Abstract:
According to Colonel C. Wingate Reed's BEAUFORT COUNTY: TWO CENTURIES OF ITS HISTORY, steamers first came to Washington, in Beaufort County, in 1847. Regular lines operated between Eastern North Carolina ports and destinations as far north as Norfolk and Baltimore. The Old Dominion Steamship Company ran regular service between Washington and Ocracoke while the Clyde Line ran ships between Washington and Norfolk. The steamers Amidas, R.L. Myers, and the Edgecombe were built specifically for river service between Washington, Greenville, and Tarboro.