The Early Organization of the Shipyard
by John G. M. Sharp
The Early Organization of the Shipyard
by John G. M. Sharp
From its founding as a federal naval shipyard, Gosport Navy Yard was a highly structured organization.
At the top of the shipyard were naval officers like Commodore John Cassin, the commandant of the shipyard from 1812-1821. Cassin was a senior naval officer with many years of experience, both at sea and ashore. From his arrival in 1812, he quickly moved to establish order and surrounded himself with a small group of trusted officers and civilian master mechanics. During his years at Washington Navy Yard, as executive officer under Commodore Thomas Tingey, the experience had taught him how to motivate, rely and delegate to his civilian master mechanics.
Commodore John Cassin
1760 -1822At the shipyard, the top of the trade hierarchy were the master mechanics. In their respective trade, they each personified authority, trade knowledge and tradition. These master mechanics were seasoned workers recognized as experts in their craft, and it was they who provided the day-to-day leadership for their workers.
Reporting to the master mechanics were further levels of supervisors, then journeymen mechanics, apprentices and lastly unskilled laborers. The whole structure depended on skilled trade mechanics or journeymen. The term mechanic in the early nineteenth century referred to a skilled tradesman such as ship carpenter, mast maker, block maker and blacksmith, each of whom had successfully completed a five or six year trade apprenticeship in their particular field.
Each trade had trainees or apprentices, young workers in training. A trade apprentice signed a binding legal indenture or contract, typically with a Master Mechanic to return designated service in exchange for being taught a trade.
The laborers at the Gosport shipyard were the unskilled men who performed heavy, dirty and occasionally dangerous work, such as digging, pile driving and pulling or hauling of ships and ship parts. White laborers in 1819 were paid $1.00 per diem. For modern researchers it often comes as surprise that wages in the federal shipyard fell during the early nineteenth century. Wage reductions could be dramatic; for instance, in 1808 carpenters wages were $2. 50, per day but in the year 1820 they had fallen to a low of $1.64. Most all employees, with the exception of Clerks and Master Mechanics, were paid per diem and as such subject to the vagaries of the local and national marketplace, plus the ever changing whims of Congress over the Navy Department’s annual appropriation. Enslaved labor made up a significant but often unacknowledged part of the shipyard’s antebellum workforce.By 1848 about one third of the 300 workers at the shipyard workers were enslaved.1 George Teamoh (1818 – after 1887) was born enslaved in Norfolk, Virginia. He worked both at the Fort Monroe and the Norfolk Naval Yard as an enslaved laborer and ship caulker during the 1830’s and 1840’s. He wrote:2
1 Starobin, Robert S. Industrial Slavery in the Old South, ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), p. 32.
2 Teamoh, George God Made Man Man Made the Slave: The Autobiography of George Teamoh, edited by F. N. Boney, Richard L. Hume and Rafia Zafar (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1990), p. 81.
I have worked in every Department in the Navy Yard and Dry-Dock as a laborer, and this during very long years of unrequited toil, and the same might be said of the vast numbers, reaching to thousands of slaves, who have been worked, lashed and bruised by the United States government.
At the shipyard slaveholders collected the wages for bondsmen like Teamoh. During this period wages for enslaved were collected twice monthly by the slaveholder or his or her representative. The rate for black labor was always set substantially lower than that for white labor. Teamoh recalled while at Norfolk Navy Yard in the 1840s the danger for him or any enslaved worker in speaking to whites openly or objecting to any command.3
3 Teamoh Ibid, pp 84-85.
"Slavery was so interwoven at that time in the very ligaments of the government that to assail it from any quarter was not only a herculean task, but one requiring great consideration, caution and comprehensiveness."
George TeamohIn 1845/1846 the rate for black labor was 75 cents per day.4 The employment of enslaved persons on federal shipyard was illegal, though at Gosport the practice of enlisting the enslaved remained a common place.4 In response to complaints, the Navy Department on occasion limited the number blacks; for example, on 17 March 1817 the Department issued a circular to all naval shipyards banning employment of all blacks “except under extraordinary circumstances.”
4 Sharp, John G.M., List of Gosport Navy Yard Employees, Military and Civilian, 1846, http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/portsmouth/shipyard/sharptoc/nnysharp13.html
5 Wilkinson to Bancroft, 6 December 1845 "Captains Letters" Letter Received from Captains 1805-1885, 1 Nov 1845 to 31 Dec 1845, letter number 84, 1-2, M125 RG 260, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
Abuses having existed in some of the Navy yards by the introduction of improper Characters for improper purposes, the board of Navy Commissioners have deemed it necessary to direct that no Slaves or Negroes, except under extraordinary circumstances, shall be employed in any navy yard in the United States, & in no case without the authority from the Board of Navy Commissioners [Signed Commodore John Roger, President of the Board].6
6 Board of Navy Commissioners, Circular to Commandants of Naval Shipyards, 17 March 1817, RG 45, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.
