David Bell

Buffalo NY

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.

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

Printed from shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net