Shipbuilding in the Period of the Revolution
At a Convention of delegates and representatives of the counties and corporations of the Colony of Virginia on July 17, 1775, there was established a Committee of Safety consisting of ten prominent men for putting into execution the ordinances and resolutions of the Convention. That committee was authorized to provide as many armed vessels as they judged necessary for the protection of the Colony in the war that seemed to threaten. Advertisements for ship-carpenters and other operatives were made, and every inducement held out to them in order that the building of vessels might immediately commence.
Between December, 1775, and July, 1776, the Committee established a small navy by purchase of several armed, schooner-rigged vessels from the owners of the merchant fleet; and contracts were made for a number of galleys to be constructed on the different rivers of the Colony. The Potomac was to be protected by the construction of two row-galleys and the purchase of three boats. George Minter was elected master of a row-galley to be built on the James River under the direction of Colonel Cary. He was requested to recommend proper persons to be mate, two midshipmen, gunner, and to enlist forty seamen.
John Herbert, a master shipbuilder, was employed to engage any number of ship-carpenters that he could procure upon reasonable terms, and to examine such places upon the James River or its branches as he thought proper and convenient for erecting shipyards, and to report to the Committee.
Caleb Herbert was retained as the master builder of a shipyard on the Rappahannock River, and Reuben Herbert for such a yard on York River. Each of them was desired as soon as possible to engage a proper number of workmen for building two row-galleys to be employed in the two rivers to transport troops. It was recommended that a committee at Norfolk engage a proper person to take direction and employ a number of ship-carpenters for at least a year, to build vessels for the Colony.
George Mason, in a letter to George Washington on April 12, 1776, mentioned that he had under his charge two row-galleys of 40 or 50 tons burden, each to mount light guns, three and four pounders; and the sloop, American Congress, a fine stout vessel of 110 tons burden, mounting fourteen carriage guns, four and six pounders, and was considering mounting two 9-pounders upon her main boom.
On June 6, 1776, the Committee of Safety appointed Christopher Calvert to superintend the building of two row-galleys for the protection of Virginia and North Carolina, to engage a master workman and as many men as he should need to work expeditiously. The two vessels, Caswell and Washington, were built at the South Quay Shipyard on the Blackwater River near the North Carolina line. A North Carolina sloop had been seized in Ocracoke Inlet in April, 1776. Sometime later, a warrant for £100 was issued to Argyle Herbert for the use of Captain Calvert upon account to pay the carpenters employed on his galley.
At the convention of delegates held at the Capitol in Williamsburg on May 6, 1776, resolutions were passed dissolving the Government from Great Britain, establishing Virginia as a Commonwealth or State. A Board of Navy Commissioners composed of five members was appointed to superintend and direct all matters relating to the Navy. Their peculiar duties were defined as follows: To superintend and direct the building and repairing of all vessels; provide the necessary outfits, ordnance, provisions and naval stores; control the public rope walks; erect dockyards; contract for and provide all timber necessary for building purposes; and supervise the shipyards.
On September 12, 1776, this Commission was requested to engage the proper persons for building “in the most expeditious manner”, 30 boats for the transportation of troops on the rivers, each boat to be the proper size for carrying a complete company of 68 men with their arms and baggage. Those were small boats without masts but broad and strong enough to transport troops across rivers and to carry from point to point large quantities of ammunition and provisions as they were required. The small boats had been found indispensable in retreats, in rapid marches, and in concentrating land forces.
The Commissioners were authorized in October to provide the necessary plank and timber for the building of four large galleys fit for river and sea service, and to be mounted with proper guns. And for manning these galleys and others being built, the Commissioners were requested to raise the number of men needed, not to exceed 1300 to serve three years.
