University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Archaeology and Anthropology, South Carolina Faculty & Staff ubP lications Institute of 11-1993 S. C. Shipbuilding In The Age of Sail Carl Naylor University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/sciaa_staffpub Part of the Anthropology Commons Publication Info Published in The Goody Bag, Volume 4, Issue 4, 1993, pages 4&8-. http://www.cas.sc.edu/sciaa/ © 1993 by The outhS Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology This Article is brought to you by the Archaeology and Anthropology, South Carolina Institute of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty & Staff ubP lications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Part Three S. C. Shipbuilding In The Age of Sail (Editor's Note: In the first two in­ while discussing the cost of shipbuild­ Queenley was registered to trade be­ stallments of this article we discussed ing in Carolina with William Fisher, a tween Carolina and Georgia. The the beginnings of shipbuilding in colo­ Philadelphia shipowner, he notes that Queenley was built in 1739 in South nial South Carolina, the spread of ship­ "The difference in the Cost of our Car0- Carolina, twenty-seven years earlier. building throughout the colony, and the lina built Vessels is not the great objec­ When the 15-ton schooner Friendship types of vessels being built by South tion to building here. That is made up in was registered for trade in 1773, it was Carolina shipwrights. In this third and the different qualities of the Vessels already twenty-eight years old, having final segment, the materials used in when built or some people think so." He been built at Hobcaw in 1745. wooden shipbuilding in South Carolina adds that a vessel built in Philadelphia For additional evidence we turn to will be discussed.) "would not be worth half as much (the other sources. The South Carolina Ga­ hull of her) as one built of our live Oak zette ran a story in 1773 that the aptly By Carl Naylor & Pine ... " Writing to his brother named 125-ton ship, live 0aJ; was "con­ The early boatbuilders as well as James from England in 1774 in refer­ stantly employed in the Trade between shipwrights found local woods to be ence to acting as an agent in having a this Port and Europe." The live Oak excellent building materials. The mas­ ship made in Carolina for a Bristol had been built on James Island twenty­ sive, naturally-curved live oak for the merchantile fum, he admits his hope four years earlier. vessel's main timbers and the tall, yel­ that a Carolina-built ship on the Thames This quality of Southern timber even low pine for planking and decking were would assure that "our Ships built of reached the ears of Alexander Hamilton as ideally suited for the small skiff as for live Oak & Pine will acquire the Char­ who wrote in his Federalist Papers that the large three-masted ship. acter & Credit which they truly Merit." "The difference in the duration of the live oak and pine construction, along ships of which the navy might be com­ Live Oak and Yellow Pine with the other popular shipbuilding tim­ posed, if chiefly constructed of South­ The Gazette for 28 September 1765, bers, were frequent advertising points ern wood, would be of signal impor­ after noting the vessels presently being in a vessel's sale. On 21 May 1754 the tance ••• " built by Carolina shipwrights, claims South Carolina Gazette ran a typical ad that "as soon as the superiority of our of this sort. It was for the sale of a USS John Adams Ilve-Oak Timber and Yellow Pine schooner that would carry 95 to 1 00 The high point of South Carolina Plank, to the timber and plank of the barrels of rice. The ad notes that the wooden shipbuilding occurred on 5 JlDle Northern colonies, becomes more gen­ vessel is "extraordinary well built, live 1799 with the launching of the 550-ton erally known, 'tis not to be doubted, that oak and red cedar timber, with two frigate John Adams- at the Paul Pritchard this province may vie with any of them streaks of white oak plank under her Shipyaxd on Shipyard Cleek. The Maim in that valuable branch of business ..." bends, the rest yellow pine. " carried twenty-six 12-pound cannons And, six years later, the Gazette for 8 live oak was an obvious and com­ and six 24-pound carronades making August 1771 reports that there had been mon choice for shipbuilding, yet cedar, her the fIrst U.S. Navy vessel to be several recent orders for Carolina-built although immensely less abundant, was armed with carronades. ships from England as "Proof that the also a favorite shipbuilding material She was built with a variety of na­ Goodness of Vessels built here, and the due to its ability to resist the infamous tive South Carolina woods. The floor superior Quality of our live-Oak Tim­ teredo worm, also known as the ship­ timbers and futtocks were of live oak, ber to any Wood in America for Ship­ worm. In 1779 when the new state sought the upper timbers were of cedar, the Building, is at length acknowledged." to have a 42-foot pilot boat made the keel and keelson were of Carolina pine, Of course, the Gazette's enthusiasm specifications recommended that "the the masts and spars were of long-leaf may have been somewhat of an eigh­ whole of the frame Except the flore pine, and the deck beams were hewn teenth-century public relations effort, [floor] Timbers be of Ceadar." from yellow pine logs cut along the but there were others with no, or at least These woods also made for vessels Edisto River. less visible, ulterior motives who praised with long lives. At a time when the In 1803 she saw action off Tripoli Carolina-built vessels. average life expectancy of a wooden against the Barbary Powers. During the Henry Laurens, the owner of many vessel was about fifteen years, Caro­ War of 1812 she spent most of her time vessels built both in South Carolina and lina-built ships boasted usual lives of blockaded in New Yark harbor. In 1863, elsewhere, was one who promoted the twenty to thirty years. Once again, we at the age of sixty-four, she was ordered superiority of the Carolina vessels and turn to the colonial ship registers for the skill of local shipwrights. In 1765 evidence. In 1766, the 20-ton schooner (continued on page 8) 4 License Checks _______CO_nM_~_m_m~~_e6 ________ or anyone authorized by the institute hope it can be avoided in the future countered, both those with and without may appropriate any artifacts and data through diver cooperation with the re­ current licenses, expressed their desire that have been collected or recovered as quirements of the law. to see us more active in cruising the a result of a violation of this article." It had been hoped that more license rivers to check licenses and help iden­ SCIAA staff members have never re­ checks could be performed this year, tify their fmds, next year a series of sorted to this type of punitive action and however, due to personnel changes and license checks is planned not only for other project schedules, this turned out the Cooper River but also for major to be the only license check for 1993. rivers in the Beaufort and Georgetown Marion ___ Because the divers that have been en- areas. continued from pageS nineteenth century. likewise, the ter­ Shipbuilding _______co_n_tin_ue_d_fro_m_pa_g_e4 __ _ restrial survey team found no evidence for a military camp but did manage to to join the South Atlantic Blockading and, of course, the development of locate a colonial site contemporaneous Squadron off South Carolina. Her long steamships and steel-hulled vessels. with Marion's occupation. and illustrious career ended in 1867 However, small wooden vessels­ Ftmding for the project was pro­ when she was sold out of the Navy and yachts, ftshing boats, pilot boats, barges, vided by the landowner, Sonoco Prod­ sent to the breaker's yard. canoes, skiffs, launches, dugouts, ucts Company, and led by the Cultural batteaux, etc.- were still being con­ Resourses Consulting Division of Decline of Wooden Ships structed and used on the river and coastal SCIAA under Steven D. Smith. For The wooden shipbuilding industry waterways of the state. This small boat further information about the project declined during the fIrst half of the industry continued into the twentieth and its fmdings, please contact Mr. Smith nineteenth century. This was due to a century. at the Columbia office. general economic decline in the state South Carolina Ins~tute of Archaeology and Anthropology NON PROm ORGAN. 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