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The Cope Liner Tonawanda

Item Info

Item No: pdcc00977
Title: The Cope Liner Tonawanda
Media Type: Scrapbooks
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:

Reproduction of an illustration of a sailing ship under full sail, with a smaller sailboat in the distance. Wash drawing by Frank H. Taylor, from a painting by F. Briscoe, and published in Taylor's "Old Philadelphia" prints, 1915-1927, with accompanying text:

The once famous fleet of ships of Philadelphia port engaged in the Liverpool trade was originated by Thomas C. Cope about 1815. The earlier vessels of the line were the Lancaster, Algonquin, Monongahela, and Montezuma. Larger ships, all fast sailing craft, afterward built for the line were the Tuscarora, Alleghany, Saranac, Wyoming, Tonawanda and Thomas P. Cope. Of these the Tonawanda, built upon the Delaware River and launched in 1850, became the most famous from the circumstance of its capture, upon October 9th, 1862, by the Confederate vessel Alabama. Captain Theodore Julius was held a prisoner and hostage upon the Alabama six days, during which his son, first mate, Theodore Julius, Jr., commanded the Tonawanda, which had upon board about 500 passengers. Being unable to take care of this large number of persons, the Confederate officer, Semmes, refrained from sinking the ship, but accepted a bond for a large amount payable in the event of Confederate success. This drawing has been made from a painting by F. Briscoe, which is owned by Mrs. Theo Julius Jr., residing in 1918 at 1115 South Forty-eighth street, Philadelphia. The Tonawanda, after a record of nearly 100 voyages to Europe under Captain Julius, was dismantled in 1887 and became a coal barge.


Call Number: A917.481 P536 v.10
Creator Name: Briscoe, F. - Artist
Taylor, Frank H. (Frank Hamilton), 1846-1927 - Artist
Castner, Samuel, Jr., 1843-1929 - Compiler