Red, White and Blue (ship)

The name of the ship, Red, White and Blue, was chosen as a cosmopolitan and diplomatic reference to the flags of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and others.[1] After reaching the United Kingdom, the vessel was given the Scots nickname of Wee Craft or Wee Ship.[2]

The hull of Red, White and Blue was constructed of galvanised iron, "pressed and moulded to a clinker built configuration" by the inventor Oliver Roland Ingersoll. This Ingersoll's Improved Metallic Lifeboat was a new design for onboard lifeboats and jolly boats, the intended advantage being lightness and ease of maintenance. She was 26 ft (7.9 m) LOA of 2.38 tons, beam 6.17 ft (1.88 m) with a hold depth of 2.66 ft (0.81 m), or 3 ft (0.91 m) from deck to keel (not that she had a deck), and was pointed at bow and stern.[3] She was fitted out with a ship-rig at New York.[nb 3][3][4] The tiny rigging was in proportion to the hull, that is to say, a fraction of the size of a normal cargo ship.[4] The sails were made to the design of D.M. Cumisky of 39 South Street, New York, and the spars were made by Arthur Bartlett of 252 South Street.[1][5]

This was an open boat, with no shelter apart from a canvas dodger.[3] She had watertight compartments.[6] That is to say, she had a 4-foot (1.2 m) watertight compartment at each end, and she contained air cylinders at the ends and at the sides, "with safety valves that will cause the boat to free herself of water in a few minutes."[4] In 1866 she carried "12 ten-gallon kegs of water, 200 lbs of bread, 5 lbs coffee, 2 lbs of tea, 10 lbs butter, 4 boxes smoked herrings, 1 dozen cans of milk, 15 lbs smoked beef, 17 lbs cheese, 4 bottles pickles, mustard, pepper, salt and sauce, 2 bottles of brandy, one bottle of whisky and one bottle of bitters."[1] Other stores carried for the 1866 voyage were: "2 dozen cans roast beef, 2 dozen cans roast turkey, 2 dozen cans roast chicken, 2 dozen cans mutton soup." These were donated by Isaac Reckhow of Brooklyn, who also donated the dog.[5]

For the master's department she carried, "a boat compass, quadrant, charts, parallel rule, dividers, weather indicator, longline,[nb 4] glass, 7 lbs lead, American ensign and pennant, English and French ensigns, anchor and fifty fathoms of rope, but no chronometer." In case of illness she carried "six bottles of Indian liniment, six bottles of vegetable pills, a bottle of powders, and another mixture of some marvellous character, which we are told is the never-failing smallpox cure, and has cured yellow fever and cholera," and luckily the crew did not need that.[1]

The inscription, "Ingersoll's Improved Metallic Life Boat" was written along both sides of the hull.[7] The ship's ensign was a "13 star flag, single ply wool bunting with hand appliqued stars." The front inscription identified it as having belonged to Red, White and Blue in 1866, but the reverse inscription said that it had previously been the Civil War flag of the "U.S.S.S. Flambeau's Picket boat 2nd Cutter 1864, Acting Ensign J.M. Hudson."[nb 5] The flag as used on the mizzen gaff of Red, White and Blue measured 31 in by 42 in, having had 18 in cut off its length to fit the smaller ship.[8]

Red, White and Blue at The Crystal Palace, 1866

The ship was launched on 21 June 1866, after having a false keel fitted, making a total keel depth of 7.5 in (19 cm). "She was launched with all her spars standing, bows on, from a dock five feet above the level of the water," with Captain J.M. Hudson aboard. Surprisingly she landed neatly, she did not tip over, and Hudson did not get wet.[1] In 1866, Red, White and Blue was believed to be the "smallest ship ever to cross the Atlantic."[1][3][9] After leaving Margate, the crew took the ship to The Crystal Palace where from 25 August she was exhibited during the rest of 1866.[1][3] At The Crystal Palace, Hudson and Fitch attended daily to make the ship's log available, and to answer questions.[2][10]

The ship was exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867, from July of that year,[8][11] however there were difficulties. "Fair promises were made. Steamers were to tow the boat up the Seine in triumph; but it was towed against a bridge and smashed its masts. Agents were to secure goodly numbers to visit her; but for three months scarcely any one paid for a ticket, until at length the vessel was admitted into the grounds of the Exhibition. Finally, the ruined Captain ran away to England, but cleverly contrived to carry his ship with him."[12] The ship was returned to the United States in 1873.[7]

Hudson's 249-page handwritten log of the transatlantic adventure was titled, The Log and Voyage of the Wee Ship Red-White-and Blue!! The Smallest Ship that Ever Crossed the Atlantic! The First Full Account of Her Passage And Subsequent History in Europa Also Up to Her Arrival Back in New York. Items relating to the ship and crew were sold at auction in 2011 and 2019.[8][11][13]

