The DAVID M. LYLE on the Delaware River, ca. 1860

color lithograph

Color lithograph of the sloop DAVID M. LYLE, by F. H. Schell. This lithograph was printed by the lithographer, W. H. Rease.

Members of a Philadelphia volunteer fire company got together to buy a fast boat in 1858. They were bricklayers, boatmen, carpenters, and salesmen. Lyle, probably the main contributor, was a house painter. About 1860, W.H. Rease published this lithograph by Francis H. Schell showing the crew in their boat. They called it a "jib-and-mainsail" boat. It resembled the New York "sandbaggers," but the twisty Delaware was no place to rely on tossing sandbags from side to side to keep the boat upright. Instead, the crew had folding racks to sit on or "hike out."