Riverton Pier with big Elco vapor boat moving to the dock (Click to enlarge)

 

Notes from Og “Skipper” Mattis – These notes are from the 1865 – 1965 Riverton Yacht Club Centennial. In the book, Og is mentioned as being as close to the title of Mr. Riverton Yacht Club as anyone can get.

 

For instance, take the bell that was mounted on the post-just in-shore of the house. They would ring it twice a day when the steamers arrived. Now it’s in the belfry of the little church in East Riverton.

 

The clubhouse sits almost twenty feet closer to the shore than it did years ago. Once some of the members decided to hold a clay pigeon shooting contests off the end of the pier. So they had the house moved back sixteen feet or so, to make room for the gunners. (Guess that would make the Riverton Police Department pay attention)

 

There was a hole in the balcony railing (under the stop signal) and it was not an example of poor maintenance. The had a pretty big ornamental cannon and the muzzle stuck through the railing. Sometimes it got crowded on the balcony during Saturday races because they had musicians playing up there.

 

I can remember when I was ten years old, running out to the stern of the sidewheeler Columbia to dive off when she was tied up at the pier. There were three steamers on the Philadelphia-Burlington run – Columbia, John A, Warner, and Twilight. Twilight eventually sank up around Bordentown.

 

People have asked me about the iron rings at the base of some of the posts on the boardwalk railing. The rings were used by rowboat owners and shad fishermen to tie up their boats. In those days there were eight feet of water in-shore of the club at high tide. The fisherman were all gill netters. They’d drift a net from the Palmyra ferry slip up to Torresdale, and they’d haul in and empty their catch. Shad was good eating and I’m glad to here they’re coming back to the Delaware.

 

“I jumped at this chance to throw in a few comments about this club that I’ve been close to for most of its history. As time goes on, more and more miscellaneous but interesting little facts about the club will become forgotten unless someone comits then to writing. I hope this Centennial Yearbook serves as the beginning of such a history.” 

 

History

 

With the end of the Revolution, stage roads developed more rapidly and the steamboat era dawned, signaling a decline in the importance of sail in the workaday pursuits and personal transportation on the Delaware River. Not long after the War of 1812 the railroad era began, and by 1835 rail transportation was making inroads on what remained of sailing patronage. Many towns on the river came into being as a result of the Camden and Amboy trackage, laid in 1834, and the rapid accessibility it offered to Camden ferries and to the established towns of Burlington and Bordentown. Riverton, in particular, was laid out, named and occupied in thr years of 1851-52 by nine Philadelphians – Caleb and James Clothier, Daniel Miller, William and Dillwyn Parrish, Robert and William C. Biddle, Rodman Wharton and J. Miller McKim – on land purchased from Joseph L. Lippincott.

 

Sail on the river had just about come to an end, but memories of the days of sail were vivid to the boat owners who had year ‘round and summer homes in Riverton. With the end of the Civil War, plans laid aside years before were revived when a few of these boat owners met at the home of Edward H, Ogden to consider forming a yacht club. It was unanimously decided to organize the Riverton Yacht Club and on July 1^st, 1865, our club, which is the oldest on the Delaware and the ninth oldest in the United States (sic – this is from Riverton Yacht Clubs’ yearbook and there is some debate as to the actual number as to who was the oldest. It will undoubtedly change more as more time passes). Casper W. Morris was elected Commodore; Jocob G. Morris, Vice Commodore; and Edward H. Ogden, Secretary and Treasurer

 

Swept by the atmosphere of patriotism in the land, with the end of war and the death of Lincoln, the committee which selected a club flag concluded that nothing could be more appropriate than a burgee with thirteen five‑pointed white stars in a blue field, with red and white stripes above and below. This burgee is twenty‑four inches long and sixteen inches wide. Federal law has since prohibited the use of stars and stripes in the design of new burgees and flags.

