The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-01-30

The Staten Ialana Fer
We hear that the agent Of the Staten Island
ferry has published card to say that his feel
ings were hurt by the newspapers noticing the
loss Of the Columbus. he states. it seems, that
the Columbus did not - fxther than the ice
would let her. and that the passengers were
not drowned outright, and therefore have no
business to complain; being evidently under
the Impression that the steamer was lost and
the people wrecked in the most comfortable
and satisfactory manner, and that the whole
business is rather creditable than otherwise to
the company and their agent
The Ferry Company is welcome to the bene-
fit of this explanation. At the same time, now
that their agent has provoked discussion,
his employers cannot complain II few facts
relative to their business are laid before the
public.
The present Staten Island Ferry Company is
a recently organized corporation which pur-
chased from Commodore Vanderbilt various
boats, properties and rights including what
good will in the ferry he could sell, for q sum,
it is said, Of $65O,O00. 1t owns six ferry boats
two Of them new or nearly new, the jose
phine and the Hunchback, both of them snugly
laid up in winter quarters, and four very old
ones, the Huguenot, the Sylph, the Staten
islander and the Columbus-of which one
is laid up in winter quarters, and an
other, the Columbus, is q dismantled wreck
Thus two boats are left to perform the
ferry service between both sides Of the
island and New York; five o'clock in the af
ternoon being the latest trip from tie city.
These two boats are old, and by no means fit
to navigate the bay in its present state. They
may be seaworthy, in the technical sense OF
that term but they are not able--any more
than the Columbus was-to run through o
heavy field of ice without STAYING in their bot
toms; and whenever they shall do so, it will be
well for them if they stick in the ice and do
not push forward into open water, or else,
God help the passengers. Since we drew at
tention to the want of boats on board these
steamers, small boats have been carried by
most Of them just large enough to furnish. a
means Of escape for the crew. They carry no
life preseryers.
Such being the boats provided by this com
pany to carry passengers between New York
and Staten Island, let us see what their rights
are. Last season, when the time came for the
sale of ferry leases the slip on the east side of
pier No. l, East River, together with the Staten
Island ferry privilege, was put mp at auction,
and sold, under peculiar circumstances, to the
agent of the present company. The peculiar
circumstances" appeared to the Mayor so gross
violation Of justice and SO palpable a
fraud, that he vetoed the sale. The slip
and privilege were again put up and ad-
judged to Mr.. Smith-John Smith, we
dare say-for very small figure. Mr.. Smith
has the misfortune to be retiring individual
too retiring in fact. So retiring, that nobody
knows him or ever saw him, and that he can
not be found high or low to execute the lease
from the Corporation. When the rent falls
due, a mysterious check on the Dry Dock Bank
finds its way into the Comptroller's hands, and
sduly paid. But Psyche did not sigh more
yainly for sight of her Cupid's face than
does the venerable Flagg for glimpse of the
retiring John Smith: and the consequence is
That though the sale was made many months
ago, the documents have never been signed to
this day.
This state Of things, and the John Smith
machinery, have their advantage, but they
have also their drawbacks. Their chief ad-
vantage consists in their total exemption from
responsibilities which they involve. The invisi-
BILE John Smith has invisible sureties, like him
self, and when the company run bad boats, or
too few boats, OF violate their contract in any
other way, the city can find no one to come
down upon. So that in fact, the Ferry Com
pany enjoy all the benefits of the ferry priv
lege without mourning any Of its contingeH
obligations, beyond the payment Of paltry
sum Of $l,262 SO per quarter.
The chief drawback is simply this:-The
Ferry Company have no more right to the slip
they occupy, or the ferry privilege they use,
than any individual who may choose to SEIZE
the one OF the other. They are practically
trespassers in the slip. Mr.. Flagg may drive
them out any day he pleases. Any one who
wants mooring place may send his boats
there; by paying hundred dollars week to
the city, his right will be as good as that Of
the Ferry Company. 1t will be better if he
moors his boat fast in the slip, and refuses to
give up possession.
AS to the other side--the west side OF the
slip-the case is somewhat different. When
the contract for enlarging the Battery was ad
judged to Mr.. Conkln and his partner, the
Common Council gave them, with the land, the
water rights west Of pier No. ], East River
There contractors have made an arrangement
with the Ferry Company, whereby the latter
enjoys the use Of the west side of the pier. The
city gets nothing for the hire Of tit is only
worth some four or five thousand a year, they
say-but the Ferry Company, holding under
the contractors, have at all events some claim
to it, which they have not to any other por-
ton of the property they are Supposed to own.
Such are the facts respecting the Staten
Island Ferry COMPANY If it performed the