The Union Line, formed in 1820, was the most popular passenger steamer service running between Philadelphia and New York. An injunction against the use of New York waters, which was lifted in 1824, initially required the company to provide that leg of the journey by stagecoach, before transferring passengers back to the steamer. To save time on busy routes, passenger steamships such as this one merely slowed down their paddle wheel and released a small launch tethered to a rope. The launch would ferry passengers and luggage to the shore and pick up new ones before the steamer cranked it back in. This plate depicts this activity, with some recently disembarked passengers on the bank in the foreground.

The source of this view is uncertain but certainly copies another plate produced by Wood featuring the Chief Justice Marshall of the Troy Line (inv. no. 1930.3131). That image may have been taken from an advertisement. The transfer-printed shell border was one of the firm’s stock designs and could be reused to decorate many different pieces.