Shipbuilding in the American colonies

The transatlantic triangular trade involved three journeys each with the promise of a large profit and a full cargo. In reality, the journey was more complicated with ships traveling from all over Europe carrying manufactured goods to different ports along the African coast to trade for slaves. The ships from Africa then sailed across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and Americas to trade the slaves for raw materials. Finally the ships from America returned to Europe with raw materials such as sugar, tobacco, rice and cotton. The system of Triangular Trade allowed for goods to be traded for other goods, rather than being bought or sold.

Ships from England would go to Africa carrying iron products, cloth, trinkets and beads, guns and ammunition. The ships traded these goods for slaves, gold and spices (pepper). Ships from Africa would go to the American Colonies via the route known as the 'Middle Passage'. The slaves were exchanged for goods from the Americas, destined for the slave plantations. Ships from the Americas would then take raw materials back to England. The British would use the raw materials to make 'finished goods'.[3]

The shipbuilding process began with the frame and then heating the hull of the ship. This was done using steamers and wood as fuel. Planks were heated up to be able to bend with the curve of the ship.[6] Once all the framing and planking was completed, caulking waterproofed the ship. Ships made of wood required a flexible material, insoluble in water, to seal the spaces between planks. Pine pitch was often mixed with fibers like hemp to caulk spaces which might otherwise leak. Crude gum or oleoresin could be collected from the wounds of living pine trees.

Tools used included the mallets and irons. Mallets were usually 16 inches from end to end with the handle bar usually being about 16 inches. The material that was hammered in between each of the planks was typically oakum, a kind of hemp fiber. There were oftentimes 2-3 layers of this oakum fiber placed in between the planks. Putty would be put on afterwards to finish off the waterproofing. Tar, which also came from the thousands of trees available, was oftentimes spread over the top of these planks and they were covered with copper plating. Copper was used because without it the ship’s hull would often get infected with worms. The copper was fastened to the ship with bronze nails. The ships were oftentimes painted yellow, to help make the ship appear faster and newer.

The early wooden vessels worked for business angling and remote exchange likewise offered ascend to an assortment of subordinate exchanges and commercial enterprises in the zone, including sail making, chandleries, rope strolls and marine railroads. Shipyards in Essex and Suffolk regions are credited with the development of the conventional American dory and constructed those that included the prestigious Gloucester, Massachusetts angling armada, freed the settlements from British guideline, reinforced the vendor and maritime armadas that made the United States a force to be reckoned with and assumed essential parts in World War I and World War II. Numerous vessels incorporated into this schedule were either developed in Massachusetts or are illustrative of the sorts of vessels manufactured and repaired in Massachusetts shipyards.[7]

The introduction of British credit and complicated account balancing during King William's War, in the 1690s, changed how Boston merchants financed the shipbuilding industry. As British credit flowed into the community, Boston merchants began creating long-term credit arrangements with waterfront tradesmen and other skilled laborers. Local labor and exchanges of goods could be sustained across scores of people linked with myriad small amounts of credit and debit without cash. But the shipbuilding industry generated the labor and capital necessary for merchants to create larger and more intricate financial networks that solidified their position of power within both the local and the Atlantic economy. The extension of credit to a large portion of society helped spur the shipbuilding boom period from 1700-1717. Merchants such as Elias Hasket Derby, ordered schooners and brigs from the North River (Massachusetts Bay) shipyards and in which led him to trading with China. This made Derby one of America's first millionaires.

Elias Hasket Derby(1739-1799)

In 1717, Boston learned that disaster had struck in the West Indies. The Spanish attacked and destroyed the British settlement at Trist in the Bay of Campeche, where Boston merchants had long extracted log wood for sale in England and Europe. Boston's economy was sent into a tailspin. Ship orders decreased and confidence in long-term credit arrangements plummeted triggering an unprecedented amount of lawsuits. Boston's economic catastrophe in 1717 led to the creation of new currency and credit laws that directly affected how merchants and tradesmen in the shipbuilding industry conducted business.[9] This meant more stringent lending practices to trustworthy tradesmen and a stronger, more transparent industry that continued to dominate the Atlantic economy.

Much of the skills required of shipwrights or shipbuilders were obtained through on-the-job-training. Many of the earliest shipyards and boat shops operated as family businesses passed down from generation to generation.[4] The town of Essex, Massachusetts became the center for skilled craftsmen and produced the best boats. In 1794, Tenche Coxe described America's shipbuilding experiences as an art for which the United States is peculiarly qualified by their skill in construction and vast natural resources.[10] Skilled shipbuilding craftsmen were always in demand during the colonial period because shipbuilding pertained to many areas of the economy. The uses of ships in trade, fishing and travel meant there was a continual supply and demand for shipbuilding skills.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, forests were the basis of sea power in all its military and commercial aspects, and each nation strove to maintain its independence by protecting timber supply routes that often extended over great distances. This drove the British to encourage shipbuilding in the American colonies. Over 1,000 vessels were launched out of the American colonies during the seventeenth century. Boston, Massachusetts was the distribution hub of natural resources that included cedar, maple, white pine, spruce and oak timber cut in New England. By the mid seventeenth century shipwrights were beginning to take advantage of oak, mulberry, cedar and laurel in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. During the seventeenth century iron became increasingly used by shipwrights for bracing, bolts, anchors and ordinance. The American colonies were able to meet their demand for iron by utilizing their expansive charcoal reserves.[8] These vast natural resources made American colonial ships cost 25 Mexican dollars per ton versus English ships' 69 Mexican dollars per ton according to a 1794 account by Tenche Coxe.[10]

One of the main drivers of demand Naval architecture changed gradually in the eighteenth century. Of five classes of seventeenth-century vessels, only ship continued to be built after the early 1700s. The others were replaced by four new types: sloop, schooner, brigantine, and snow. Given the constant emigration of shipwrights from England and the limited advances in technology, it is not surprising that eighteenth-century Americans were usually familiar with trends abroad. Sloop and schooner were more manageable and could operate with fewer men. Smaller sails meant lighter masts and rigging, which in turn reduced expenses for the owners.[13]

In addition, availability alone fails to explain the general popularity of New England-built tonnage in other colonies. Cost may have been the decisive factor. After all, among the American colonies, New England shipyards produced the most tonnage and often had the lowest building rates. Convenience must have been an important attraction also. Surplus goods and ships could be exchanged for mutual benefit[14]

The sale of colonial ships built on the British market enabled English merchants to secure cheap tonnage and gave American merchants an important source of income to pay for their imports. All the colonies exported shipping, but once again, New England was the chief contributor.

A foreign market during colonial times.

New England supplied about half of the tonnage in Great Britain at the end of the colonial period. Within New England, Massachusetts and New Hampshire were the leading producers; Pennsylvania; followed by Virginia and Maryland, launched most of the remaining tonnage. British demand for American natural resources provided a foreign market for colonial shipbuilding.[15]