But “extraordinary circumstances” were routinely cited, and bans rapidly eclipsed by waivers. For example, at Gosport in October 1831, Commodore Lewis Warrington reporting to the Board of Navy Commissioners acknowledged "There are about two hundred and forty-six black employees in the Yard and Dock altogether."7 In 1842 Naval Constructor, Francis Grice, a slaveholder himself, wrote to Gosport Commanding Officer, W. Brandford Shubrick and suggested hiring free black caulkers.8
7 Lewis Warrington to the Board of Navy Commissioners, 12 October 1831, RG 45, Section 314, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
8 1840 U.S. Census for Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia, enumerated Francis Grice, Themis Grice, as a slaveholder. Grice is listed with eight enslaved persons in his household five females and three males.
“I am not satisfied with the men now to be had for the wages given them. Formerly we had black men on whom reliance could be placed, but they are either dead or worn out in service with few exceptions. …I understand they can be had obtained in Philadelphia and New York and will come on here at their own expense for two dollars per diem. About 24 to 30 first rate men would be sufficient…”9
9 Francis Grice to W. Brandford Shubrick, 8 January 1842, Volume 286, letter number 130, RG 260, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C
The idea of employing free blacks at Gosport and other navy yards even in hard-to-fill positions was abhorrent to the white workforce and Grice’s notion quickly dropped.
Throughout the whole of the antebellum era, African-Americans at the shipyard both free and enslaved were confined to unpleasant less skilled work as laborers, stone cutters for the new dry docks, and as strikers in blacksmith shop, or ship caulkers. Despite protest by white workers, enslaved blacks were used to build Dry Dock number one. Throughout the building of the stone dry dock (1827 -1834), the employment of enslaved labor remained a source of contention. However despite the complaints of white workers, the Navy chose to replace white stonecutters, who received $1.50 per day, with enslaved cutters, whose owners collected 72 cents per day.1010 Davis, Michael Shawn, “Many of them are Among My Best Men, The United States Navy Looks at its African American Crewmen 1755-1955, PhD Dissertation, Kansas State University Manhattan Kansas 2011, p. 33.
To the chagrin of many white laborers in 1839 the Gosport master mechanics, thirty-eight of whom were slaveholders with bondsmen employed at the shipyard, not only actively promoted the use of enslaved labor but vigorously protested any cutbacks. In their plea to retain enslaved labor they stated,
It is proper here to add that a number of the laborers of this description in the Yard are owned by the Mechanics here who entered them, and the difficulty of hiring them out, if discharged, at this advanced period of the year is obvious. –11
11 Sharp, John G.M., A Norfolk Navy Yard Slaveholders Petition to the Secretary of the Navy, June 21, 1839, http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/portsmouth/shipyard/sharptoc/nnysharp6.html
The years 1819-1820 most of the carpenters, joiners, caulkers and laborers were assigned to repairs on the USS Congress, Constellation and the Peacock. For this large per diem workforce, a steady number of naval ships to build or overhaul was key to steady employment. During the nineteenth century the supply of work typically followed the seasons with the shipyard taking on more mechanics and laborers in the spring and summer months. Workers were often laid off in the fall and winter as the cold weather, rain and snow made work in the open air impractical. For all per diem employees, the normal work week was a twelve hour day, six days a week and would remain so until 1840.12
12 General Orders for the Regulation of the Navy Yard, Washington DC (Circa 1833 to 1850, order numbers 29), National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. In 1840 President Martin Van Buren, by Executive Order, changed work hours in federal naval ship yards from 12 to 10 per day. The order as implemented at all federal naval yard stated:
By Direction of the President of the United States all public establishments will hereafter be regulated as to working hours by the "ten hour System". The hours for labor in this Yard will therefore be as follows viz: From the 1st day of April to the 30th day of September inclusive from 6 o'clock a.m. to 6 o'clock p.m. -- during this period the workmen will breakfast before going to work for which purpose the bell will be rung and the first muster held at 7 o'clock -- at 12 o'clock noon the bell will be rung and then home from 12 to 1 o'clock p.m. allowed for dinner from which to 6 o'clock p.m. will constitute the last half of the day.