 

 

Boats of the club were quartered near a new wharf at the foot of Main Street. Built by the same group who organized the club, the wharf was erected to permit steam‑boat service between local towns and Philadelphia. The same group chartered the seventy‑foot side wheeler, Wave, to initiate this service. Later, other steamboats such as Rancocas, Barclay, and Columbia became a familiar part of the Riverton scene. The club's first racing fleet consisted of six sixteen‑foot cat boats designed by Senat and built by McGeehan. The boats sailed by the Biddles won the races for ten straight years.

 

During, the early years the club suffered much inconvenience in not having a club house. Funds were subscribed and a club house which still stands as a land mark today was erected on the Riverton Pier in 1880‑81 "with the stipulation that the club should maintain a waiting room for steam‑boat passengers". Since the principals of the yacht club and the Riverton Iron Pier Co. were the same men, the agreement was not a difficult one to reach.

 

On March 9, 1881, the Riverton Yacht Club was incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey under an act entitled "An act to incorporate boat clubs and other associations for the promotion of athletic exercise, approved April 1^st 1876 and the supplements thereto". In 1887, twenty‑two years after the club was formed, the names of those attending the annual meeting included Charles M. Biddle, Charles W. Davis, Edward H. Ogden and W. R. Ellison of the original group. Added to the active list were J. B. M. Showell, E. Fitler Jr., J. P. Bioren, J. C. W. Frishmuth, L. A. and C. L. Flanagan, and C. Cornelius.

 

The annual regatta of 1888 found five boats of the "First Class"‑approximately 26‑foot boats‑and only two of the "Second Class" cat boats competing. By 1890 participation had dwindled still further with only four 26‑foot First Class boats competing for three prizes. With one of the boats disabled, every boat that finished took a prize and the best time for the 10 mile course was 1: 17. In the Second Class only two cat boats raced. Here, too, it seemed obvious that both boats would take prizes, but to prove such predictions erroneous the pair of them fouled the upper buoy and the race was no race at all.

 

With 1893 came the introduction of a new fleet of mosquito boats, fifteen in number. This boat was fifteen feet in overall length with a five‑foot two‑inch extreme beam, of clinker design with a cat rig. Most of these boats were stored in the mosquito boat house on the river bank in front of the present water company building.

 

In 1894 an invitational regatta brought to Riverton two boats of the forty‑foot "sloop and cutter" variety, four in the thirty to forty‑foot class, seven ranging from twenty‑one to twenty‑nine feet, three twentysix footers, three eighteen‑footers and twelve of the mosquito class.

 

This period also saw changes in the town, with Riverton withdrawing from Cinnaminson Township and incorporating as a Borough on December 18, 1893. The population had passed the 1000 mark. It was to double in numbers during the next fifteen years with the development of the Edward Lippincott farm southeast of the railroad by Ezra Lippincott and his son Lawrence.

 

In 1897, the yacht club was instrumental in initiating a custom that has become a Riverton tradition‑the children's parade on the 4th of July. Charles W. Davis and Albert J. Briggs originated the idea, and the club followed through to elaborate on the original plan. The parade marched to the river front in the early years, rather than from it as at present. A feature of the early celebration was the presentation of a silk flag to each child in the town. The early observance ended with patriotic songs and an oration at the river bank.

 

Then, during the year of 1904, there appeared a significant new fleet, the 26‑foot one‑designers. These followed the pattern of the Fiona, a 26‑footer brought to Riverton in 1902 by J. H. Hillman. These boats were rigged with jib and mainsail and were of dead‑rise construction. Nine members of the club joined in building boats of this class, and as the list offers a glimpse of principal members of the time, we mention the owners: A. G. Cook, Charles S. Mills, H. McIlvaine Biddle, J. W. Hamer, F. W. Radell, J. H. Reese, E. W. Crittendon, C. M. Biddle, and J. L. Lippincott. Eight of these boats sailed in the regatta of 1904.

 

Around the same time and lasting through World War I, came the Hill One‑Designer. The fleet consisted of 15 or 20 boats. Several of this class boat which bad been skippered by Linton Rigg, Fred Smith and Rod Merrill, could still be seen up to the late 30's.