Colonial boston shipwright

These large wooden vessels featured two masts carrying two principal sails supported by booms and gaffs and had one or more triangular head sails rigged to a bowsprit. By the s, 15 Essex shipyards launched more than 50 vessels a year, most of which were built for the Gloucester fleet. A typical Essex shipyard consisted of a plot of land near the water with a few shipways, a shop for yard tools and enough space to store timber. Few shipyards had an on-site office and business was often conducted at the builder's home.

Of the 4, vessels built in Essex during its year shipbuilding history, only 5 of the fishing schooners exist today. Boston Naval Yard Photo from NPS Maritime Heritage Program collection Unlike the Essex shipyards that largely produced fishing vessels, other Massachusetts shipyards constructed vessels that played an important role in the birth, growth and continued effectiveness of the U.

The Boston Naval Yard built more than warships, and maintained and repaired thousands of others from to Upon closing after years of service, 30 acres of the navy yard became part of Boston National Historical Park administered by the National Park Service. The frigate USS Constitution , also known as "Old Ironsides," which is the oldest commissioned warship in the world, and the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Cassin Young are displayed there as representatives of the vessels built and repaired at the shipyard.

From humble beginnings in , the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts quickly grew to become the second largest shipyard in the country and remained a leader in the shipbuilding industry for a century. Bostonians submitted to the inequity of the taxation until their resentment motivated them to resist, and on the night of December 16, , they made their historic move. Everyone knows that the Boston Tea Party was a pivotal point in United States history and that it was the spark that ignited the American Revolution.

But how many know that two of the three ships involved were whaleships out of Nantucket? By the s, Nantucket whalers were hunting sperm whales in the Atlantic off the coasts of South America and Africa and as far south as the Falkland Islands. It was common practice to send whaleships loaded with barrels of spermaceti and oil collected from oilier vessels in the South Atlantic directly to the London market. It burned more brightly and cleaner than any other substance and was used then mainly for making candles.

The manufacturing process of spermaceti candles, an important and lucrative branch of the whaling industry, was a closely guarded secret. Only a handful of colonial candle manufacturers possessed this knowledge, and they attempted to establish a monopoly under the name of the United Company of Spermaceti Candlers.

The Nantucket whaleship owners, being shrewd businessmen, knew they would get a better price for the oil in London than what was offered by this cartel in the colonies.

The ship Dartmouth and the brig Beaver were in London in the late sunmmer of The Dartmouth was loaded with chests of tea, each weighing about pounds, and the Beaver carried chests.

The donor of the chair is the great, great grandson of Captain Coffin. By October 19, , seven colonial ships had departed England for the eight-week voyage to the American ports of Boston, New York, Charleston, and Philadelphia. John Rowe was also the owner of the merchant vessel Eleanor. By law, after having entered the harbor, Rotch had only twenty days to unload his cargoes before the ships would be seized and the cargoes sold at auction to pay the customs duties. This is the earliest plan yet found of an American-built warship.

Wrought by Ben Hollowell at Boston , the vessel was a 24 gunner, sturdy and fast. The lines and makeup of her design were standard for her class and era. As were those of the 44 gun frigate "America" built at Portsmouth N. Meserve in