Boats on the Thames River near Fort Trumbull, New London

Title supplied by cataloger. The Grace Morgan was a screw steamer built by Robert Palmer & Sons in 1890. The steamer Block Island was built by Robert Palmer & Sons for the New London Steamboat Co. in 1882. She ran between Norwich and Block Island, with stops in New London and Watch Hill, as well as Noank, Mystic (Ram) Island and Stonington. Later under the ownership of subsidiary companies of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, she continued on this route. According to some sources, from 1915 to 1930 she was a boarding house and mess hall in Newport, Rhode Island, and in 1930 was towed to Dyers Island and burned. The Palmer family's shipbuilding and repair facility, in operation from the mid-19th century until 1914, was one of the most prominent on the east coast. It was incorporated under several names, including R. & J. Palmer, Robert Palmer & Sons, and Robert Palmer & Son Shipbuilding and Marine Railway, and experienced substantial growth in the second half of the 19th century, specializing in the production of utilitarian barges and floats. Taken by Everett A. Scholfield, a professional photographer who worked primarily in Mystic and New London from 1865-1913.