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Colonial Shipbuilding Introduction

Between America’s vast natural resources, excellent location in relation to the world market, capital flow and plentiful skilled labor; the American colonies had a comparative advantage in shipbuilding. The American colonies also had other incentives to improve their shipbuilding process and produce more ships than any other country. World trade was increasingly being conducted by way of the sea and English trade restrictions on other goods from the colonies decreased trade flows. This caused the colonies to turn to shipbuilding and many American colonists found they could make a viable living within the shipbuilding industry. Trade with Other Countries

Resources and Reasons for Growth

Reasons

In 1710 there was a boom in the shipbuilding business. At first, it was out of necessity of fishing and traveling, but as more families became experts in shipbuilding craftsmanship, they began building new ships each winter. As the demand for fishing and traveling increased, so did the need of boats. By 1845, one company, Essex was only building boats to supply to fishing companies. By the 1850’s it was manufacturing up to 50 boats a year. Colonial ships began to play a large part in the trans-Atlantic trade, by the end of the century about a fifth of the plantation trade was carried in colonial ships. Because of the growth of manufacturing in America due to an abundance of materials and low labor costs, many English authorities supported the growth of the colonial shipbuilding industry. The Navigation Acts gave colonial built ships the same status and protection as those made in England. This allowed the shipbuilding industry to prosper even more.

Trade with Other Countries

Shipbuilding Process

Shipbuilding began as an industry because of fishing in the colonies which provided coastal commerce between the colonies themselves. With plenty of forests and skilled labor around the local towns the colonies thrived. The towns themselves were an important part of the shipbuilding process because they provided a local economy of skilled labor. Towns became formed by labor groups to build ships. These labor groups included carpenters, joiners, borers, coppers, caulkers, dubbers and an assortment of young boys charged with menial tasks. Shipbuilding knowledge was passed down between generations of the town and handing down knowledge continually made the shipbuilding process more efficient.

A town of workers made the process more efficient because a 150 ton ship required 200 workers, and the shipbuilding process could take 60-100 days. Local governments supported the shipbuilding industry because it provided wealth for the local economy. Relative to other laborers, shipwrights earned a higher standard of living with their acquired skills. During the colonial period shipbuilding became the major source of employment; even slaves helped to build ships.

Source Materials and Methods

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 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.[20]

Economic Impact

In the American colonies shipbuilding had an immense impact on the economy. The colonies had a comparative advantage in shipbuilding with their vast natural resources, skilled craftsmen and capital from the British empire. The colonies ability to build ships with their large timber stock flooded the economy with capital from Britain that it had not previously experienced. Boston, Massachusetts became the central point for the boom of shipbuilding because it was the main distribution point for most of the shipping tonnage.[21]The shipbuilding industry needed plenty of skilled labor to support it and with America's large forest industry many craftsmen already had skills working with wood. These skills were well adapted to the shipbuilding industry.

Impact of Wealthy Boston Merchants

The introduction of British credit and complicated account balancing during King William's War, in the 1690's, 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 far 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. 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 logwood 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.[22] This meant more stringent lending practices to trustworthy tradesmen and a stronger, more transparent industry that continued to dominate the Atlantic economy.

Skilled Labor

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.[15] 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.[23] 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.

Natural Resources

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.[21] These vast natural resources made American colonial ships cost 25 Mexican dollars per ton versus English ships' 60 Mexican dollars per ton according to a 1794 account by Tenche Coxe.[23]

Demand

Key Drivers

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.[27] 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 exchange for mutual benefit[28]

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. 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.[29]