[6] Westervelt learned the "art, trade and mystery"[2] of his profession in a most independent way—as a teenage sailor and as an apprentice to Christian Bergh, for whom he worked at the very latest from the year 1817.

The first archetypal clipper, with sharply raked stem, counter stern and square rig, was Ann McKim,[24] built in Baltimore in 1833[25] by Kennard & Williamson.

In China she was known as "the Yacht", and with her nettings in the tops, brass guns, gold stripe, and her lavish entertainment on the Fourth of July and Washington's Birthday, she well deserved the title.

The San Francisco market was so saturated that many a disgusted ship captain dumped unwanted cargo overboard in the bay before sailing on to other ports.

Underhill's entries made clear that Westervelt recognized the economic situation facing the port of New York and was seeking other possible venues for the family business.

Their masts were cut down, their yards shortened and their sails reduced as they were refitted and re-rigged with the new Howes rig to make them easier to handle by smaller crews.

Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steam paddleship in the US, the North River Steamboat (also known as Clermont) in 1807, using a Boulton and Watt engine.

Edward Mills, a novice in the shipping business, led a syndicate that received the contract for mail delivery to Le Havre and Bremen for five years.

Both paddle steamers were said to be slow and had insufficient cargo space, and the government soon revoked the Le Havre portion of the mail contract because of the line's poor performance.

She received orders for many different missions: she was one of the ships that attacked the Forts St. Philip and Jackson, and under the command of Captain James Alden, Jr. she was part of the fleet that helped to blockade Mobile Bay.

After spending the next few weeks helping reduce the Confederate land works guarding the entrance, Brooklyn departed Mobile Bay on September 6, 1864 and headed for Hampton Roads for service in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

President Abraham Lincoln esteemed his judgment highly, and entrusted him with the purchase of many of the river craft which were altered to suit the demands of blockading and transport service.

[50][51] In 1873 the draughtsmen and engineers in the office of the Engineer-in-Chief were engaged in the preparation of maps and drawings to show the grants of land under water, around, and adjoining the island of Manhattan which had been made by either the state or Municipal governments from 1696 till 1873.

[50] A new dock system was also proposed of which the main feature was a wide river street encircling the waterfront to afford ample accommodation for the movement of freight and its transportation by rail.

[20] Westervelt stepped back from active political involvement for a couple of years, but remained a shrewd observer of current affairs and recognized nuisances and the needs of the people of "his" town.

This, however can only be attained, and the efficiency of the Department insured, by maintaining the most rigid disciple, and by inculcating implicit obedience to the rules and regulations adopted for the government of all connected with it ...

The proper cleaning of the streets is so intimately connected with the health, comfort and convenience of our citizens, too much attention cannot be given to it, and my own convictions are, that the community will not object to any reasonable expenditure when judiciously devoted to that purpose ...Westervelt's term was marked by many reforms of the city's police.

[56] Under Mayor William Havemeyer, the NYPD was reorganized on May 13, 1845, with the city divided into three districts, with courts, magistrates, and clerks, and station houses.

"[55] Another publication delineated the situation much more precisely: The most serious difficulty encountered by the police executive is the attempt to apply the regulations of the department to its own members.

[57] In 1853 an administrative body was created, called the Board of Police Commissioners, consisting of Mayor Westervelt, the recorder and the city judge.

[55] Westervelt earned many party enemies by his determined policy to keep appointments to the police force, which were then a large part of the patronage appertaining to the mayoralty, free from political influence.

[6] By the early 1850s New York had grown to sufficient size and prominence that the city decided to host a major exhibition of the type that London had pioneered in 1851.

Within New York's Crystal Palace, designed by Karl Gildemeister, four thousand exhibitors displayed the industrial wares, consumer goods, and artworks of the nation.

In 1853 the New York legislature designated a 750-acre (300 ha) area from 59th to 106th Streets for the creation of the planned Central Park, though the land alone cost over $5 million.

At the time, the city's finances were declining, and Westervelt was concerned about overspending and the state's regulatory overreach in its decision to designate such a large area.

One of the most ambivalent characters was Reverend Mr. Parsons, who had been in the habit of regularly preaching on the wharves, in shipyards and other "obscure" places along the East and North Rivers.

[6][65] The feelings of the members of this movement against the participation of foreign-born citizens in municipal affairs had grown very bitter,[63] and Westervelt set himself so sternly against them that his house was mobbed again.

[6] Probably due to the paucity of support for his reformist efforts during his term, but also because he applied himself more and more to the business of shipbuilding again, Westervelt declined a renomination, which for him was equivalent to an election, and was succeeded as Mayor by Fernando Wood.

Amongst them were two brothers, Willem and Lubbert Lubbertsen van Westervelt, both farmers and cattle raisers, who with their wives and children decided to move to the New World.

Willem was a member of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in New Amsterdam (1667), whilst his son lived at New Utrecht on Long Island.