Reaney, Son & Archbold was a 19th-century American iron shipbuilding company located on the Delaware River at Chester, Pennsylvania. The company was established in 1859 by Thomas Reaney (formerly of the firm Reaney, Neafie & Levy) but it was undercapitalized from the outset, and like many other American shipbuilding companies, fell victim to the shipbuilding slump that followed the American Civil War.
After the yard went into receivership in 1871, it was purchased by John Roach, who transformed it into the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works which became America's largest, most modern and most productive shipyard from the 1870s through the mid-1880s.
Origins
In 1844, three mechanics, Thomas Reaney, Jacob Neafie and William Smith, established the Penn Works in Philadelphia for the manufacture of steam engines and other products. The Works, which eventually became known as Reaney, Neafie & Levy, soon added shipbuilding to its product line.[1]
After fifteen years with the company, during which time he acquired experience in the building of both iron and wooden ships, Thomas Reaney decided to establish a shipyard of his own in partnership with his son, William B. Reaney. Selling his share of Reaney, Neafie & Levy to the other two partners (who renamed it Neafie & Levy) Thomas Reaney purchased the property of the Pennsylvania Oil Works at Chester, Pennsylvania, whose plant had recently been destroyed by fire. With its 1,200 feet of frontage along the Delaware River, at a point where the River was a mile wide and 21 feet deep, the property was an ideal location for a shipyard. Reaney named his new company Reaney & Son, and spent about a million dollars outfitting the yard for iron shipbuilding. The yard was thereby very well equipped, but the large expenditure on plant and machinery was to leave the company chronically short of cash.[2]
The yard's first vessel, a tugboat, was launched in 1861, and in the same year the firm was joined by Samuel Archbold, former Chief Engineer with the U.S. Navy, who brought with him useful connections to government. With Archbold's partnership, the firm was renamed Reaney, Son & Archbold.[1]
American Civil War
USSSangamon, an ironclad built in 1863 by Reaney, Son & Archbold
The first few vessels built by Reaney, Son & Archbold were mainly tugboats and barges, in addition to which it built a number of general purpose steam engines. With the outbreak of the Civil War however, the company had an opportunity to secure more substantial contracts. In May 1862, the yard secured contracts from the U.S. Navy to build the hulls for two of the new Passaic class monitors, USSSangamon and USSLehigh, although the Navy contracted the engines to another firm.[3]
The heavy armor plates required to build the two monitors forced the company to upgrade its ironworking facilities, leaving it with as little as $25,000 to $30,000 in working capital.[4] The shortage of capital may have contributed to the fact that, of all the companies contracted to build Passaic class monitors, Reaney, Son & Archbold was the last to make delivery, which was achieved respectively in February and April 1863.[5] With a displacement of 1,875 tons apiece, these would be the two largest-tonnage vessels ever built by the company.
Reaney, Son & Archbold built a number of other warships for the Navy during the war, including the 1,370-ton gunboats USSSuwanee and USSShamokin and the 974-ton gunboat USSWateree. It was also contracted to build one of the ill-fated Casco class light draft monitors, the USSTunxis. In the case of the latter, the company was amongst the first to deliver, in July 1864, but the Navy-designed Casco class monitors, including Tunxis, proved so unseaworthy as to be virtually useless, and Tunxis was never to see action.[6] The last two Navy vessels built by the company were two 420-ton tugs, Pinta and Nina, but neither were delivered until some months after the war's end.[7]
Postwar period
The paddle steamer Samuel M. Felton, one of the few notable vessels built by Reaney, Son & Archbold in the postwar period
Following the end of hostilities, the U.S. government, which had requisitioned hundreds of ships during the war, dumped more than a million tons of shipping onto the market, depressing prices and leaving U.S. shipyards with little or no work. Many U.S. shipyards were forced out of business during this period, and the rest struggled to survive.
Between 1865 and 1868, Reaney, Son & Archbold secured contracts for only two vessels of over 1,000 tons—the 1,430 ton passenger-cargo ship Thomas Kelso in 1865, and the 1,074 ton passenger-cargo vessel Tioga in 1867. In 1866 it also built the 671-ton sidewheel steamer Samuel M. Felton, which for some years was the fastest vessel on the Delaware River on the route between Philadelphia and Wilmington.[8] Apart from these however, the yard could secure little more than a handful of contracts for tugboats and barges and for ship repairs.
