The first public boat service to Governors Island was instituted in 1794, when John Hillyer was given a franchise to operate a rowboat line to the island, collecting a fare of three cents per person. The Army took over the franchise as passenger traffic grew, operating barges from South Ferry or the Battery in Manhattan. The first recorded port of departure at the Battery, located south of what is now Castle Clinton, opened in 1854. At that point, there were two barges that each had a maximum capacity of 12 people. Test runs of steamboat service started in 1844, and they supplanted the former open-barges by 1879. Many of the passengers were employees at the New York Armory on Governors Island. By 1879, an "ugly little tug" that charged 15-cent fares for travel to the island was replaced with a steamboat.