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Personal Sketches of Marine Men A. V. S. Olcott, President Hudson River Day Line By E. C. Kreutzberg Photo by Blank €& Stoller SmiOR 105 years the boats of the Hudson River Day yoy]| Line and its predecessors have been plying un- interruptedly on the Hudson river. During all of that time the ownership and management has been in the succeeding generations of the same family. Of this family, Alfred Van Santvoord Oleott, present head of the line, represents the fourth generation. His great grandfather, Abram Van Sant- voord, born in 1784, succeeded a relative John Post, in the business of transport on the Mohawk river. In 1818 the forwarding business of Van Santvoord & Co. was dissolved and in 1826 Abram Van Santvoord set up in New York as ‘“‘agent’’ for ‘‘The Steam Navigation Co.’’, operating the safety barges LApy CLINTON and Lapy VAN RENSSELAER, with headquarters at 17 Coenties Slip, New York city. Thus was started the Hudson River Day Line. In the history of the line is conveyed much of the colorful story of steam navigation on the Hudson river. Take the safety barges, for instance. They were towed by steamboats which plied between New York and Albany and where the fare on the steamboats was $1 for the trip, that on the safety barges was $2. In the early years, boats provided the only means of steam travel in the Hudson valley, as it was not until 1851 that the first railroad between New York and Al- bany was completed. In the years of construction, the railroad and the boat managements worked together and the boats enabled rail passengers to complete their jour- neys beyond the end of the tracks. After the completion of the railroad bitter competition developed between the railroad and the steamboat lines. Rates on the river were cut from $1 to 50 cents a trip. Later there was a drop to 25 cents and’another to 6 cents. For a time in 1860 a trip could be made by boat from New York to Albany without any charge at all. Commodore Alfred Van Santvoord, born in 1819, was the son of Abram Van Santvoord and succeeded the lat- ter in the ownership and operation of the Hudson River Steamboat Co. In 1863 he started the “Albany Day Line’”’ for exclusively passenger transportation and this company was incorporated in 1879 by Commodore Alfred Van Santvoord and his son Charles Townsend Van Sant- HE record of the steamship com- pany he heads corresponds with the story of the growth of navigation on the Hudson river E HAS the unusual distinction of representing the fourth genera- tion in uninterrupted ownership and management of the same line NDER his leadership the Hudson River Day line is keeping pace with the best modern ideas in equip- ment and operation voord as the Hudson River Line. Later the name was changed to the present Hudson River Day Line. The daughter of Commodore Van Santvoord married Eben E. Olcott who later headed the line until his death in 1929 when he was succeeded by his son Alfred Van Santvoord Olcott. Born in 1886 in New York city, Alfred Van Santvoord Olcott was educated at Princeton university, from which he graduated in 1909 as a bachelor of science. He at once went with the Hudson River Day Line, serving first as treasurer, then as treasurer and general manager, becoming president in 1929. When Mr. Olcott joined the line in 1909 it owned and operated four boats. Today the line owns and operates seven boats, Henprick Hupson, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Ropert FuLron, Drewirr CLINTON, PETER STUYVESANT, ALBANY and CHAUNCEY M. DEPEw. The principal operating problem of the Hudson River Day Line is to have its vessels so located as to accommo- date the travel bulges over week-ends and during the vacation period and to take care of excursions. For in- stance, every summer week-end sees the New York- Poughkeepsie run served by four sections. On one Labor day, which marks not only a holiday week-end but the official ending of the summer vacation period, the line carried 12,000 northbound and 29,000 southbound pas- sengers in that one day. Excursions are operated from New York city to Bear Mountain state park and other points along the river. In particular, excursions are operated to Indian Point, near Peekskill, where the Hud- son River Day Line owns a large park and picnic ground. Mr. Olcott is also president of the Hudson River Steamboat Co. and the Catskill Evening Line, the former operating two boats and the latter one. While the Hud- son River Day Line carries passengers exclusively, these two lines carry principally freight. The Hudson river boats operate over a short season. They generally get up steam about May 15 and tie up for the winter sometime between the middle of Septem- ber and the middle of October. Mr. Oleott has his office at the Hudson River Day Line’s general headquar- ters, Forty-second street pier, New York. His home is at Riverdale, on the Hudson, New York city. Le. MARINE REVIEw—September, 1931