The Continental Congress directed that two frigates of 36 guns and of 500 tons burthen be built in Virginia, and the Navy Board ordered the work done at Gosport Shipyard in Norfolk County. The following excerpts from a letter of Richard Henry Lee of the United States Congress to James Maxwell, Chief Superintendent of Construction on December 1, 1776, give directions for building the frigates:
The Congress has resolved upon building two ships-of-war of 36 guns each…. You, Sir, have been recommended as a person of great fitness for this business…. I do, in the name of the committee, request you will … determine a most fit place to put these ships upon the stocks at. Safety against the enemy is a very necessary object, proper water for launching, and convenience for getting timber you will consider…. A master builder with four or six workmen will soon go hence to Virginia for this business, and I have no doubt other workmen will be had in that State to carry on the work briskly…. The builder desires that trees be felled immediately whilst the sap is down, that a quantity of locust trunnels be split one and one-half inches and from 18 to 30 inches in length; that sawyers be employed to get out white oak plank of 3½ inches. These things and whatever else may be immediately necessary for this business you will take care to have done…. The builder tells me that cedar, locust, pitch pine, or wild cherry will be the proper timber for the upper works.
On Wednesday, December 18, 1776, it was resolved by the General Assembly that the Governor be desired to write to the Maryland Council of Safety to inform them that four galleys of eighty odd feet keel, intended for the protection of Chesapeake Bay and adjacent capes and coasts, were then building in Virginia and in great forwardness, and that the General Assembly have directed four more galleys, much larger, be immediately built and equipped for the same purpose. The hope was expressed that the sister state, equally interested in mutual defence, would supply a proper quota of galleys to act in concert with those of Virginia. Chesapeake Bay was the chief theatre of action by the enemy because of the principal tories residing near its waters. To watch their movements and prevent intercourse with the enemy became the duty of these galleys.
Two galleys, the Accomack and Diligence, were built in 1777 on Muddy Creek near Guilford in Accomack County, and stationed on the Eastern Shore. These large galleys were about 90 feet in length and each carried two 18-pounders, four 9-pounders, and several swivels, in all ten guns.
The State built and operated in 1777, a ropewalk at Warwick in Chesterfield County about five miles below Richmond, where ducking, sail-cloth, and rope were manufactured under the charge of Captain Charles Thomas. Several important warehouses had been established there. The place was totally destroyed in the British raid of April, 1781.
There were numerous places in Virginia where shipbuilding was carried on during 1776 and 1779. Vessels were built and equipped on the Eastern Shore, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, Chickahominy and James Rivers; at Hampton, Gosport in Norfolk County, South Quay on the Blackwater near the Carolina line, Frazier’s Ferry on the Mattaponi, and Cumberland on the Pamunkey. This last shipyard was discontinued at the suggestion of Thomas Jefferson in 1779 because of the enormous expense attending its support. There was also a shipyard in Gloucester County owned by John Hudgens. Construction was carried on chiefly at the Chickahominy and Gosport yards.
The shipyard on the Chickahominy was located about twelve miles from its mouth and chosen partly because of its sheltered location and the fine timber that grew near by. The Navy Board had purchased 119 acres of land for the sum of £595 in April, 1777, and it became one of the busiest shipyards in the State. The ship Thetis, and the armed brig Jefferson, and many others were built in this yard. This establishment suffered the same fate as the Warwick ropewalk during Arnold’s raid in 1781. A few posts are still standing in the water to mark the spot.
Just before the breaking out of the Revolution, the British Government had established a marine yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, for the use of its Navy, and named it for the dockyard Gosport near Portsmouth, England. This yard was confiscated by Virginia when the war began, and enlarged in 1801, by the purchase of 16 acres of the estate of Andrew Sproule, the British Navy Agent, for $12,000. The ship Virginia was built here and the two frigates laid on the stocks, with a number of other vessels.
