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. Construction and design After purchasing the steamboats Armenia and Daniel Drew in 1863 and running them on the Hudson for a number of months, Alfred Van Santvoord decided to build a new steamboat to operate in conjunction with Daniel Drew. Accordingly, a steamboat "with the same general arrangements and appearance" as Daniel Drew was ordered from the Williamsburg, New York shipyard of Lawrence & Foulks. Completed in early 1864, the new steamer was named Chauncey Vibbard after the prominent railroad executive, who at the time was one of Van Santvoord's partners. When completed, Chauncey Vibbard had a length of 265 feet, a beam of 35 feet, a hold depth of 9 feet 6 inches, and a tonnage of 794 tons. She was powered by a single cylinder vertical beam steam engine with 55-inch bore and 12-foot stroke. Steam was supplied at a relatively high pressure of about 55 psi by two boilers, one on each guard, just aft of the 30-foot diameter paddlewheels. Both engine and boilers were supplied by Fletcher, Harrison & Co. of New Jersey. With concave lines forward and convex aft, and an unusually narrow beam for her length, Chauncey Vibbards hull was said "to cut the water as a knife blade, the water only breaking when it hit the paddles." To enhance the smoothness of operation, hull and boilers were carefully balanced to eliminate vibration. With such