Overview
The Gratitude was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat built in 1824 by Brown & Bell for New York pilots. She helped transport maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. In 1839, she had a narrow escape from the slave ship La Amistad. In 1839, the Gratitude No. 3, was shipwrecked when a hurricane swept the New York coast. The New Jersey Pilot Boat John McKeon was lost in the same storm.
Construction and service
The New York pilot boat Gratitude, No. 3, was a built in 1824, by Bell & Brown and launched in January 1825. She was valued at $6,000. The pilots on the Blossom communicated what they felt was a slave ship to the Collector of the Port of New York. The La Amistad was later captured by the U.S. Navy off Montauk, New York and detained in New London, Connecticut.
End of service
In August 1839, the pilot schooner Gratitude No. 3, went out at sea with six pilots. Two of the pilots had left to board outbound ships to sea. A few hours later, the Gratitude was caught up in a severe hurricane that swept the coast from South Carolina to Maine on August 28 and 30. The Gratitude lost four of her pilots, three apprentices and a cook. The names of the pilots that were lost were: Enon Harris, Joseph Hendarchott, Owen Wilson, and Sydney Waite. The pilots had no insurance. The New Jersey Pilot Boat John McKeon was lost in the same storm with four of her crewmen.
See also
* List of Northeastern U. S. Pilot Boats