From the 1st day of October to the 31st day of March the working hours will be from the rising to the setting of the Sun -- the Bell will then be rung at one hour after Sunrise that hour being allowed for breakfast -- at 12 o'clock noon the bell will again be rung and one hour allowed for dinner from which time say 1 o'clock till sundown will constitute the last half of the day. No quarters of days will be allowed.A precarious economic and employment status constantly faced the mechanics and laborers. A cold winter usually led to mass layoffs as only the most essential crews would be kept working. Fewer naval ships to repair invariably meant fewer mechanics and laborers on the payrolls. These conditions, and especially any cutbacks in annual naval appropriations, made the workforce particularly vulnerable to economic downturn, a wage reduction and or prolonged unemployment, which rapidly led the men to destitution. Most Yard workers had little savings on which to fall back on and imprisonment for debt was a daily reality experienced by workers each year.
At times national economic issues directly affected naval appropriations and employment levels and so it was that a credit crisis, which emerged in the business and banking sector, rapidly spread to the economy, leading to the end of a speculative bubble and the "Panic of 1819" and the first recession in United States history. A precarious economic and employment status constantly faced the mechanics and laborers in the shipyard. Wages were subject to considerable change and in some cases daily pay fluctuated dramatically.
While we do not have reliable wage data for Gosport during the first few decades, we have comparable documents and letters from the Washington Navy Yard which show carpenters wages reduced from a high of $2.50 per day in the year 1808 to $1.64 per day in 1820. At the shipyard all wage workers were, in law and in fact, day laborers, that is paid a per diem wage only for days actually worked. Theirs was a life where the only certainties were often hard and unpleasant. A cold winter usually led to mass layoffs as only the most essential crews would be kept working. Fewer naval ships to repair invariably meant fewer mechanics and laborers on the Yard payrolls. These conditions, and especially any cutbacks in annual naval appropriations, made the workforce particularly vulnerable to economic downturn, a wage reduction and or prolonged unemployment which rapidly led the men to destitution. Most Gosport workers had little savings on which to fall back on and imprisonment for debt was a daily reality experienced by many of the city’s workers each year.
In 1819 there was a sharp decline in congressional appropriations for shipbuilding and repair, and for the next few years sporadic layoffs at federal shipyards. Despite occasional efforts of the workers to organize for better conditions, wages for per diem employees during much of the early nineteenth century remained remarkably low, their hours long and their work situation tenuous at best, yet employees took pride in their work, their craft traditions and their yard.1313 GNY Carpenters to Lewis Warrington 9 May 1834, Record of the Board of Navy Commissioners, Section 314, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., Section 314. Four of the carpenters enumerated on the 1819-1820 list, Edward Grant, John and William Luke and Caleb Nash, petitioned Warrington and the Board for reinstatement after as the disastrous strike of 1833.
Francis Grice (1788-1865), Naval Constructor, was paid $2,000 per annum.14 As a Naval Constructor, Francis Grice occupied a position comparable to a modern shipyard’s senior naval engineer or architect. His father, Joseph Grice, senior, was appointed as a master mast-maker on 19 February 1819, and his younger brother, Charles Augustus Grice, on 23 June 1817 was appointed the shipyard’s master blacksmith. The Grice family had generations of work experience in northern shipyard and quickly adapted to the Gosport Navy Yard.
14 Grice, Francis, Naval Constructor, 7 May, 1817. Chief Naval Constructor, 1 December, 1846. Died in 1865. Naval Officers 1798 -1900, Naval History and Heritage Command, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/o/officers-continental-usnavy-mc-1775-1900/navy-officers-1798-1900-g.html
Joseph Grice 1759-1820
Master Mast-Maker
Charles A Grice 1792-1870
Master Blacksmith
Thomas Dulton, Naval Store Keeper, was responsible for the all the shipyard property and stores. He was a native of England, and performed the duties of storekeeper and clerk of the yard. Dulton had formerly been a ship captain in the merchant service and was normally addressed as “Captain Dulton.” Each morning he rang the navy yard bell, thereby signaling the workers were to form up for the first of the daily musters. Assisting him was James Smith “Clerk of the Check” who conducted and recorded the employees' names as present for duty. Smith also took care of much of the official correspondence, making sure it was properly logged and disseminated.
These two men often acted for Commandant Cassin on budget, contracting and administrative issues, and they exercised wide discretion within their particular domains. Their steady salaries, rather than per diem wage, provided them access to a wider social sphere, such that they could often afford to rent or own a house, keep horses and employ servants.
