page_title: Chauncey Vibbard (steamboat)
section_title: Presidential trip and more records, 1870s
hierarchical_section_title: Chauncey Vibbard (steamboat) / Hudson River service, 1864–90 / Presidential trip and more records, 1870s
caption_attribution_description: English: The 18th President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant. Français&#160;: Le président américain Ulysses S. Grant
context_page_description: Chauncey Vibbard, often abbreviated as C. Vibbard or just Vibbard, was a steamboat built in New York in 1864 for passenger service on the Hudson River. The first steamboat built specifically for what later became the Hudson River Day Line, Chauncey Vibbard quickly established herself as the fastest steamboat on the river, if not the world, with a record run from New York to Albany in 1864. Her popularity was such that after only two years of service she was lengthened to accommodate more passengers.
  Chauncey Vibbard was lengthened again in 1872, but in spite of these alterations, continued to set a variety of new speed records on the Hudson until at least 1876. In 1880, she was given another major rebuild. In 1890, after 26 years' service on the Hudson, Chauncey Vibbard was sold to the Lincoln Steamboat Company, which ran her as an excursion steamer between Philadelphia and Lincoln Park. Laid up in 1900, she was broken up in 1902, having accumulated some 36 years of service.
context_section_description: A highlight of Chauncey Vibbard's career occurred in the 1873 season when President Ulysses S. Grant took passage on the vessel from New York to Rhinebeck. Apparently hoping to travel incognito, Grant boarded the steamer with only two companions, General Orville E. Babcock and an attaché to General George H. Sharpe, to whose residence the three were travelling before setting out on a sightseeing visit to Overlook Mountain. News of Grant's presence on the steamer quickly spread, however, and Grant soon found himself the subject of "a somewhat inconvenient scrutiny". Arriving at Rhinebeck, a large crowd gathered as Grant waited for the ferry Sandy, pressing forward to shake his hand. The rest of the President's journey was accompanied by cheering crowds, gun salutes, a marching band, the unfurling of flags and banners, and showers of flowers strewn along the route.
  In 1875, Chauncey Vibbard broke the nine-landing speed record between New York and Albany by ten minutes, a record set 40 years earlier by the steamer South America.
  Chauncey Vibbard's captain, Dave Hitchcock, still hoped for an opportunity to establish a new outright record. It came in early 1876, when Chauncey Vibbard was scheduled to be sent to Albany for repainting prior to the opening of the regular season, allowing for a direct passage from New York uninterrupted by way-landings. Chauncey Vibbard accordingly departed New York at 5:20 am on April 18, bearing a party of excursionists who had been promised the fastest steamboat ride they had ever experienced. They were not to be disappointed; in spite of less than ideal conditions, Chauncey Vibbard arrived at her Albany pier at 11:40 am, setting a new record time of 6 hours 20 minutes, eclipsing her own previous record of 6 hours 42 minutes, set a dozen years earlier, by no less than 22 minutes.
caption: President Ulysses S. Grant was a passenger aboard Chauncey Vibbard in July 1873
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