little fun with Mr. Smith by telling him that it was a criminal offense in Canada to sell his “Bibles.” Should he do so, he would surely get into serious trouble, and perhaps wind up in jail. They carried the point so far that poor Smith was glad to take his box of  copies of the Book of Mormon and return to Rochester. Van Cleve recalled:

   After doing the fair thing in the way of good cheer, he left for those parts where too many have been deluded by his pretended revelations.  (5)

   For several years the Martha Ogden led an uneventful existence,  plying between Lake Ontario ports with her human and freight cargoes,  being one of several steamers owned by the Dennisons of Sackets Harbor. One old-timer recalled in an interview with an Oswego Palladium reporter on March 25, 1876: 

She was a beauty in her day and quite speedy too. Speaking of the Ogden reminds me how her engineer, John Pheatt, an Oswego boy, was reinstated after he had been discharged. One day on the arrival of the steamer, Sam Denison sent word to John Pheatt he wanted to see him in the office. Pheatt had an inkling that his head was going to go into the basket, as an Albany engineer was hanging around, waiting, macabre like, for something to turn up. He was at work repacking his cylinders when the messenger arrived, but like a good engineer he put his engine together before leaving, first quietly slipping a heavy oak stick into the cylinders.

When Pheatt confronted Denison, he was informed that the Albany engineer had been hired in his place. Pheatt went home and the new engineer went aboard. Fires were started in the furnaces, steam was produced. Just before departing the engineer thought he would run the engine to familiarize himself with it. 

   Opening the throttle gradually, the steam rushed into the cylinder, the piston moved an inch or two, stopped, and although the full head of steam was turned on, refused to go to the center. 

   The new engineer examined all the bearings and joints but couldn’t discover anything wrong. Finally in despair, he informed the captain that the engine would not work. Although the new man did all in his power, the wheels would not revolve. The boat was loaded, the owner stormed about the wharf at the delay [but] the engine would not obey. Along towards morning, Denison, completely discomforted, sent for Pheatt, told him to go aboard and resume his position with an increase of salary.

Pheatt went aboard, ordered the fireman to draw the fire, sent him ashore to find a blacksmith, (there were no machinists here in those days) and while he was gone quietly took off the cylinder heads, removed the oak stick, and replaced the heads. When the fireman returned, the boat was ready. As the boat swung around in the river, Pheatt stood at the gangway, smiled at Dennison, and in an audible voice remarked: ‘Discharge me, will you?’”

   A few months later, on June 13, 1876 Pheatt was killed near the Pittsburgh iron docks in Cleveland after he was run over by a train.

                             

                                     (From Watertown Daily Times, September 21, 1946)

  Loss of  the  Martha Ogden

Mid-November was late in the season to be out on Lake Ontario in a steamboat. Commercial vessels were operated as long as possible as long as the weather was mild. The Martha Ogden, en route from Oswego to Sackets Harbor on November 12, 1832 when a sudden northwest gale blew up and the wooden steamer sprung a leak.  The area of the lake where she was lost is called Nutting’s Bay. This area of the lake is very rocky, account for the near impossibility if anchors doing much more than dragging. When the pump failed, the crew began bailing with buckets. Here is Captain William Vaughan’s version of what occurred:

    Henderson, Mexico Bay 

      November 15, 1832 

Sam'l. Denison, Esq.--Sir--

   I left Oswego in the Martha Ogden, North, belonging to you, on the 12th. inst., about half past 1 P. M., with every prospect of a pleasant and short passage to Sacket's Harbour. Shortly after leaving the harbour of Oswego, the weather appeared threatening, and a heavy sea began to make; but it being impossible to get back--the wind having veered to the West and a very heavy sea on--I was obliged to do the best I could. I shaped my course North, N. by E. and N. by W. as the sea would allow me; the sea breaking so much over me, rendered my engine perfectly useless, as no fire could be kept in the furnaces.

