The Woodstock II

The stern wheeler the Woodstock was the second to carry the name and was built in Bath, Maine. It was 82 feet long with a gross tonnage of 28. It was bought in 1852 by LeBaron Drury and George C. Gilbert of Saint John.

She was advertised to provide a service of two trips per day between Drury Cove (Saint John) and Sussex Vale, ten miles above the bridge (ferry) at Hampton, but apparently she made Hampton her terminal point.

In 1854, she ran on the Washademoak route. In 1856, she made two trips per week to Coles Island and one trip to Gagetown, and later the trip to Gagetown was extended to Oromocto. About this time, she was purchased by Small and Hatheway (The Union Line) and continued these services for three years running between Coles Island and points on the St. John River to Saint John. In 1860, she was dismantled.

There does not seem to be any record of her ever having been above Fredericton.

It is worthy of note that the ordinary wooden hull of those days lasted only about ten years. Both lumber and shipbuilders were plentiful and cheap, whereas machinery was costly and hard to obtain.

The old side wheel and stern wheel engines only turned up (revolutions per minute) about fifteen or twenty or possibly twenty-five in some cases, and since they could only run eight months per year, they simply never wore out. It was common practice to use an engine in two or even three different steamboats. The famous Ben Tibbets' compound engine served in three different steamboats ... the Reindeer, the Antelope, and the tugboat Admiral.