Steamer ESSEX.
Built for the Weems Line in 1885 at William Skinner & Sons in Baltimore. It was the first screw-operated steamboat built for the Weems Line. Estimated cost $40,000. The forward part of the saloon was completely surrounded by windows. It had accommodations for 50 first-class passengers and could carry 250 tons of freight. Operated by a crew of 40. It was aboard this steamer that Captain Daniel M. Davis died in 1910.
From “Tidewater By Steamboat: A Saga of the Chesapeake” by David C. Holly. Photograph in collection of Mariner’s Museum.