   I made all sail on her that would stand, for about an hour--but was compelled to take in the foresail in consequence of the wind being so fresh. Before this, I found the pumps chocked, and all hands, including the passengers, commenced bailing with buckets, but could not keep her free. The wheel-rope parted about half past 6 P.M., and she drifted considerably to the leeward during the time we were employed in repairing it. 

   I made the Galloo light about 7 o'clock in the evening, bearing North, expecting to make the passage between Stony Island and Stony Point, but the wind hauling to the Northward and West, and blowing very hard--with a tremendous sea, which swept the main-deck fore and aft, and carried away the promenade deck and ladies' cabin--on finding I could not clear Stony Point, and believing, with all on board, that the boat would founder if kept on the lake--she being water logged--and that all on board would perish, I ran into eight and a half fathoms of water and let go both anchors about 9 o'clock. 

   She rode about an hour and a half--all hands bailing--when both chains parted within five minutes of each other. I ordered the jib loosed, to clear the point under our lee--veered her around, got the fore-sail on her and cleared the point, taking in about ten hogsheads of water, the sea making a fair breach over her. She then became perfectly unmanageable, and I gave orders that the passengers should be called on deck. She continued to drift until she struck the rocks in the second bay south of Stony Point. 

   After she struck, the sea made a fair breach over her, which was about 11 o'clock P. M. Shortly after she struck she filled, and everyone being on deck, the screams of the women and children made the scene truly distressing. My passengers however, rendered all the assistance in their power, and to their exertions, together with my own and crew, and the help of a Divine Providence, we were all saved. 

   One of the passengers, Mr. Wm. Miller, of Canada, succeeded in getting on shore at the greatest hazard of his life, and informed the inhabitants of our distress; they soon collected on the shore, and rendered us all the assistance in their power. With their assistance, we got a rope from the boat to a tree on shore, and by that means landed the passengers and crew--first the children in a basket, the others in a sling. 

   If the Harbours of Salmon River and Sandy Creek, under our lee in Mexico Bay had been improved agreeable to an act of our last Congress, that was vetoed by the President, we should undoubtedly have escaped this misfortune, and saved you the heavy loss you must sustain by the disaster. 

 I cannot say too much in favor of the inhabitants near us; they rendered us all the assistance and comfort in their power; for which I feel truly grateful.----William Vaughan. 

   The editor the Oswego Free Press wrote on December 4, 1833:

  The risk of Lake Ontario, during the months of navigation, I am persuaded is not greater than of Long Island Sound. The best proof is, that since steam-boats have been introduced on the lake, (and there are now between thirty and forty, large and small, on Lake Ontario), there have been but two boats lost, viz: - the Martha Ogden, in the summer of 1832 - a miserable old boat of about 30 horsepower, belonging to the port of Oswego - and the John By, belonging to Upper Canada, during this summer. The John By was a botched concern from the beginning, and neither she nor the Martha Ogden would in fact have been looked upon as seaworthy, or as insurable vessels, at the time they were lost. 

   The bill to which Captain Vaughan alludes contained an appropriation of $70,000 for the improvement of the Hudson river, which was opposed by New York State senators in Congress and vetoed by President Andrew Jackson.  Improvements to Lake Ontario was a rider to the bill.

 After the War of 1812  Vaughan and Nathan Wentworth owned the two-masted schooner Farmer’s Daughter, built at Sandy Creek on Lake Ontario in 1816. She was 58’6” long, had a 15’6” beam, and 4’7” depth of hold. She weighed 39 tons.  He was also successively master of the steamers Sophia, Brownville, William Avery and Telegraph.  In 1823 he was captain of an Erie Canal packet boat. (6)

   Mrs. Vaughan died January 27,1862. She was described as a small, delicate woman. The Vaughan ownership of the present home is nearly impossible to establish from land records.

