J u ly / A u g u s t 2 0 1 8 8 5 insights courtesy michael l. grace Night Boats By Michael L. Grace Swanky Yankee Hanky-Panky: More than just a way to get here from there. America’s famed night boats regularly sailed between New York, Boston, and Portland for nearly a century until World War II. During the summer, Maine’s coastal cit- ies, towns, and resorts rivaled Boston as the preferred ports of call. The premier night boat company was The Fall River Line, operating the most fa- mous steamboats, on which generations of New Yorkers and Bostonians traveled. After robber baron James “Diamond Jim” Fisk took over the Fall River Line in the 1880s, he put his money where his mouth was, and the glory days of night boats be- gan. As the new president, Fisk built two gleaming white, ornamental, and luxurious steamers–the best that big money could buy. The Bristol and Providence possessed the glitter of a Trump Tower afloat, rivaling the finest transatlantic liners sailing from New York to Europe. If Cornelius Vanderbilt could call himself Commodore, Fisk would crown himself Admiral, and he deserved it. Fall River Line’s steamers were soon sold out and the talk of the town. The Bos- ton Globe declared, “If you went on a trip to New York and didn’t travel the Fall Riv- er Line, you simply didn’t go at all.” While the Baltimore Sun predicted, “If the present unprecedented rush continues on the Fall River Line, Admiral Fisk will be obliged to build his 500-stateroom night boat.” In their society pages, Portland’s news- papers reported prominent citizens trav- eling to New York and Boston via the Fall River Line. Every man during the Gilded Age was a potential Andrew Carnegie, and Amer- icans who achieved wealth celebrated it as never before. With their bulging purs- es much in evidence, the new millionaires booked frequent passage to “crash their way” into the old money regulars braving the waves. They might rub shoulders with a Van Rensselaer, Astor, or Vanderbilt. Theatre folk regularly sailed on the Fall River Line, heading for engagements in Boston and New England tours. Passengers could have a ship’s menu autographed by such celebrities as Mrs. Fisk, Billie Burke, Eugene O’Brien, Lillian Russell, Maurice Barrymore, and maybe even Bette Davis, sailing on the Priscilla in the 1920s. The young actress had been chosen by the fa- mous Broadway star Blanche Yurka to ap- pear with her in Henrick Ibsen’s The Wild