Images(3)

Pilot House Eagle

Maker Unknown Maker

Period1871

MediumCarved, gessoed, gilded and painted pine, reinforced with iron straps

Dimensions22 × 40 × 37 in. (55.9 × 101.6 × 94 cm)

ClassificationsAdvertising, Business & Ornamental Artifacts

Credit LineGift of Henry F. Gelhaus, 1955

Object number1983.419

DescriptionA powerfully carved eagle, executed in a fully three-dimensional and robust form. The bird's neck arches downward with its beak opened as if about to screech. The wings are outstretched and slightly pulled back, with the tail pointing downward. Features such as the wing and body feathers have been deeply delineated, while oversized talons grip a half-circle base.
Curatorial RemarksIn addition to the pilot house eagle, the Association also owns the paddlebox lunette from the Keyport (accession number 2000.617), as well as a second lunette from the Point Comfort (accession number 1983.418), another vessel also owned by the Keyport Steamboat Company. The donor, Henry F. Gelhaus, was the last owner of the steamboat line. His family continues to own an amusement park in Keansburg, which was part of their extensive real estate interests in that area.NotesThe pilot house eagle originally adorned the steamboat Martha's Vineyard built in New York City in 1871 for the Nantucket & Cape Cod Steamboat Company. The vessel ran between the Vineyard and the mainland until 1886, when the company merged with the New Bedford, Vineyard & Nantucket Steamboat Company. The Martha's Vineyard was then classed as a spare boat. In 1913, the Keansburg Steamboat Company of New Jersey purchased the boat and renamed it Keyport. From that year to 1916, it ran on the Keansburg to New York City route. On 22 July 1916 the Keyport was rammed off the Battery in New York and sank in seven minutes. The vessel was raised and towed to Keyport, Monmouth County, where it sank again and was abandoned in place. The eagle and accompanying paddlebox lunette (accession number 2000.617) that also features an eagle were salvaged by the Gelhaus family, owners of the Keansburg Steamboat Company. A photograph of the Keyport under way shows the eagle proudly mounted on top of the pilot house. The imposing piece of wood sculpture appears posed on the top of a step ladder in a second photograph taken in 1954.

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