A reporter for the Oswego Palladium of September 6, 1857 wrote:

Mrs. Vaughan, an elder member of the family, who resides at Sackets Harbor and is now on a visit to the City, is 73 years of age, with mental faculties unimpaired and a clear and vivid memory of what transpired here in 1796, and in subsequent years, of which so little has been written or is known. She converses with much freedom and fluency, and had a distinct recollection of incidents, of persons and things, obscured by the darkening shadow of 60 years. We are indebted to her for the principal facts given in this article, and many others, forming essential and important material to a full and connected history of Oswego.

Mrs. Vaughan is the widow of Capt. William Vaughan, who died in December, 1856, at the age of 82 years. Capt. Vaughan performed an active and honorable part in the stirring scenes of the last war with Great Britain, on Lake Ontario - having received a commission in the Navy of the United States in 1812, which he held down to the time of his death.

   Efforts to match the Martha Ogden wreckage found at Ray Bay near Henderson by divers are inconclusive. Old and current measurements do not match up. Original enrollment records show it was 104 feet long, 23 feet wide, nine-foot hold and weighed 49 tons.  Current measurements state it is 125 feet long.  The wreckage found appears to be a fully intact vessel. Hough’s History of Jefferson County (P. 352) states the Martha Ogden “went to pieces.” But remnants of the wreckage of some ship are said to be easily observable there on calm days. In this region of the lake, ships frequently float for miles over the years underwater from where they originally sank.

                                                          Sources

(1) Lossing, Benson J., Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1868, Page 368; Find a Grave for Lakeside Cemetery, Sackets Harbor; One Cannonball Victory, Fulton Patriot, March 12, 1936. 

(2) Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812, op. cit., pages 368-369; Attack on Sackets Harbor, July 19, 1812. Naval History and Heritage Command;  ,  - Society Gets Old Accounting Book, Watertown Times, October 13, 1928, mentions using pieces of Mrs. Vaughn’s petticoat to wrap around the 32-pound cannonball to make it fit in the barrel of the cannon.   Quick, Debbie, The War of 1812 in Jefferson County and Lake Ontario (booklet), Historical Society of South Jefferson, Page 3, 2014.  Shortly after the war, on August 21, 1815, the Navy Department is said to have contracted with Vaughan at a cost of $17,000 to build houses over the Chippewa and New Orleans to protect them from deterioration. -  Letter by Robert M. Gotham of Watertown to the Syracuse Post-Standard, July 24, 1962.

(3) Reich, Larry, The Bay of Dead Ships, privately printed, 1993. Book about shipwrecks in Mexico Bay;  Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian (1998);  Stony Point Lighthouse, established in 1826 - Historic Light State Information & Photography New York;  current lighthouse lit in 1869; deactivated 1945;  Great Lakes Maritime Database, Alpena Public Library; PP. 463-464, Hough, Franklin B., History of Jefferson County (1854) .

(4) Record Group 41, U. S. Customs Service; Hough, op.cit. P. 352; Letter in Relation to Steam Engines in the U.S. December 13, 1838. U.S. Treasury Department Document 21, 25th Congress, 3rd Session; Certificate of enrollment:  Martha Ogden, Sackets Harbor, 1823, 74’3” x 17’ 10” x 4’2”7” 48 tons. Bust figurehead, square stern. Original owners: Hunter Crane, merchant, Sackets Harbor; William Lang, New York City, owners, Daniel Reed, (later William Vaughan master. ) Enrolled Sackets Harbor, 9 Aug. 1823; 30 May 1826. Elisha Ely; 13 Sept. 1829, Samuel Denison, owner, John McNair, master enrollment changed to Oswego, 30 May 1830, James VanCleve, master; Early Navigation on Lake Ontario, Oswego Advertiser and Times, March 11, 1859.

(5) Van Cleve, James, Reminiscences of Early Sailing Vessels and Steamboats on Lake Ontario, 1878. (unpublished manuscript, Oswego City Clerk’s office.

