the United States. It consisted of rails laid on an inclined plane upon which a cradle was run for the purpose of drawing vessels up and out of the water in order to repair them. In consideration of their enterprise, the Legislature granted to the railway company a charter for a bank to last "as long as grass grows and water runs". This resulted in the founding of the Dry Dock Bank, later known as the Eleventh Ward Bank. The only other institution that ever received such a charter was the Manhattan Company. James Rich Steers had been a stockholder in that bank more than fifty years. With his son, James Rich Steers, they re-built the sloop of war Peacock in 1828. In 1829, his son became superintendent of the shipbuilding firm of Smith & Demon. Death Steers died on March 28, 1850 at a New York State Asylum in New York City. His obituary said that he was a "ship builder and a man of respectability and talent." References American shipbuilders English shipbuilders 1779 births 1852 deaths People from Dartmouth, Devon English emigrants to the United States