Early in May, 1779, a British fleet with a large force of frigates and transports passed through the Capes and on into Hampton Roads, under the command of Sir George Collier. Unable to meet such a formidable enemy, the Virginians withdrew their small fleet up the river for safety. The following extract is said to be from the Journal of H.M.S. Rainbow, commanded by Sir George Collier:
When the troops under General Matthews took possession of Portsmouth, Norfolk and Gosport Navy Yard had been abandoned. Before leaving, the Virginians had set fire to a ship-of-war of 28 guns ready for launching, belonging to Congress, and two French merchant ships loaded with bales of goods and tobacco…. The quantities of naval stores found in their arsenals were astonishing. Many vessels of war were on the stocks in different stages of forwardness; one of 36 guns, one of 18, three of 16, and three of 14, beside many merchantmen. The whole number taken, burnt, and destroyed while the King’s ships were in the river amounted to one hundred and thirty-seven sail of vessels…. [Evidently, James Maxwell’s two frigates were included in this group.] Five thousand loads of fine seasoned oak knees for shipbuilding and an infinite quantity of plank, masts, cordage, and numbers of beautiful ships-of-war on the stocks were at one time in a blaze and totally consumed, not a vestige remaining but the iron work…. Quantities of tar were found in the warehouses, and in Suffolk, 8,000 barrels of pitch, tar, and turpentine were seized. Much was carried away but great quantities were set on fire and left behind.
Early in 1780, it was learned that the enemy intended another invasion of the coast of Virginia, and the General Assembly took measures for defense. In addition to land forces, the Navy was ordered to assemble a small fleet consisting of the ships Thetis, Tempest, and Dragon, the brig Jefferson and the galley Henry for the purpose of defending Hampton Roads and adjacent waters. In October, the situation seemed much more critical and Acts were passed to build two more galleys of the same construction as built by Congress in 1776, carrying two 32-pounders in the bow, a like number in the stern, with 6-pounders at the sides. The rigging, sails, guns, and other materials to be provided while the galleys were on the stocks that no time be lost in preparing them for the cruise.
Captain James Maxwell addressed a letter to Governor Jefferson on December 7, 1780, informing him that the Lieutenant of the Jefferson thinks it will take £14,000 [in continental money] to pay her up to the present time. There was also due the workmen of the Gosport Shipyard on the last of October, £18,679-14s.-6d. Clothing was wanting for 26 men—52 shirts, 26 jackets, and breeches, stockings, shoes and hats or caps.
Governor Jefferson wrote to James Maxwell on January 16, 1781, as follows: “I enclose you a plan for building portable boats, recommended by General Washington, and shall be glad that you will take measures for having about twenty of them made without delay. We have doubts that they will suit our waters, and will be glad to confer with you on any suggested improvement.”
General Lafayette having arrived at York on March 13, 1781, Governor Jefferson wrote him that there would be ready for him at the Chickahominy Shipyard four boats well-fitted to his purpose, and others were collecting in the rivers to rendezvous at Hood’s. These were for lookout boats placed in the Rappahannock, Piankatank, and York Rivers. Hood’s was a battery on the James in Prince George County, opposite Weyanoke, now called Fort Powhatan. Later, Maxwell notified the Governor that he was building a few boats at the Chickahominy Shipyard. The Governor had requested that a good bateau builder be sent there to superintend some carpenters in building bateaux for the river above the Falls, and the rest of the carpenters be set to building boats for navigating the lower parts of the river, boats so light and of such form they could be moved on wheels.
On April 21, 1781, the traitor Arnold and Phillips made their raid up the James River, penetrating as far as Richmond. A detachment under Lieut. Col. Ambercrombie destroyed the shipyard at Chickahominy including a large number of naval craft, among them an unfinished ship of 200 tons, and important warehouses. On April 27, the Virginia fleet composed of six ships, eight brigs, five sloops, two schooners and several smaller craft, met the British fleet in battle a few miles below Richmond, but had to give way. A number of vessels were scuttled or set on fire, but the enemy captured the rest, and the fleet was practically wiped out. Only one armed vessel remained, the brig Liberty.