(6) Onondaga Register, October 29, 1823; History of Jefferson County, New York by Hough, Franklin B., op. cit., PP. 463-464; Etching on Vaughan’s gravestone.

(Note):  In other military-related action involving Vaughan at Sackets harbor:  On August 26, 1815 Vaughan made a contract with the U.S. Navy to build ship houses  over the stocks of the unfinished ships Chippewa and New Orleans to store them under cover for $17,000. (National Archives Record Group Entry 811).

Commercial Advertiser, New York

September 4, 1829

Steamboat Martha Ogden.--I saw in your paper of yesterday, a statement from the Boston Traveller, that the steamboat Martha Ogden had been blown over the bar at  Salmon River, on Lake Ontario, on the 9th ult. This statement is true; but it is incorrrect that she received any injury, or that she will have to take out her engine. She got out again over the bar without any injury, and she has since towed four rafts through the lake, from Oswego to Carlton Island. The person who made the above erroneous statement, must have done it with a malignant design to injure the owners, and he is not a gentleman of truth and veracity.

JOSEPH DENISON

Albany, Sept. 1, 1829

Oswego Palladium

Wednesday, November 14, 1832

(From the Sackets Harbor Courier).

Wreck of the Steam-Boat Martha Ogden

On the night of the 12th inst. as the Martha Ogden was on her way from Oswego to this port, she sprang a leak, and the pump failing, the men took to bailing out the water with buckets. - She however, continued to fill, in spite of the utmost exertions of all on board, and was soon so flooded that her fires were completely extinguished, which of course prevented her engine from working. The wind at the time was blowing very severely from the N. W. , and the master, Capt. Vaughn, endeavored to make sail; but she was, notwithstanding, driven and foundered upon the rocks near Stony Point, about 14 miles from this place, and yesterday went to pieces. There were a number of passengers on board - and among them, three women and eight children - all compelled to stand in the open air from about eleven o'clock at night (the time she struck,) until about 9 o'clock yesterday morning, when they were taken on shore by means of a basket and Dutch harness, rigged upon a line leading from he wreck to the shore, and every individual thus saved. The kindness and attention of the inhabitants in the vicinity where these sufferers landed, completely drenched as they were with water, - which had congealed upon them, cannot be too gratefully remembered by this community; and to the deliberation, skill and unremitting exertions of Capt. Vaughn and his crew, the passengers are indebted for their lives. No blame can possibly be attached to Capt. V. , as it was altogether owing to fortuitous circumstances that the boat was thrown off her course and driven upon the rocks.

The Martha Ogden was owned by Messrs. L. & S. Denison of this place. We understand there was no insurance upon her.

Hallowell Free Press, Picton, Ontario

December 4, 1832

From the Sackets Harbor Courier.

WRECK OF THE STEAM-BOAT MARTHA OGDEN.

On the night of the 12th inst., as the Martha Ogden was on her way from Oswego to this port, she sprang a leak, and the pump failing, the men took to bailing out the water with buckets. She however continued to fill despite the utmost exertions of all on board, and was so soon flooded that her fires were completely extinguished, which of course prevented her engine from working. The wind at the time was blowing very severely from N.W., and the Master, Capt. Vaughn, endeavored to make sail; but she was notwithstanding, driven and foundered on the rocks near the Stoney Point, about 14 miles from this place, and yesterday went to pieces. There were a number of passengers on board - and among them three women and eight children - all compelled to stand in the open air from about 11 o'clock at night (the time she struck) until about 9 o'clock yesterday morning, when they were taken on shore by means of a basket and Dutch harness, rigged upon a line leading from the wreck to the shore, and every individual thus saved.

The kindness and attention of the inhabitants in the vicinity where these sufferers landed, completely drenched as they were, with water, which had congealed upon them, cannot be too gratefully remembered by this community; and to the deliberation, skill and unremitting exertions of Captain Vaughan and his crew, the passengers are indebted for their lives. No blame can possibly be attached to Capt. V., as it was altogether owing to fortuitous circumstances that the boat was thrown off her course and driven upon the rocks.

