Community Sunday Favorites: Captivated by the Titanic

Samuel Ward had a natural talent for artistic marine drawings.

BRADENTON – The Stanton siblings were no strangers to the sea. The three boys grew up imitating their father who was a successful marine architect and engineer. Samuel Stanton proudly observed, as their crude childhood sketches eventually became technical blueprints for his future boat builds. Like all true seamen, the boys were fascinated by the ocean and attracted to the ships that navigated her waters. It was no surprise to anyone when the youngest son embarked on the maiden voyage of the world’s largest, most lavish ship -- the Titanic. 

Samuel Stanton had a natural talent for marine architecture. So much so, that he crossed the Atlantic to attend classes at prestigious University of Oxford. It was there that he won a marine drafting contest and received a large box containing a set of German drawing tools that would remain in the family for centuries. 

In 1860, he opened a shipyard in Newburg, N.Y. with a man named Ward. Ward-Stanton and Company was located on South Water Street, near the foot of South William Street on the Hudson River. The yard was capable of constructing boats up to 300 feet. They built mostly ferries, but manufactured small-scale yachts and tugs as well. 

Samuel married Margaret Fuller Smith of Kent, Conn. They had three children, William Henry, Curtis Henderson and Samuel Ward. Stanton’s oldest son William disappeared at age 15. He enlisted as a cabin boy on a four mast, square rigged ship. His parents didn’t know where he was until after the ship departed. William was gone for three years, during which he circumnavigated the world and visited every continent. He even traveled throughout China. He returned in 1880 and rejoined the family business.  

Samuel grew weary of the business and pursued endeavors elsewhere. He had his heart set on Florida –the new frontier. Unaccompanied, he made the long journey south and visited Braidentown (as Bradenton was called then). He purchased waterfront property just west of Main Street and bought a 13-acre citrus grove on Terra Ceia Island. Then, he traveled back to New York and began construction on a vessel that would not only transport his family to Manatee County, but also become a major means of passage for the area’s pioneer residents. 

The family built the Stanton Sawmill at a site of what became the corner of 2nd Avenue and 14th Street West.

It took two years to design and build the shallow-drafted steamer the Manatee. It was 125 feet long, had a 40-foot beam and a draft of three feet. She was a side-wheeler with a beam engine and an iron hull. Curtis helped his father design, build and install the engine. 

The Manatee was launched in August of 1884, and completed one month later. Samuel sold his interest in the business and loaded his family, belongings and some machinery for a sawmill aboard the Manatee. The left in October; the boys were all teenagers and William served as Captain. The trip took 20 days, seven of which were actual running days. Because inland waterways were not yet developed, they had to voyage offshore. This was risky because not only was it hurricane season, but there were very few navigational aides and riverboats weren’t licensed to go beyond a certain point away from the shoreline. 

In 1885, the Ward-Stanton and Co. boatyard was closed due to an uninsured fire, according to shipbuildinghistory.com.

The Stanton’s ran the Manatee between Tampa, Charlotte Harbor and Ft. Myers until 1886, when she was sold for service in the St. John’s River, but that wasn’t the last time citizens of Manatee saw her. The riverboat returned in the early 1900s when the Independent Line purchased her after she was badly burned by a fire. She was remodeled to include a cabin on the upper deck where many Bradenton residents could lookout over the Manatee River on one of their numerous pleasure voyages throughout the Tampa Bay area.

This rendering of the Favorite Steamboat was drawn by Samuel Ward Stanton.

The family built the Stanton Sawmill at a site of what became the corner of 2nd Avenue and 14th Street West. The Stanton home was built right on the bank of the Manatee River, approximately three blocks west of Main Street, with lumber from the mill. Curtis ran the mill a while, but then his love of the sea came calling, and he embarked on various other voyages throughout Cuba and the Caribbean. He moved to Tampa and became the superintendent of engineering of the Plant Marine System, but he died of typhoid fever in his twenties.

Samuel Ward had a natural talent for artistic marine drawings. Today, he is a famous marine artist, but when he moved to New York, he and his small family struggled to survive. His mother tore the mill down and moved the whole family to Florida. Still, Samuel Ward traveled back and forth to New York where he attended the Cooper Union. Samuel Ward excelled in ship renderings. He published a book in 1895 called The American Steam Vessel that featured 498 pages, each depicting a steamer of that time. Some of the principal boating manufacturers hired him to do renderings and interior design of new builds. 

While working on a job in Europe, he ran into an old friend in Liverpool. Both men were returning to the U.S. in the next couple of days, but Stanton had reserved a berth aboard a French liner. His friend was leaving on the Titanic. The friend, who was also a marine writer, convinced Samuel Ward to come back on the ill-fated ship.

”This is the best chance in the world for you to get a wonderful marine piece on the maiden voyage of the worlds largest and unsinkable ship,“ he said.

Reservations were booked solid, but his friend had connections and got him aboard only days before departure. 

Samuel Ward was never seen again. While his name was on the passenger list, he was reported ”lost“ in the tragedy. Weeks after the disaster on April 15, 1912, a man with a coat on was found floating. His body was partially frozen and moderately decomposed. There was no identification in his clothes, but inside a coat pocket was a letter. The writing was completely obscured except for the letters W. anton. The discoverer assumed it was S.W. Stanton. They left the body, but rescued the coat. The delivered the black jacket back to Stanton’s wife in Bradenton, Fla.  

Ward Stanton’s artistic compilations are still sought after around the world.