Nicholas Fitzpatrick was foremen of the ship joiners. Fitzpatrick had worked with Commodore Cassin at the Washington Navy Yard and was invited by him to take up a position at Gosport. Fitzpatrick, an immigrant from Ireland, was mentioned in a 15 April 1817 letter from Commodore Thomas Tingey to the Board of Navy Commissioners, stating that Fitzpatrick and others came to the United States "at or under 8 years of age - having served all their youth in the trade and worked long in the yard - consider themselves [United States] citizens."1515 John Cassin to Hamilton, 25 August 1812, Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy (Captain's Letters), 1805-61; 1866-85, Volume 24, 1 June 1812 to 31 August 1812, Letter 201, RG 260, National Archives and Records Administration Washington D.C.
Mechanics, or journey-level tradesmen, were those who had learned a specialized trade such as ship joiner, carpenter, plumber, machinist, rigger etc., usually under a five-year apprenticeship. For this reason, senior mechanics hired employees, provided day-to-day work assignments and direction. This practice continued well into the twentieth century. For much of that time each navy yard shop had its hierarchy of master mechanic, quarterman (leader of several crews), lead man (or crew leader), mechanics, apprentices and a few boys (before child labor laws eliminated such positions).
Apprentices were usually allowed to begin their training at age 16 and would continue to work and learn under the tutelage of master mechanic until they had successfully completed their indenture. The records of the early Gosport Navy Yard reflect that most mechanics were able to read, write and use basic shop mathematics in their day-to-day activities. In the early nineteenth century, the presence of numerous young apprentices at Gosport Navy Yard was a common sight and important to the overall shipyard economy. All shipyard apprentices were hired privately, that is, they signed indentures which were written formal contracts between the young trainees, typically age fourteen, seeking valuable trade or craft knowledge, and the master mechanics. These contracts employed formal language with some phraseology dating back to the late middle ages. The agreement language contained clauses which placed heavy legal burdens on the young apprentice. For both parties a failure to fulfill the terms of an indenture could result in legal action. But it was the apprentice who remained most vulnerable. Apprentices who ran away were subject to arrest, and numerous reward notices from the early nineteen century reflect the efforts made by master mechanics to recover their investment. Most indentures bound the young apprentice to the master mechanic usually for four to seven years depending on the trade. In the indenture neither the shipyard nor the federal government are mentioned, nor were they legally in any way parties to these agreements. All indentures were heavily weighted toward protecting the interests of the master mechanics. For the master having a large group of apprentices was both prestigious and lucrative. Since some trade apprenticeships led to well-paying occupations, they were much sought after, especially in trades such as shipwright, ship carpenter and instrument maker. Families often were willing to pay a master mechanic a financial gratuity for agreeing to accept their son as a trainee. An additional custom allowed the master mechanic was to sign for their apprentice's pay and retained a fixed percentage of the apprentice's wages.
In a typical apprentice indenture, the master mechanic, in return for a specified period of service, formally agreed to provide tutelage to the young worker in his art or craft. Since these were contracts that were legally enforceable, apprentice indentures were signed by all parties, witnessed and notarized, and dated and filed with the county clerk. In a typical apprentice indenture, both parties signed binding promises. Each indenture stated the parties to the agreement and had entered into the indenture of their own free will. Each indenture further specified a start and an end date. Indentures typically lasted four to six years.
While indentures for Gosport Navy Yard apprentices have yet to be found, we are fortunate to have one by master blacksmith Benjamin King. King worked at Gosport Navy Yard for a brief time after the burning of the Washington Navy Yard in August 1814. King's indenture with Hamilton Perry dated August 4, 1807, is representative of the genre.District of Columbia County of Washington to wit:
This Indenture Witnesseth that Hamilton Perry son of Zadock Perry by the advice and consent of his said Guardian & brother Elisha Perry hath put himself apprentice to Benjamin King of the said District to learn the art and trade or mystery of a Blacksmith plumber & founder, and after the manner of an apprentice to serve from the day of the date hereof for and during the full term of six years, and on month next ensuing during all which time he the said apprentice his master faithfully shall secure his secrets keep, his lawful commands everywhere gladly obey. He shall do no damage to his master, nor see it done by others without letting or giving notice thereof to his said master. He shall not waste his said master’s goods, nor lend them unlawfully to any others. He shall not commit fornication nor contract matrimony within the said term. At cards, dice or any other unlawful games he shall not play. He shall not absent himself day or night from his said master's business without his said master’s leave, nor visit ale houses, nor haunt, taverns, or play -houses; but in all things behave himself as a faithful apprentice ought to do, during said term. And the said master shall use the utmost of his endeavors to teach or cause to be taught or instructed the said apprentice in the trade or mystery of Blacksmith &c &c and procure and provide for him the said apprentice sufficient meat, drink, and working apparel, lodging and washing, fitting for an apprentice during the said term of six years and one month. And for the true performance of all and every of the said covenants and agreements to either of the said parties bind themselves unto the other by these presents. In Witness thereof they have interchangeably put their hands and seal’s this fourth day of August in the year one thousand eight hundred and seven - .Signed sealed & delivered in presence of Sam N Smallwood & Robt Alexander:
Benj King {SEAL}
Robt Alexander} Hamilton X Perry {SEAL}
Joseph Cassin} mark Elisha Perry {SEAL}
District of Columbia Washington County to wit:We the Subscribers two Justices of the peace in & for the said County having seen the within Indenture – and do approve thereof to law this seventh day of August 1807.
