For ninety years, the Fall River Line steamboats were the glory of Long Island Sound. The boats were large and beautifully appointed. The accommodations and service were first class. The fares were low due to competition and low labor costs. The men who drove the steamboats on a tight schedule through fog, storms, ice and the rip tides off Port Judith were a colorful, competent crew of men. Only one passenger death was recorded during the Line's ninety years. A remarkable record considering the dangers of their route between New York and Fall River.

The Line was one half of the boat train route between New York and Boston. The steamboat left the Hudson (North) river in the late afternoon. Passengers could sleep on the overnight run to Fall River and wake up in the morning at the Fall River dock. There, they could walk through a waiting room building at the dock and board the Boston train to continue their journey.

The Fall River Line made money hauling freight. Several Line steamboats carried no passengers, but specialized in hauling cotton. Fall River was a cotton town. The Line boats carried cotton bales to Fall River and freighted cotton cloth to the New York market.

The Fall River Line passed quietly from existence in 1937. Its day had passed due to a strike, competition from the railroads, the expansion of the Cape Cod Canal and the Great Depression.