To try to make up for the lack of activity on the waterfront, the company attempted to diversify. In late 1865, it built the engines for two locomotives, Nos. 263 and 264 for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, at a cost of $20,000 each, along with the tender wheels for twenty more.[9] Later, it built sawmill engines, blast engines, boilers, and even a steam fire engine.[10]
In 1868, the company finally secured a substantial contract, for the construction of five cargo ships for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, which were duly completed between 1869 and 1870. Briefly it appeared as if the company, with the patronage of the Railroad, might be able to overcome its difficulties, but then the Railroad decided to cancel its plans for more ships.[11]
Roach takeover
In February 1870, Reaney, Son & Archbold attempted a financial restructure by creating a new entity called the Reaney Engineering and Shipbuilding Works of Chester, with an authorized capital of $750,000 and shares with a par value of $100. The restructure failed and Reaney, Son & Archbold went into receivership in January 1871.[12]
In June 1871, the New York-based industrialist John Roach bought the Reaney shipyard for $450,000. Roach initially tried to retain the services of Thomas Reaney's son William, by making him manager of the yard and selling him $40,000 worth of stock for $10,000. In the second year of Roach's ownership however, both William Reaney and assistant manager Henry Steers, who had accepted a similar deal, sold their stock and quit the company, fearing it was about to go broke.[13]
Roach renamed the yard the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works.[13] He subsequently transformed it into America's largest and most modern shipbuilding facility, building more tonnage of ships in almost every year from 1871 to 1885 than America's next two biggest iron shipyards combined.[14] Following Roach's retirement in 1885, the yard remained in the hands of the Roach family until 1908 when they retired from the business.[15] The yard was reopened by Charles Jack and W. Averell Harriman for several years during and after World War I to manufacture ships for the U.S. Shipping Board, under the name of Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation.[16]
William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia was founded in 1830 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder of the late 19th century.
The first USS Tunxis was launched on 4 June 1864 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by Reaney, Son & Archbold; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 12 July 1864. On 21 September 1864, the light-draft monitor departed the sheltered waters of the navy yard on her maiden voyage. However, she soon began taking on water at such an alarming rate that she came about and returned to Philadelphia where she was decommissioned later in the month.
Neafie, Levy & Co., commonly known as Neafie & Levy, was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shipbuilding and engineering firm that existed from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Described as America's "first specialist marine engineers", Neafie & Levy was probably the first company in the United States to combine the building of iron ships with the manufacture of steam engines to power them. The company was also the largest supplier of screw propellers to other North American shipbuilding firms in its early years, and at its peak in the early 1870s was Philadelphia's busiest and most heavily capitalized shipbuilder.
The Casco-class monitor was a unique class of light draft monitor built on behalf of the United States Navy for the Mississippi theatre during the American Civil War. The largest and most ambitious ironclad program of the war, the project was dogged by delays caused by bureaucratic meddling. Twenty ships of the class were eventually built at great expense, but proved so unseaworthy when trialed that they were quickly sidelined, causing a public scandal.
The Morgan Iron Works was a 19th-century manufacturing plant for marine steam engines located in New York City, United States. Founded as T. F. Secor & Co. in 1838, the plant was later taken over and renamed by one of its original investors, Charles Morgan.
John Roach was an American industrialist who rose from humble origins as an Irish immigrant laborer to found the largest and most productive shipbuilding empire in the postbellum United States, John Roach & Sons.
Birely, Hillman & Streaker was a prominent Philadelphia shipbuilding firm through the latter part of the 19th century. The shipyard specialized in the manufacturer of large wooden paddle steamers and wooden steamboats for the domestic American market.
The Pusey and Jones Corporation was a major shipbuilder and industrial-equipment manufacturer. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, it operated from 1848 to 1959.
The Pennsylvania class was a class of four cargo-passenger liners built by the Philadelphian shipbuilder William Cramp & Sons in 1872–73. Intended for the newly established American Line, the four ships—Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois—were at the time the largest iron ships yet built in the United States, and were launched with considerable fanfare. Upon entering service in 1874, they became the first American-built steamships to challenge British dominance of the transatlantic trade since the American Civil War.
SS Illinois was an iron passenger-cargo steamship built by William Cramp & Sons in 1873. The last of a series of four Pennsylvania-class vessels, Illinois and her three sister ships—Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana—were the largest iron ships ever built in the United States at the time of their construction, and amongst the first to be fitted with compound steam engines. They were also the first ships to challenge British dominance of the transatlantic trade since the American Civil War.
