Re: WESTERVELT AND MACKAY SHIPYARD

David Roberts (droberts@eagle1.eaglenet.com)
Sun, 29 Dec 1996 16:35:13 -0500 (EST)

Bob:
I found in my history collection this for you:
"South Street: New York's Seaport Museum" by William Bixby [1972]
In a section on the shipbuilders of New York [p. 46]
"Jacob Westervelt served his apprenticeship under Christian Bergh [called
"among the earliest succesful builders in New York's history" p. 44]....
he [Westervelt] worked in Savannah, Georgia[,] building ships there.
Christian Bergh had no intention of letting the young man get away,
however, and he invited Westervelt to join his company. During those years
with Bergh, Westervelt and the other partners built most of the packets
that came down the ways of New York yards. Westervelt was well thought of
in the city and became Mayor of New York in 1852."

[p.32] "As many as 33 shipyards were busy in the thirty, forties and
fifties, some of them large even by today's standards."

[p.32] "In the 1830's, shipyards lined the East River from the foot of
Pike Street to Corlears Hook and round, out of sight all the way up to
Thirteenth Street. Schooners, ships, barks, brigs, steam sailers, and
later
iron-hulled steamships all came down the ways of East river yards"

All of this would be on the Manhattan side of the East River ... area
near today's Brooklyn Bridge, Williamsburgh Bridge, etc.

The June 1962 "American Heritage" [back when "American Heritage" was
"American Heritage" not the excuse that's published today] had an brief
article on the famous shipbuilder [pp. 20-21] Donald McKay.
McKay was a native of Nova Scotia, who came to NYC as a boy and worked in
the East River shipyards w/ some of the same builders that the South
Street Book mentioned in its section on Westervelt. By the mid-1840's,
McKay opened his shipyard at East Boston, Massachusetts. His most famous
ships were built for the run between New York and San Francisco, but seem
to have been built in East Boston. McKay closed his shipyard in 1869 and
died in 1880. He's buried at Newburyport, Mass.

I couldn't see in either source that Westervelt and McKay worked together
.. but my sources are skimpy. Perhaps the "Mackay" was a different person
than the famous Donald McKay?

Try contacting the museum/library at South Street Seaport.

Do any of the New England people know if the East Boston shipbuilder
Donald McKay also built at the Manhattan shipyards along the East River?

David Roberts

On Tue, 24 Dec 1996, Bob O'Connor wrote:

> I am looking for information on the Westervelt and Mackay shipyard. I know
> it was located somewhere in New York (possible New York City??) and was
> active in the mid 1800's. They built a variety of tall sailing ships
> including the Ashburton which was the ship on which my ancestors arrived in
> 1847. Does anyone know when this shipyard was active and exactly where it
> was located?
>
> Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holiday.
>
>
> Bob O'Connor
> OCONNOR@VAXRB.NIEHS.NIH.GOV
>
>

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