She was named in honor of David Carll, a well-known City Island shipbuilder.

She was built to replace the Mary E. Fish that was run down and sank by the schooner Frank Harrington in 1885.

Captain Sam Holt once piloted the Oyster schooner David Carll.

[3] The David Carll was registered as a Schooner with the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, from 1878 to 1900.

A. Hawkins (1878-1886); Edgar T. Somers (1887 to 1894); Leonard (1895-1897); and John E. Kirwan (1898-1900); her owners were Jacob Van Name (1878-1897) and John E. Kirwan (1898-1900); built in 1876 at the City Island, New York; and her hailing ports were the Port of New York (1878-1897) and Baltimore, Maryland (1898-1900).

The David Carll started on her trail trip on November 5, 1885 from the bridge tower pier.

Speeches were made by Brooklyn Major William J. Powell, Captain Denis Reardon and others.

[8] In the Scribner's Magazine for May, 1888, William Perry Northrup told the story of a cruise made by the New York pilot boat David Carll, No, 4 when she made an attempt, in the rough weather, to tow an abandoned three-masted bark Alice Roy Quebec into the New York port.

[9][10] On July 19, 1889, the Pilot Robert Sylvester and Captain Jeremiah Reardon, of the pilot boat David Carll reported that they saw a lost airship descend from the air with a boat attached, twenty-five miles from Fire Island.

4 brought in the Red Star Line Westland that was hit by a cyclone three hundred miles east of Sandy Hook.

4, of the New York and New Jersey fleet, had onboard pilots Allen Beebe, Robert Sylvester, and Edward Nichols, as well as the boatkeeper and cook.

On her return home, after pilots boarded several steamers, the David Carll was at Fire Island when a storm developed.