Recorded the 11th Day of August 1807Naval custom allowed shipyard workers, unlike many non-federal mechanics and tradesman, to receive limited emergency medical treatment. One such Joseph Barlou a 56 year laborer was admitted to the Gosport Naval Hospital on 26 July 1820 with a diagnosis of “Old Age.”16 This custom was first confirmed by order of the Secretary of the Navy on 23 May 1813.17
16 U.S. Register of Patients at Naval Hospitals 1812-1934, Volume 5, Gosport Naval Hospital,
Department of the Navy, Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Record Group 52, National Archives at Washington, D.C17 The Naval War of 1812, A Documentary History, Volume II, William S. Dudley, editor, (Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, Washington, D.C., 1992), p. 124, William Jones to Dr. Edward Cutbush USN, 23 May 1813.
It is however understood that if any master or laboring mechanic or common labor employed in the Navy yard shall receive any sudden wound or injury while so employed, he shall be entitled to temporary relief.
This same letter also confirmed (probably at the insistence of slaveholders) a limited access to medical care for enslaved laborers.
But if any person sustaining an injury be a Slave, his master shall allow out his wages, a reasonable compensation for such medical and hospital aid as may receive and if the injury of disability shall be likely to continue, the master shall cause such slave to remove from the public hospital.
Such regulation allowed both officers and many senior civilians to have their enslaved laborers treated at the naval hospital. The following are a few examples from the Gosport Naval Hospital, Patient Register, “August 17, 1821, Captain Warrington’s Servant patient number 212, “Henry” admitted for bilious fever. October 21, 1822, James Baachus, Patient number 999, Commodore Warrington’s Servant, “intermittent fever”, and on 24 January 1826, Commodore James Barron’s Servant “Primus”, Patient 31, and Captain Gallagher Servant, Patient number 32,“Mitchell”.18
18 U.S., Naval Hospital Tickets and Case Papers, 1825-1889, Norfolk (Gosport) Naval Hospital, 1825-1826, Roll 1, Department of the Navy, Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Record Group 52, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
List of persons employed by the Year, including Master Workmen,
Showing the amount of the Salary, Emoluments & pay per month.
June 5th 1811 May 7th 1817 June 5th 1817 Sept. 8th 1817 Dec. 22nd 1817 Jun. 23rd 1817 June 8th 1818 Aug 1st 1817 July 3rd 1818 May 28th 1818 Aug. 3rd 1818 May 4th 1819 Feb. 19th 1819 U.S. Navy Yard Gosport [signed] John Cassin
12th May 1819* * * * * * * * * *
John G. “Jack” Sharp resides in Concord, California. He worked for the United States Navy for thirty years as a civilian personnel officer. Among his many assignments were positions in Berlin, Germany, where in 1989 he was in East Berlin, the day the infamous wall was opened. He later served as Human Resources Officer, South West Asia (Bahrain). He returned to the United States in 2001 and was on duty at the Naval District of Washington on 9/11. He has a lifelong interest in history and has written extensively on the Washington, Norfolk, and Pensacola Navy Yards, labor history and the history of African Americans. His previous books include African Americans in Slavery and Freedom on the Washington Navy Yard 1799 -1865, Morgan Hannah Press 2011. History of the Washington Navy Yard Civilian Workforce 1799-1962, 2004.
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/browse-by-topic/heritage/washington-navy-yard/pdfs/WNY_History.pdf
and the first complete transcription of the Diary of Michael Shiner Relating to the History of the Washington Navy Yard 1813-1869, 2007/2015 online:
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/d/diary-of-michael-shiner.html
His most recent work includes Register of Patients at Naval Hospital Washington DC 1814 With The Names of American Wounded From The Battle of Bladensburg 2018,
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/register-patients-naval-hospital-washington-dc-1814.html
The last three works were all published by the Naval History and Heritage Command. John served on active duty in the United States Navy, including Viet Nam service. He received his BA and MA in History from San Francisco State University. He can be reached at sharpjg@yahoo.com