After the surrender of Cornwallis, the General Assembly met on May, 1782, and appointed three Commissioners to superintend the work of protecting the Bay. The ship Cormorant and the brig Liberty were prepared, and plans made for building two galleys and two barges or whale boats. The Commissioners managed to keep a small naval force together during 1782 and 1783, until the war came to an end. When peace was declared in 1783, the Commissioners had in different stages of construction the schooners Harrison and Patriot, the barges York and Richmond, and the pilot boat Fly. Virginia dispensed with all her fleet except the Liberty and Patriot which were retained, with the approval of Congress, as revenue cutters.
Among the various types of vessels mentioned here, galleys are generally thought of as having been rather insignificant. On the contrary, they were among the important vessels constructed for the Virginia Navy. While they were so built that they could easily retire up the creeks out of range of British guns, they were capable also of sailing out in the broad waters of the Bay. They were broad in proportion to their length which varied from 60 to 90 feet, and not drawing much water could support immense weight upon their decks, as in transporting troops with their horses and baggage, and in carrying guns of the largest size. Generally they had two masts and were rigged as schooners, but an occasional galley carried three masts as in the case of the Gloucester. Some were without masts and were called row-galleys. These were only half decked, were provided with high and strong bulwarks for the better protection from marksmen, and were propelled by oars only.
The armaments of these galleys were much more formidable in proportion to their tonnage than were those of any other vessels. In November, 1776, two large galleys for river and sea service were ordered to be built to carry four 24-pounders, and fourteen 9-pounders each. Also, in October, 1780, two more large ones were ordered to carry two 30-pounders in the bow, the same in the stern, with 6-pounders at the sides, for the protection of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Gloucester was one of the largest galleys built. Judging from the order sent to Captain Charles Thomas on April 30, 1777, for rope and cables from the ropewalk at Warwick, the galley had a foremast, a mainmast, a mizzen and a bowsprit. All the rigging was to have a rogue’s yarn in it, that it might be distinguished from merchant rope. A rogue’s yarn was a single thread of red or blue which was twisted in the rope at the manufactory, and served to distinguish it from all others. The Gloucester was used as a prison ship.
Two accounts of the development of the schooner in use by Virginia during the Revolution are worth recording:
(a) It is from this time perhaps that we may date that new era in the art of shipbuilding which now produced the firstlings of that brood of fast-sailing clippers that afterwards were to astonish and charm the naval world with their brilliant performance. The Americans were the originators of this improved naval architecture. It was developed by that spirit of invention and love of adventure so characteristic of a young and vigorous people, urged by necessity…. The far-famed Baltimore clipper soon established the reputation of that long, low, rakish-looking craft, which has ever since been the cynosure of the seaman’s eye.
(b) The most spectacular event in the history of naval architecture in the 18th century was the emergence of the clipper-schooner which became famous during the Revolution. This was a trim, rakish craft known as the Virginia-built schooner, an exclusively Chesapeake type prior to the Revolution. The war created a demand for this fast-sailing vessel and builders all along the coast constructed vessels on the clipper lines thereby converting it to a national type. The war made the clipper-schooner internationally known, however, and before the end of the century, the French, Dutch, and British built schooners on the clipper lines.
The pilot boat used in the Virginia Navy was a small fast-sailing craft used as “lookouts”, only two of which, the Molly and the Fly, were armed. Their duties were attended with many hardships and extreme peril. They were obliged to hover along a dangerous coast in all weathers to give notice of the approach of every sail whether friend or foe. They acted as a flying sentry at the gates of the Chesapeake, but constantly exposed to the broad Atlantic outside.
Although the war virtually eliminated Virginia’s trading fleet as well as her Navy, her shipbuilding capacity was at its best. Her many shipyards, abundant supplies of available shipbuilding timber, and her skilled craftsmen soon put her trading fleet in operation and it became an integral part of the American Merchant Marine.