The ship had an oval, engraved plaque, with the words, "Ingersoll Metallic Life Boat Red White and Blue. Ship rigged Sailed from New York, United States, July 9th 1866. Arrived off Hastings, England August 16th 1866. Navigators, Capt. John M. Hudson, and Mate Frank E. Fitch. Inventor and Builder Oliver Roland Ingersoll. Property of the American Boat & Oar Bazaar. 243 & 245 South and 475 & 447 Water Street New York."[8] The silver-plated ship horn was engraved also: "Captn John M. Hudson, ship Red White & Blue, 2 tons 38/100 register, made passage from New York to Margate in 38 days."[11]

The Daily Telegraph lauded the crew's "pluck and endurance, even if bordering upon rashness," and confirmed its belief in the success of the venture.[1] There were some public suggestions that Red, White and Blue had not achieved the voyage alone, but had been carried for part of the west–east journey on board William Tapscott, or had been towed.[3][6] The controversy was celebrated in comic magazines such as Punch and Fun. The following verse was to be sung to the tune of Britannia's the Pride of the Ocean:[nb 7][22]

Britannia's the pride of the Ocean
The home of the brave and the free;
But Yankees it seems have a notion
That we're much greater fools than we be.
Two men and a dog crossed the briny,
Of course we believe it, we do;
In a boat of two tons, vessel tiny
And they called it the Red, White and Blue.[22]

And they called, &c (in chorus).[22]

In spite of the caviller's malice,
In spite of the doubts on her thrown
It is now at the Crystial Palace
And "seeing is believing" you'll own.
The dog's tale is lost, a sad thing, this!
But the men with their craft remain, two.
So to the Marines let us sing this
New song of the Red, White and Blue.[22]

Here's the craft of the Red, White and Blue

Here's the craft of the Red, White and Blue

So to the Marines we'll go and sing this

New song of the Red, White and Blue.[22]

(by a Metropolitan Martial).[22]

John MacGregor (1893) blamed this misunderstanding partly on the way in which the ship's log was published in re-written form, calling it a "mutilated paper." Although he believed that the ship really had made the voyage without outside assistance, he said,[12]

It is a very great pity that when it has been effected there should be a failure in appreciating its marvellous accomplishment ... After examining, probably more than any body else, the evidence in their case—the men, the log, the documents, and affidavits, and the boat, and its contents, also the numerous doubts and criticisms from all quarters, both in London and Paris, and in Dover and Margate, I have good reason to believe that the Red, White, and Blue had no extraneous help in her voyage across that wide ocean. The unexplained wonder is that men able and willing to perform such a deed as this should be incapable of building and rigging their boat so as to do it comfortably.[12]

As no foundation was discovered for this story, the rumour was ultimately discounted,[3][6] after the achievement was proved genuine by sightings from other ships, the logs of those ships and of Red, White And Blue, and by the confirmation of weather conditions.[7] On 24 December 1866, Hudson wrote to the London Daily News to confirm politely and with dignity, with evidence from his log and from witnesses, that the voyage was not fraudulent.[23]

Engraving of Hudson (L) and Fitch (R) at The Crystal Palace, 1866

The ship's captain was John Morley Hudson (Manchester 1 May 1832 – Brooklyn 12 December 1907). He immigrated in 1847 from Manchester, England to Brooklyn, New York and settled there.[24] On 8 August 1856 he was married by a Presbyterian minister to Sarah Ann Saward,[nb 8] in Brooklyn. They had three daughters: Frances Ellen "Fannie", Sarah Anne and Selina, baptised between 1865 and 1874. He became a citizen of the United States on 18 January 1877.[11]

He served as acting ensign with the United States Navy from 12 May 1864,[25] to 15 September 1865 when he was honorably discharged. He was registered by the American Ship Masters' Association (of the Civil War era) as a shipmaster, between 14 February 1862 and 1885. He had a 17 April 1883 certificate of competence as a master and pilot of steam vessels around the US coast and the Atlantic Ocean. On 24 July 1895 he captained the steamer James Woodall in the Roloff Expedition in the Cuban War of Independence.[26] On 9 July 1898, Hudson volunteered to rejoin the U.S. Navy as lieutenant, and on 12 July of that year he applied to the navy for the position of line officer.[11] He was granted a pension in 1880.[27]

Regarding Red, White and Blue's transatlantic adventure, Hudson described himself as the "captain, ... originator and promoter of the enterprise." While in Paris, Hudson had a "personal interview" with Emperor Louis Napoleon. Hudson wrote and collated an undated document called, Mind-Your-Helm or Laws of Passing Vessels.[11][nb 9] After returning to England, he found himself in financial distress. His wife had had a "serious accident" in America, he could not find work to pay for passage home, and his ship had been seized for debt. A public appeal was made in the hope of assisting his voyage home.[28] He died in 1907 of heart disease at 239 Hawthorne Street, Brooklyn, after a brief illness.[24]

The mate was Francis Edward "Frank" Fitch (born c. 1840).[1][8][11]