The Martha Ogden was owned by Messrs. L. & S. Denison of this place. We understand there was no insurance upon her.

Henderson, Mexico Bay

November 15, 1832

Samuel Denison, Esq. - Sir - I left Oswego in the Martha Ogden, belonging to you, on the 12th instant, about half-past 1 P. M. , with every prospect of a pleasant and short passage to Sacket's Harbour. - Shortly after leaving the harbour of Oswego, the weather appeared threatening, and a heavy sea began to make; but it being impossible to go back - the wind having veered to the west and a very heavy sea on - i was obliged to do the best I could. I shaped by course North . N. by E. and N. by W. as the sea would allow me; the sea breaking so much over me, rendering my Engine perfectly useless, as no fire could be kept in the furnaces; I made all sail on her that would stand, for about an hour - but was compelled to take in the foresail in consequence of the wind being so fresh. - Before this, I found the pumps choked, and all hands, including the passengers, commenced bailing with buckets, but could not keep her free.

The wheel-rope parted about half past 6 P. M. , and she drifted considerably to the leeward during the time were employed in repairing it. I made the Galoe light about 7 o'clock in the evening, bearing North, expecting to make the passage between Stony island and Stony Point, but the wind hauling to the northward and west and blowing very hard, with a tremendous sea, which swept the main deck fore and aft, and carried away the promenade deck and ladies cabin - on finding I could not clear Stony Point, and believing, with all on board, that the boat would founder if kept on the lake - she being so water logged, and that all on board would perish, I ran into 8 ½ fathoms of water and let go both anchors about 9 o'On the night of the 12th inst., as the Martha Ogden was on her way from Oswego to this port, she sprang a leak, and the 

ump failing, the men took to bailing out the water with buckets. She however continued to fill despite the utmost exertions of all on board, and was so soon flooded that her fires were completely extinguished, which of course prevented her engine from working. The wind at the time was blowing very severely from N.W., and the Master, Capt. Vaughn, endeavored to make sail; but she was notwithstanding, driven and foundered on the rocks near the Stoney Point, about 14 miles from this place, and yesterday went to pieces. There were a number of passengers on board - and among them three women and eight children - all compelled to stand in the open air from about 11 o'clock at night (the time she struck) until about 9 o'clock yesterday morning, when they were taken on shore by means of a basket and Dutch harness, rigged upon a line leading from the wreck to the shore, and every individual thus saved.

The kindness and attention of the inhabitants in the vicinity where these sufferers landed, completely drenched as they were, with water, which had congealed upon them, cannot be too gratefully remembered by this community; and to the deliberation, skill and unremitting exertions of Captain Vaughan and his crew, the passengers are indebted for their lives. No blame can possibly be attached to Capt. V., as it was altogether owing to fortuitous circumstances that the boat was thrown off her course and driven upon the rocks.

The Martha Ogden was owned by Messrs. L. & S. Denison of this place. We understand there was no insurance upon her.

Henderson, Mexico Bay

November 15, 1832

Samuel Denison, Esq. - Sir - I left Oswego in the Martha Ogden, belonging to you, on the 12th instant, about half-past 1 P. M. , with every prospect of a pleasant and short passage to Sacket's Harbour. - Shortly after leaving the harbour of Oswego, the weather appeared threatening, and a heavy sea began to make; but it being impossible to go back - the wind having veered to the west and a very heavy sea on - i was obliged to do the best I could. I shaped by course North . N. by E. and N. by W. as the sea would allow me; the sea breaking so much over me, rendering my Engine perfectly useless, as no fire could be kept in the furnaces; I made all sail on her that would stand, for about an hour - but was compelled to take in the foresail in consequence of the wind being so fresh. - Before this, I found the pumps choked, and all hands, including the passengers, commenced bailing with buckets, but could not keep her free.

