David Bell
Buffalo NY
Most recent update: October 15, 2016.
David Bell, an immigrant from Scotland, was an engine builder first and a shipbuilder second. He started in business in 1845, as Bell & McNish, becoming Bell's Steam Engine Works. In 1858 he started building ships under his own name and in 1862 built the Merchant, the first coal-powered, propeller-driven, iron-hulled ship to be built on the Great Lakes. The company's plant was on the east side of the Evans Ship Canal (which was where the north-south stretch of Erie Street is now), roughly where the western side of the Marine Drive Apartments complex is today. See the site from the air on Google here.
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O/N | Name | Customer | Type | GT | LOA | Built | Notes | |
4991 | City of Buffalo | freighter | 149 | 1859 | barge 1871, no record after 1893 | |||
19684 | Philo S. Bemis | tugboat | 29 | 1859 | abandoned 1879 | |||
16332 | Merchant | Anchor Line | freighter | 721 | 1862 | wrecked 1875 | ||
10664 | Glen Iris | freighter | 119 | 1863 | later Mary O'Riorden, abandoned 1951 | |||
6147 | Dexter | tugboat | 36 | 1866 | abandoned 1911 | |||
Metropolitan | City of New York | police boat | 149 | 1867 | abandoned 1867 | |||
18092 | Nellie Cotton | tugboat | 37 | 1867 | abandoned 1929 | |||
20142 | Philadelphia | Erie & Western Transportation | freighter | 1,463 | 1868 | collision and sank 1893 | ||
1734 | Ariadne | tugboat | 34 | 1868 | ||||
100042 | Ivanhoe | sidewheeler | 282 | 1869 | burned 1899 | |||
Douglas | tugboat | 1870 | ||||||
90701 | Mary Bell | yacht | 34 | 1870 | no record after 1907 | |||
Albert Gallatin | U.S.R.C.S. | cutter | 250 | 1871 | later Gallatin, sank 1892 | |||
202921 | Alexander Hamilton | U.S.R.C.S. | cutter | 250 | 1871 | later Hamilton, sold 1906 as Pilot, Keechi | ||
8882 | Eliza Williams | tugboat | 37 | 1872 | ||||
125149 | Cayuga | tugboat | 27 | 1872 | later S.S. Mac 1941, abandoned 1963 | |||
205203 | George S. Boutwell | U.S.R.C.S. | cutter | 151 | 1873 | later Boutwell, sold 1907 as E. T. Chamberlin | ||
90792 | M. D. Carrington | tugboat | 64 | 1875 | scrapped 1949 | |||
145074 | Titania | yacht | 73 | 1875 | collision 1908 | |||
110275 | Rosaline | yacht | 28 | 1876 | later Volanta | |||
G. W. Gardner | yacht | 1876 | ||||||
Esperanza | yacht | 1876 | ||||||
105784 | Arundell | Cole & Holt | freighter | 306 | 1878 | burned 1911, rebuilt as barge 1916, cargo ship Brewster 1920, in collision and sank 1922 | ||
Flora | yacht | 1879 | ||||||
Vanderbilt | yacht | 1879 | ||||||
Angelique | yacht | 27 | 1880 | |||||
106025 | A. W. Colton | M. T. Huntley | tugboat | 92 | 1881 | abandoned 1945 | ||
100302 | Ina | yacht | 14 | 1881 | later Service 1919, abandoned 1929 | |||
25243 | Uarda | Dow and Wesson | yacht | 16 | 1881 | abandoned 1921 | ||
110536 | Robert H. Cooke | tugboat | 157 | 1882 | ||||
207088 | Sand Beach | US Army USACE | tugboat | 10 | 1885 | later Lorene 1909, foundered 1945 | ||
145439 | Theseus | yacht | 54 | 1886 | ||||
Seneca Chief | yacht | 1887 | ||||||
81211 | Waller | yacht | 56 | 1887 | ||||
200702 | City of Buffalo | City of Buffalo | fire tugboat | 133 | 1887 | George R. Potter 1903, sold 1932, Liberty 1940, deleted in 1980s | ||
150462 | Phil Sheridan | tugboat | 35 | 1888 | scrapped 1923 | |||
Florence Rice | 19 | 1889 | ||||||
116305 | Spalpeen | tugboat | 29 | 1889 | ||||
161014 | Keystone | tugboat | 95 | 1891 | abandoned 1033 | |||
150524 | Pilgrim | freighter | 261 | 1891 | burned 1937 | |||
150536 | Paddy Miles | tugboat | 33 | 1891 | ||||
Neversink | yacht | 1892 | ||||||
200703 | John M. Hutchinson | John M. Hutchinson | fire tugboat | 90 | 1893 | later Drag 1934, scrapped 1951 | ||
252202 | Calumet | U.S.R.C.S. | tugboat | 170 | 1894 | later Tioga 1934, WYT-74 1942, sold 1947 as John F. Drews, William J. Dugan 1967, Spany Pane | ||
William McKinley | yacht | 1894 | ||||||
161077 | Katharine T. Wilbur | tugboat | 54 | 1895 | later Cortland 1903, to US Army 1916, sold 1919, Courageous 1973, deleted 1977 | |||
Primrose | yacht | 1895 | ||||||
Sandusky | yacht | 1896 | ||||||
107227 | Alert | George Moon | fish tugboat | 102 | 1896 | later Douglas M (Canada) 1917, Black Hawk 1980 | ||
96399 | Harvey D. Goulder | L. P. & J. A. Smith | tugboat | 156 | 1896 | later A.T.S. Tug No. 7 1920, Frederick T. Kellers 1922, no record after 1960 | ||
81738 | W. J. Warwick | Joseph B. Blake | tugboat | 21 | 1901 | later Susanne S | ||
117072 | Shaun Rhue | tugboat | 79 | 1901 | ||||
127678 | Capt. Hemens | passenger | 34 | 1902 | later A. B. Sutherland (Canada O.N. 130330), scrapped 1957 |