The Amphitrite-class monitors were a class of four U.S. Navy monitors ordered in the aftermath of the Virginius affair with Spain in 1873. The four ships of the class included Amphitrite, Monadnock, Terror, and Miantonomoh. A fifth ship originally of the same design, Puritan, was later fitted with extra armor and designated as a unique class.
The Etna Iron Works was a 19th-century ironworks and manufacturing plant for marine steam engines located in New York City. The Etna Works was a failing small business when purchased by ironmolder John Roach and three partners in 1852. Roach soon gained full ownership of the business and quickly transformed it into a successful general-purpose ironworks.
The Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation was an American corporation established in 1917 by railroad heir W. Averell Harriman to build merchant ships for the Allied war effort in World War I. The MSC operated two shipyards: the former shipyard of John Roach & Sons at Chester, Pennsylvania, and a second, newly established emergency yard at Bristol, Pennsylvania, operated by the MSC on behalf of the U.S. Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC).
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.
John Roach & Sons was a major 19th-century American shipbuilding and manufacturing firm founded in 1864 by Irish-American immigrant John Roach. Between 1871 and 1885, the company was the largest shipbuilding firm in the United States, building more iron ships than its next two major competitors combined. It was also by far the largest contractor to the U.S. Navy during this period, and at its peak is said to have been the nation's largest employer behind the railroads.
The Chester Rolling Mill was a large iron rolling mill established by shipbuilder John Roach in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States in 1873. The main purpose of the Mill was to provide metal hull plates, beams and other parts for the ships built at Roach's Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, also located at Chester.
Lawrence & Foulks was a 19th-century American shipbuilding company based in New York. Established in the early 1850s, the company built 144 vessels of all types over the course of some fifty years, but is best known for its production of high-speed wooden-hulled steamboats and steamships. Notable vessels built by the company include the record-breaking Hudson River steamboat Chauncey Vibbard, the luxury Long Island Sound steamer Commonwealth, and the fast oceangoing steamships—later U.S. Navy gunboats—Bienville and De Soto. In addition to the domestic market, the company also built ships for service as far afield as South America and China.
The Continental Iron Works was an American shipbuilding and engineering company founded in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in 1861 by Thomas F. Rowland. It is best known for building a number of monitor warships for the United States Navy during the American Civil War, most notably the first of the type, USS Monitor. Monitor's successful neutralization of the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in the 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads—the world's first battle between ironclad warships—would come to heavily influence American naval strategy both during and after the war.
Bethlehem Key Highway Shipyard started as William Skinner & Sons in downtown Baltimore, Maryland in 1815. In 1899 the shipyard was renamed Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. Also at the site was Malster & Reanie started in 1870 by William T. Malster (1843–1907). In 1879 Malster partnered with William B. Reaney (1808-1883). In 1880 Malster & Reanie was sold and renamed Columbian Iron Works & Dry Dock Company. Malster & Reanie and Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company merged in 1906, but remained as Skinner Shipbuilding. In 1914 the company was renamed Baltimore Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company. Baltimore Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company sold to Bethlehem Steel in 1922, becoming part of Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. Bethlehem Steel operated the shipyard for ship repair, conversion and some ship construction. Bethlehem's main ship construction site was across the harbor at Bethlehem Sparrows Point. Bethlehem Key Highway Shipyard was known as the Bethlehem Upper Yard located north-east side of Federal Hill. Bethlehem Fort McHenry Shipyard located on the west side of Locust Point peninsula was known as the Lower Yard, near Fort McHenry.
References
Books
Bell, J. Snowden (1912): The early motive power of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, Angus Sinclair, New York, p.130.
Heinrich, Thomas R. (1997): Ships for the Seven Seas: Philadelphia Shipbuilding in the Age of Industrial Capitalism, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN0-8018-5387-7.
Roberts, William H. (2002): Civil War ironclads: the U.S. Navy and industrial mobilization, JHU Press, ISBN978-0-8018-6830-6.
Scharf, Thomas J. (1972): History of Delaware, 1609-1888, Volume Two, pp.749–759, Kennikat Press, ISBN978-0-8046-8615-0.
Swann, Leonard Alexander Jr. (1965): John Roach, Maritime Entrepreneur: the Years as Naval Contractor 1862–1886— United States Naval Institute (reprinted 1980 by Ayer Publishing, ISBN978-0-405-13078-6).
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