Col. Daniel Richards witnessed the construction of the Erie Canal and understood that there was great potential for a shipping hub in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The Atlantic Dock Company was chartered by New York State on May 6, 1840 with a plan for a...
Great Western Steamship Line, 1872
In 1872 the Great Western Line was sailing out of Red hook Brooklyn's Atlantic Docks taking passengers and cargo to a port near London and other ports along the Bristol Channel. The cost of a cabin was $70 Today, one can take the Queen Mary 2...
GUANO: bird manure to Brooklyn, Atlantic Basin 1845
Ichaboe, a small island off the coast of Nambia, once towered high with mounds of seabird guano - an excellent fertilizer. Large scale exporting of the “white gold” began in 1843 and for a few years 450 ships were streaming to and from the...
Insurance maps of the Warehouses, &c. in Brooklyn, 1861
William Perris was a first in producing fire insurance maps for Brooklyn. The Great fires in 1835 and 1845 that destroyed large sections of the New York City made it clear to insurers the utility of knowing what buildings were made of and what...
Ad For Atlantic Docks, 1847
Construction of The Atlantic Dock - a massive, man-made harbor for deep water ships, began on June 3, 1841. The erection of stout stone warehouses and towering grain elevators that could handle products coming down the Erie Canal began in...
The Chinese Exclusion Act & the Docks of Red Hook, ca. 1920
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States. Until it was repealed in 1943, Chinese sailors were not allowed ashore. Ships that let the sailors leave could be fined $500 per person....
Canal Boat: Assault! 1859
Charles Debois was charged, in 1859, with attacking Mary Ann Baker while she was sleeping in her winter home, a canal boat docked in Atlantic Basin. The greater charge of rape was dropped. Complete text of article: New York NY Evening Express...
Atlantic Dock Mills, 1851
Grain was king in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in the latter half of the 1800s, . Boats loaded with grain would float down the Erie Canal, then down the Hudson River to the grain storehouses of Atlantic Basin, and later, in an even bigger way, Erie...
Pig found in a Drowning State, Atlantic Dock Basin, 1852
Morning Courier and New York Enquirer March 30, 1852 Picked up by a boat in the Atlantic Dock Basin, a pig in a drowning state. Owner can have the same by identifying property and paying expenses
Atlantic Dock Brooklyn: Important improvement at Brooklyn, 1848.
The construction of the Atlantic Dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn was substantially completed by the beginning of 1848. The N.Y. Courier and Enquirer, reported that they have over three thousand feet of docking space and "have constructed one of the...