The wheel-rope parted about half past 6 P. M. , and she drifted considerably to the leeward during the time were employed in repairing it. I made the Galoe light about 7 o'clock in the evening, bearing North, expecting to make the passage between Stony island and Stony Point, but the wind hauling to the northward and west and blowing very hard, with a tremendous sea, which swept the main deck fore and aft, and carried away the promenade deck and ladies cabin - on finding I could not clear Stony Point, and believing, with all on board, that the boat would founder if kept on the lake - she being so water logged, and that all on board would perish, I ran into 8 ½ fathoms of water and let go both anchors about 9 o'clock. She rode about an hour and a half -- all hands bailing -- when both chains parted within 5 minutes of each other.

I ordered the job [jib] loosed, to clear the point under our lee - veered her round, got the fore-sail on her and cleared the point, taking in about 10 hogs heads of water, the sea making a fair breach over her. She then became perfectly unmanageable, and I gave orders that the passengers should be called on deck. She continued to drift until she struck the rocks in the second bay South of Stony Point. After she struck, the sea made a fair breach over her, which was about 11 o'clock P. M. Shortly after she struck, she filled, and every one being on deck, the screams of the women and children made the scene truly distressing.

My passengers, however, rendered all the assistance in their power, and to their exertions, with my own and crew, and the help of a Divine Providence, we were all saved. One of the passengers, Mr. Wm. Miller, of Canada, succeeded in getting on shore at the greatest hazard of his life, and informed the inhabitants of our distress: they soon collected on shore, and rendered us all the assistance in their power. With their assistance, we got a rope from the boat to a tree on shore, and by that means landed the passengers and crew - first the children in a basket, the others in a sling.

If the harbours of Salmon River and Sandy Creek, under our lee in Mexico Bay had been approve agreeable to an act of our last Congress, that was vetoed by the President, we should undoubtedly have escaped this misfortune, and saved you the heavy loss you must sustain by the disaster. *

I cannot say too much in favor of the inhabitants near us: they have rendered us all the assistance and comfort in their power; for which I feel truly grateful.

WILLIAM VAUGHAN

Being on board the Steam-boat Martha Ogden, as passengers, when the misfortune as described above happened, and being considerable losers by it, we hereby certify that the above account of the disaster is strictly true in our belief, and that no blame whatever can be attached to Capt. Vaughan.

GEORGE ARCHER. 

WILLIAM MILLER.

"We understand, that in the above wreck, our fellow citizen, Captain George Archer, was a loser to the amount of some hundreds, which, added to his numerous other misfortunes, is very severely felt. We hope it will be made up to him. " - Oswego Free Press.

* We question very much whether this sentence was not added for the purpose of prejudicing the public against Gen. Jackson. We cannot see what other motive could have induced the remark, which is clearly unjust and destitute of foundation. If the President had sanctioned the bill which contained the appropriations to improve the harbors at the mouths of Salmon River and Sandy Creek, which was not passed until July last, no progress could yet have been made in those improvements, so that the condition of the navigation could not, in any event, have been changed at this time; and the attempt to cast the blame of the loss of the Martha Ogden upon the President, betrays no ingeniousness or generosity. The reasons for the rejection of the bill alluded to, have been so fully discussed during the late canvass, that comment at this time is unnecessary. They were duly appreciated and passed on by the people.

(Notes: The steamboats "Martha Ogden" and "Ontario" comprised the fleet of the Lake Ontario Steamboat Co. , incorporated Jan. 28, 1831. Directors were Joseph and Samuel Denison, Edward Bronson, Gerrit Smith, Elias Trowbridge, Theophilus S. Morgan, Richard L. DeZeng, Frederick Bushnell, Elisha Camp, Jacob Arnold, William Baron, John C. Bush and Thomas L. Ogden. The "Martha Ogden" was rigged fore and aft and registered at 150 tons. She was 104'x23' z 9' Built by Albert Crane of Sackets Harbor. First voyage April 1, 1825. machinery from the Allaire Works in New York City. Had a cross-head engine with 20-foot wheels. Named for the wife of Thomas L. Ogden of New York, one of the directors.

