The Steamer SARATOGA Sunk Near Barrytown, NY, on the Hudson River, Oct. 13, 1906

The Steamer SARATOGA Sunk Near Barrytown, NY, on the Hudson River, Oct. 13, 1906

The steamer SARATOGA sunk near Barrytown, New York on the Hudson River on Oct. 13, 1906Known by river men as a “hard luck steamboat,” the SARATOGA plied the waters of the Hudson river for 33 years, and during that time was responsible for some loss of life as well as doing a great deal of damage to the vessel itself. She played a foremost part in the coincidences which labeled steamboats whose names began with the letter “S” as “hard luck vessels.”John Englis and Son of Greenpoint, N.Y., built the wooden hull of the SARATOGA in 1877. Her keel was 285 feet long with an overall measurement of 300 feet, the breadth of her hull was 56 feet (over the guards she was 70 feet), and she was listed for 1,438 gross tons and 1,281 net tons. Her vertical beam engine came from the SUNNYSIDE and was a product of Secor Iron Works of New York city- built in 1866. The cylinder diameter measured 56 inches with a 12 foot stroke. She had two steel return tubular boilers, and her wheels were 32 feet in diameter with 26 buckets to each wheel with a dip of 30 inches.July 29, 1897, the SARATOGA, while steaming up the river bound for Troy, collided with a large steam yacht, the HERMONIE She almost went to the bottom on this occasion- the accident occurring near Stony Point. The HERMONIE struck the “Saratoga” on the starboard side, destroying her barroom, injuring one passenger and tossing many sleeping passengers from their bunks.  This article written by George W. Murdock, for the Kingston (NY) Daily Freeman newspaper in the 1930s. Murdock, a veteran marine engineer, wrote a regular column.