Greenport Basin and Construction Company

Last updated

The Greenport Basin and Construction Company, known by various names throughout its history, but most recently named the Greenport Yacht & Shipbuilding Company, is a shipbuilder in Greenport, Suffolk County, New York. It was established in the 19th century by brothers Pliny C. Brigham and Theodore W. Brigham. [1] [2] One local history relates:

Greenport prospered due to the menhaden industry; 64 boats were in service and seven under construction in 1879. By this time, shipbuilding (pleasure craft, cargo vessels, fishing vessels) boomed in Greenport. The Greenport Basin and Construction Company, famous yacht builders, became a large repair and docking facility for menhaden vessels. (Today, the company is known as Greenport Yacht and Shipbuilding.) Menhaden vessels or "bunker boats" were said to have lined the shoreline along Main and Front Streets. [3]

The company built dozens of ships for the United States Navy during World War I and World War II, as well as building yachts for private customers. [2] In 1917 the company became involved in a tax case against the United States, in which it protested the assessment of an "excess profits" tax. [1] The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the company finally lost the decision in 1923. [1] [4] In 1970, the company was acquired by Stephen Clarke, and thereafter turned its attention from ship construction to ship maintenance and repairs, and historic preservation of ships. [1]

Ships built or converted

Notable ships built by the company include:

ShipTypeYear
USS Acme (AMc-61) minesweeper 1941
USS Adamant (AMc-62) minesweeper1941
USS Advance (AMc-63) minesweeper1941
USS Aggressor (AMc-64) minesweeper1941
USS Alarka (YTB-229) tugboat 1944
USS Ardent (SP-680) minesweeper1902
USS Atlantis (SP-40) motorboat 1911
USS Avalon (1908) patrol vessel 1908
USS Beluga (SP-536) patrol vessel1911
USS Chingachgook (SP-35) motorboat1916
USS Condor (AMS-5) minesweeper1942
USS Fulmar (AMc-46) minesweeper1941
USS Hatak (YTB-219) tugboat1944
USS Iona (YTB-220) tugboat1944
USS Jacamar (AMc-47) tugboat1941
USS Lark (AMS-23) minesweeper1943
USS Limpkin (AMc-48) minesweeper1941
USS Lorikeet (AMc-49) minesweeper1941
USS Patrol No. 10 (SP-85) motorboat1917
USS Perfecto (SP-86) motorboat1917
USS Quest (SP-171) patrol vessel1916
USS Sea Gull (SP-544) yacht 1902
USS Uncas (SP-689) motorboat1917
USS Vitesse (SP-1192) patrol vessel1917
USS Vamanosketch1968
USS Whippet (SP-89) motorboat1917

In addition, the USS Patriot (PYc-47), built in 1930 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island, was converted for Navy service as a submarine chaser by Greenport Basin and Construction Company, in 1940.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport News Shipbuilding</span> American shipyard

Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy submarines. Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Co. in 1886, Newport News Shipbuilding has built more than 800 ships, including both naval and commercial ships. Located in the city of Newport News, its facilities span more than 550 acres (2.2 km2), strategically positioned in one of the great harbors of the East Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AG Weser</span> Shipbuilding company

Aktien-Gesellschaft „Weser" was one of the major German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,400 ships of different types, including many warships. A.G. „Weser" was the leading company in the Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG, a cooperation of eight German shipbuilding companies between 1926 and 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipyard</span> Place where ships are built and repaired

A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial construction. The terms are routinely used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vigor Shipyards</span> Major American shipyard company

Vigor Shipyards is the current entity operating the former Todd Shipyards after its acquisition in 2011. Todd Shipyards was founded in 1916, which owned and operated shipyards on the West Coast of the United States, East Coast of the United States and the Gulf. Todd Shipyards were a major part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program for World War II.

The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan, United States. It ceased to operate in 1976 after failing to renew its contracts with the United States Navy. The site of the former company is now being developed for business and housing on the bank of the Saginaw River.

Canadian Vickers Limited was an aircraft and shipbuilding company that operated in Canada during the early part of the 20th century until 1944. A subsidiary of Vickers Limited, it built its own aircraft designs as well as others under licence. Canadair absorbed the Canadian Vickers aircraft operations in November 1944.

USS <i>Sea Gull</i> (SP-544) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

The third USS Sea Gull (SP-544) was a wooden yacht in the United States Navy.

USS <i>Margaret</i> (SP-328)

USS Margaret (SP-328) was a menhaden fishing trawler acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was configured by the Navy as a Section mine sweeper. Post-war she was sold resuming commercial fishing as Margaret. With World War II the vessel was acquired by the U.S. Coast Guard serving from December 1942 to June 1943 as an emergency manned vessel. Margaret resumed menhaden fishing and was shown as active in the U.S. register as late as 1968.

USS <i>Chingachgook</i> (SP-35)

USS Chingachgook (SP-35) was a motorboat acquired by the United States Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as an armed patrol craft for the 3d Naval District and assigned to patrol New York City waterways. Unfortunately, after several months of operation by the Navy, an on-board gasoline explosion destroyed the craft.

USC&GS <i>Natoma</i> Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USC&GS Natoma was built as the private motorboat Natoma in 1913 for Charles H. Foster, President of the Cadillac Motor Car Company of Chicago. In 1917 the United States Navy acquired the boat for use in World War I. The vessel was commissioned USS Natoma for Section Patrol duties and designated SP-666. Natoma spent the war years patrolling New York harbor and approaches. On 9 April 1919 the boat was transferred to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey surveying on both coasts until 1935.

The Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, was a major late-19th-century American shipyard located on the Delaware River in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the industrialist John Roach and is often referred to by its parent company name of John Roach & Sons, or just known as the Roach shipyard. For the first fifteen years of its existence, the shipyard was by far the largest and most productive in the United States, building more tonnage of ships than its next two major competitors combined, in addition to being the U.S. Navy's largest contractor. The yard specialized in the production of large passenger freighters, but built every kind of vessel from warships to cargo ships, oil tankers, ferries, barges, tugs and yachts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seattle Construction and Drydock Company</span>

The Seattle Construction and Drydock Company was a shipbuilding company based in Seattle, Washington. Between 1911 and 1918, it produced a substantial number of ships for both commercial and military uses. In the beginning of the 20th century, until its significance was diluted by the emergence of a number of shipyards during the World War I shipbuilding boom, it was the largest of its kind in Seattle and one of the few significant ship yards along the West Coast of the United States.

Henry B. Nevins Incorporated was wooden-hull yacht builder in City Island, New York founded in 1907 by Henry B. Nevins. Nevins was a master yacht builder and author on vessel construction who apprenticed at the island's Charles L. Seabury & Company. Later he purchased the nearby Byles Yard to increase his company's acreage. Henry B. Nevins Inc. built custom sail and motor yachts and racing craft for affluent clients, but also small tugs and barges for commercial customers. Run by a perfectionist, Nevins' company seasoned its own lumber, designed and machined its own fittings, made its own glue, and balanced spars by weighing shavings. As a result, Nevins built more cup-winning yachts than anyone else in the industry.

USS <i>Raeo</i> Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Raeo (SP-588) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she operated as the motor passenger vessel Raeo from 1908 to 1917. After the conclusion of her U.S. Navy career, she served as the fishery patrol vessel USFS Kittiwake in the United States Bureau of Fisheries fleet from 1919 to 1940 and as US FWS Kittiwake in the Fish and Wildlife Service fleet from 1940 to 1942 and from 1944 to at least 1945, and perhaps as late as 1948. During World War II, she again served in the U.S. Navy, this time as the yard patrol boat USS YP-199. She was the civilian fishing vessel Raeo from 1948 to 1957, then operated in various roles as Harbor Queen from 1957 to 1997. She became Entiat Princess in 1998 and as of 2009 was still in service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division</span> American shipyard in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California

Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division was a shipyard in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. Before applying its last corporate name, the shipyard had been called Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company and Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division. Under those three names, the San Pedro yard built at least 130 ships from 1917 to 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay Shipbuilding Company</span>

Bay Shipbuilding Company (BSC) is a shipyard and dry dock company in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin. As of 2015, Bay Ships was a subsidiary of Fincantieri Marine Group and produces articulated tug and barges, OPA-90 compliant double hull tank ships and offshore support vessels. It also provides repair services to the lake freighter fleet. In the past the shipyard located in Sturgeon Bay has operated under several different names and traces its history back to 1918.

Swiftships is a shipbuilding and marine engineering company headquartered in South Louisiana, USA. Company operates globally and specialized in the construction of small to medium sized vessels made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass. Swiftships is involved in ship design, construction, repair and maintenance activities.

75-foot patrol boat American Coast Guard patrol craft

The United States Coast Guard wooden-hulled 75-foot patrol boats were built during Prohibition to help interdict alcohol smugglers. Their nickname was derived from the slang term "six bits" meaning 75 U.S. cents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Shipbuilding Company</span> Shipyard in Long Beach, California, United States

Craig Shipbuilding was a shipbuilding company in Long Beach, California. To support the World War I demand for ships Craig Shipbuilding shipyard switched over to military construction and built: US Navy Submarines and Cargo Ships. Craig Shipbuilding was started in 1906 by John F. Craig. John F. Craig had worked in Toledo, Ohio with his father, John Craig (1838-1934), and Blythe Craig, both shipbuilders, their first ship was built in 1864 at Craig Shipbuilding Toledo. John F. Craig opened his shipbuilding company in Port of Long Beach on the south side of Channel 3, the current location of Pier 41 in the inner harbor, becoming the port's first shipyard. In 1907 Craig Shipbuilding is given a contract to dredge a channel from the Pacific ocean to the inner harbor. In 1917 Craig sold the shipyard to the California Shipbuilding Company. But then opened a new shipyard next to the one he just sold and called it the Long Beach Shipbuilding Company. The Long Beach Shipbuilding Company built cargo ships in 1918, 1919, and 1920 for the United States Shipping Board.

<i>YT-46</i>-class harbor tugboat Wood-hulled tugboat

The YT-46-class harbor tugboat was a wood-hulled tugboat design ordered by the U.S. Navy in May and June 1918 during World War I. 40 ships of the type were launched and completed at 13 shipyards: the Charleston Navy Yard; the New Orleans Naval Yard; the Clayton Ship & Boat Building Company, Clayton, New York; the Eastern Shipyard Company, Greenport, New York; the Eastern Shore Shipbuilding Company, Sharpstown, Maryland; the Greenport Basin and Construction Company, Greenport, New York; the Hiltebrant Dry Dock Company, Kingston, New York; Robert Jacob Shipyard, City Island, New York; the Luders Marine Construction Company, Stamford, Connecticut; the Mathis Yacht Building Company, Camden, New Jersey; the New York Yacht, Launch & Engine Company, Bronx, New York; the Vinyard Shipbuilding Company, Milford, Delaware; and the Wheeler Shipyard Corporation, Brooklyn, New York. In 1920, at the Navy's adoption of alpha-numeric hull designations, the ships were classified as yard tugs YT-46 though YT-85.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kenneth J. Blume, Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Maritime Industry, p. 203, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Greenport Basin, Greenport NY Archived 2013-10-20 at the Wayback Machine ," Shipbuildinghistory.com.
  3. Village of Greenport Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, p. II-4, 1996.
  4. Greenport Basin & Constr. Co. v. United States , 260 U.S. 512 (1923).