Oswego Palladium

December 18, 1856

Captain William Vaughn, Esq., of Sackets Harbor, died on the 16th inst., in the 83d year of his age. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and came to Oswego to reside in 1799, and remained here till 1811, when he removed to Sackets Harbor, and was soon after appointed a sailing master in the U.S. Navy, and was highly distinguished in the War of 1812 as a brave and meritorious officer. he was one of the early navigators of Lake Ontario and one of the first who introduced the use of ship keels in vessels. He leaves and aged and infirm widow and five children, and was much respected by a large circle of friends.

Oswego Palladium

September 6, 1857

A Scrap of History.

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Oswego At The End Of The Last Century

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From the first discovery of the place by the French, Oswego has a history running back more than two hundred years, which is becoming a subject of inquiry, investigation and of increasing interest, in a ratio corresponding with the growth and advancing population of the City., From its favorable and important position as a trading and military post, it was an object of contest, a battle field and a victim of the wars waged by the nations of Europe, who discovered and colonized the North American Continent, through the period of a hundred years.

Modern Oswego may be said to date from the surrender of the place by the British, under the provisions of the Jay Treaty, in the spring of 1795 by which Fort Ontario was then received and taken possession of by Lieut. Vischer, with about fifty men of the United States Army.

At this epoch, forming a link in the chain that connects the present with a past age, Oswego had no vessels, no commerce, no resident population. The withdrawal of the British garrison took away nearly if not all that had been established here of civilized society. Oswego was then, in all that regarded population and business, like an entire new settlement.

In June, 1796, after the British garrison had surrendered the Fort and left, Neil McMullen landed here with the frame of a house, which had been made at Kingston, and which he immediately caused to be put up and covered, when he moved in his family from Kingston, where he had been established for many years in mercantile business, and for some time furnished stores for the garrison at Oswego. This was the first framed house, of which we have any knowledge, built in Oswego, and it was removed from its original foundation on Water street but a few years since.

We learn from the lips of living witnesses, of which there are yet a few, survivors of McMullen's family, that there were in 1796 two white American residents in Oswego, John Love and Ziba Phillips, who were traders and might have resided here prior to the surrender of the place in that year. They left here soon after McMullen moved in, but their subsequent residence is unknown to us.

Some Canadian trade was carried on through Oswego, under the control of the British garrison, but we infer that the trade was wholly prohibited to citizens of the United States, from the fact that in 1796, the Connecticut land Company, understanding that the posts of Oswego and Niagara were to be surrendered to the United States, early in the Spring of that year fitted out an expedition, under charge of Joshua Stow, of Middletown, to survey the Western Reserve, then called New Connecticut; the expedition fitted out with boats at Schenectady, took the route by Oswego and Niagara to Queenston.

On his arrival at Oswego, Mr. Stow found the port had not been surrendered, and the boats were not permitted to pass. As the boats contained the implements and provisions of the expedition and a considerable amount of merchandize, Mr. Stow determined not to be delayed. he took the boats a mile or two up the river, and the night following ran them past the Fort into the Lake, and pursued his voyage to Niagara. On arriving there, he found that post had been surrendered, and passed into the possession of the United States troops.

He landed at Queenston, had his boats and loading taken round the Falls to Chippewa, from whence he pursued his voyage to the Western Reserve, now forming the Northern counties of Ohio. At this period Western and Northern New York was an unbroken wilderness. No vessels were owned on the Southern shore of the Lake or the St. Lawrence. All the vessels then navigating the Lake and River were owned by the British, the Hudson Bay Company and a branch called the North Western Fur Company.

