Thomas Clyde (1812 – January 12, 1885) was a ship-owner, founder of the Clyde Line of steamers, and a civil and marine engineer who built the first commercial

screw steamer A screw steamer or screw steamship is an old term for a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine, using one or more propellers (also known as ''screws'') to propel it through the water. Such a ship was also known as an "iron screw steam shi ...

in America. He was born in Ireland and emigrated to the United States at the age of eight. He lived in Philadelphia with his uncle until they relocated to

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester i ...

in 1826. Clyde and Edward Darlington co-owned a spinning mill on

Chester Creek Chester Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ' ...

in Pennsylvania and another mill on the

Brandywine River Brandywine Creek (also called the Brandywine River) is a tributary of the Christina River in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. The Lower Brandywine (the main stem) is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydr ...

in Delaware. He worked for his uncle's grocery business until 1832 and then took charge of a stone quarry on

Ridley Creek Ridley Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in Chester and Delaware counties, Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Keystone Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2004. The entire drainage basin is in the suburban Philadelphia area, but ...

. The quarry provided huge blocks of stone ranging between two and seven tons to the U.S. Government for the construction of the

Delaware Breakwater The Delaware Breakwater is a set of breakwaters east of Lewes, Delaware on Cape Henlopen that form Lewes Harbor. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United Stat ...

near Cape Henlopen, Delaware. The stones were carried to Cape Henlopen by large sloops. He also worked as a contractor on the construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal in Virginia. In 1842, he began a short-sea shipping business between Philadelphia and New York. The venture initially consisted of only one steamer but quickly grew to twelve steamers running between the two ports. The business expanded to include routes to Norfolk, Richmond, Alexandria, Washington, D.C. and other ports along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. In 1844, Clyde partnered with Swedish inventor John Ericsson and Thomas Neafie (of Neafie & Levy) to apply Ericsson's screw-propeller technology to steam vessels. After several experimental versions, Clyde launched the twin-screw propeller steamer ''John S. McKim'' making it the first screw steamer built in the United States for commercial use. Thomas Clyde ran the shipping company from 1844 until 1861. He was at one point in that period the largest owner of steamers and steamships in the United States. At one point he controlled all steamship traffic from New York to San Francisco as well as the traffic on the Panama Railroad. He served as a director in the Delaware Mutual Safety Insurance Company and the Central National Bank. He also had holdings in railroads and real estate. His son William Pancoast Clyde took over the company and it expanded into the Clyde Steamship Company with additional steamships and routes in the last quarter of the 19th century and into the 20th. The company was sold to

Charles W. Morse Charles Wyman Morse (October 21, 1856 – January 12, 1933) was an American businessman and speculator who committed frauds and engaged in corrupt business practices. At one time he controlled 13 banks. Known as the "Ice King" early in his career ...

in 1906.

He was married to Rebecca Pancoast. He died on January 12, 1885, and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

References

1812 births 1885 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople American bankers American mining businesspeople American businesspeople in shipping American company founders American manufacturing businesspeople American shipbuilders American textile industry businesspeople Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Businesspeople from Philadelphia People from Chester, Pennsylvania Irish emigrants to the United States {{US-business-bio-stub