The People’s Line ran steamboats up and down the Hudson from Albany to New York and back every day (except Sundays, at least as late as 1862, when this ad ran in the Schenectady directory). The Isaac Newton, built in 1846, was noted as the first ship on the Hudson to use gas for illumination. The New World originally ran from the terminus of the Hudson River Railroad at Poughkeepsie down the rest of the way to New York, but then was converted into a night boat to do the full run of the river.
For more on these steam boats, check out this page.