Oswego has a history worthy of a volume of respectable dimensions, which we shall not attempt to write now - the object of this article being simply to rescue and record, from living words and memory, a few authentic and unwritten facts, which the tide of Time is rapidly consigning to the "receptacle of things lost upon earth."

The family of Neil McMullen may be justly regarded as witnesses to the actual transfer of Oswego to the Republic, and as pioneers in the settlement, and inaugurators or established civilized society here. Three of the surviving members of the family are now in the city - two of whom reside here, Mrs. Hunter Crane, who came here as an infant, and Mrs. Rankin McMullen, born here in 1800, being the first born under the new order of things following the change of possession to Oswego.

Mrs. Vaughn, an elder member of the family, who resides at Sackets Harbor and is now on a visit to the City, is 73 years of age, with mental faculties unimpaired and a clear and vivid memory of what transpired here in 1796, and in subsequent years, of which so little has been written or is known. She converses with much freedom and fluency, and had a distinct recollection of incidents, of persons and things, obscured by the darkening shadow of 60 years. We are indebted to her for the principal facts given in this article, and many others, forming essential and important material to a full and connected history of Oswego.

Mrs. Vaughn is the widow of Capt. William Vaughn, who died in December, 1856, at the age of 82 years. Capt. Vaughn performed an active and honorable part in the stirring scenes of the last war with Great Britain, on Lake Ontario - having received a commission in the Navy of the United States in 1812, which he held down to the time of his death.

We have notes of facts gathered from the oldest surviving residents of Oswego, of more or less interest, as supplying from tradition deficient links in the unwritten history of the place, which we mean on occasion to present.

Oswego Palladium 

March 25, 1876 

Forty Years Ago - The Steamer Martha Ogden. - "Yes, we had some fine steamers in those days," remarked a gentleman, who came here and assisted the French in building the Fort, which stood where the Carrington Castle now stands, in speaking of forty years ago. "there was the Martha Ogden” he continued, "which belonged to Dennison & Co., and formed one of their line between here and Sackets Harbor. She was a beauty in her day and quite speedy too. Speaking of the OGDEN reminds me how her engineer, John Pheatt, an Oswego boy, was reinstated after he had been discharged. One day on the arrival of the steamer at this port, Sam Dennison sent word to John Pheatt he wanted to see him in the office, where the Northern Transportation office now is. Pheatt had an inkling that his head was going to go into the basket, as an Albany engineer was hanging around, waiting, macabre like, for something to turn up. He was at work repacking his cylinders when the messenger arrived, but like a good engineer he put his engine together before leaving, first quietly slipping a heavy oak stick into the cylinders. 

"When Pheatt confronted Dennison he was informed that the Albany engineer had been hired in his place and that the line had no further use for him. Pheatt went home and the new engineer went aboard the OGDEN to prepare her for sea. Fires were started in the furnaces, steam was produced, and just before the hour of departing the engineer thought he would work the engine to familiarize himself with it. 

"Opening the throttle gradually, the steam rushed into the cylinder, the piston moved an inch or two, stopped, and although the full head of steam was turned on, refused to go to the center. The new engineer was in a quandary, examined all the bearings and joints, but could discover nothing wrong, and finally in despair informed the captain that the engine would not work. 

"The time for leaving passed and although the new man did all in his power the wheels would not revolve. The boat was loaded with freight and passengers, and although the owner stormed about the wharf, angry at the delay, the engine would not obey. Along toward morning, Dennison, completely disconfitted, sent for Pheatt, and at the appearance of John, told him to go aboard of the boat and resume his position with an increase of salary. 

"Pheatt went aboard, ordered the fireman to draw the fire, sent him ashore to find a blacksmith, (there were no machinists here in those days) and while he was gone quietly took off the cylinder heads, removed the oak sticks, replaced the heads, and when the fireman returned, the boat was ready for sea. As the boat swung around in the river Pheatt stood at the gangway, smiled on Dennison, and in an audible voice, remarked: "Discharge me, will you?'"