Launching of the S.S. Watertown on the Charles River in 1890, at Cassidy?s Shipyard near present-day Palmer Street. Over five thousand spectators came to the launching to listen to speeches, listen to the band music, participate in a banquet and have a "gala."Note the large logs used to roll the ship to the river. The ship was about 400 tons and was driven by a double propeller. Note the large logs used to roll the ship to the river. The ship sailed from Salem Willows to Beverly and Marblehead. The ship was spectacularly destroyed in 1892 off of Shirley Point when the ship sank due to an engine fire. Through the efforts of John E. Cassidy, $20,000 was appropriated by the Legislature for the deepening of the Charles River channel which opened up navigation on the river. John E. Cassidy came from Ireland at the age of ten, started in Lowell, Mass. in stone cutting, later operated a grocery store there and eventually opened a liquor store in Boston. He retired in 1909. During his residency in Watertown, he was one of the largest property owners in town. Cassidy was generous and one of his projects was providing the convent building next to St. Patrick's Church for the nuns. In 1859 he married Mary Ann Haviland and had five children, of which only one, Mrs. E.J. (Mary) Palmer, was still alive at his death. Duplication of figure 2476 Line # 385 and figure 2425 and Line # 386.
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