Before the days of railroads the people who lived in these neighborhoods generally went to Newburgh, and if they desired to go to New York took from thence passage on a sailing vessel for that place. Sometimes the passage occupied three or four days between those two cities, dependent on the weather. In windy weather the sloops often had to anchor under some protecting high shore, and in dark nights they generally anchored until daylight. A disaster which made a great sensation throughout the county and elsewhere, happened November 24th, 1824, to a sloop of this kind, near Pollopel's Island, in lower Newburgh bay. The sloop _Neptune_ was on its way up the river under command of its first deck hand, John Decker, the captain (Halstead) having been left in New York sick. About twenty tons of plaster were in its hold and about twenty more tons piled on deck, together with eight or ten tons of other goods. There was a strong wind prevailing and the boat was coming up near the island with a double reef in the mainsail and all precautions taken for safety, when there came a sudden blast of wind which caused the sloop to dip and the plaster on deck to shift its weight. This shifting of the deck plaster caused the sloop to dip so violently that the water came pouring into the scuttle of the forecastle, and into the cabin where some ten or twelve women and a number of children were gathered. Besides the crew about twenty-six male passengers were on the deck. Instead of righting, the boat went right down without further warning. All in the cabin were drowned. It was about noon, and several boats that saw the sloop go down hurried to the scene, and were so successful as to rescue seventeen of the passengers. Joshua Mulock, of Minisink (now Greenville) was one of the men on deck, and he said that when he first heard the women and children scream in the cabin, he tried to break a grating in the deck to let them out and the boat went down so quick that it carried a part of his vest with it which caught fast. That held him and he went down under the boat. Luckily his vest tore loose, and he floated out from under the boat and came to the surface, where he was rescued. Jesse Green from present Greenville, and a man named Carey from present Wawayanda neighborhood, were also saved. Among those drowned were John Greenleaf, George Evertson, Matilda Helms and William Kelly and child from Minisink. The next year the bodies of Matilda Helms and Mr. Greenleaf were found among others at Cold Spring some distance down the river. They were buried by the coroner of Putnam County. The sloop was afterwards raised by its owners.