King Iron Works/samuel Gibson

Buffalo NY

Most recent update: June 6, 2018.

Samuel Gibson was a builder of wooden ships who made the transition to iron and steam with the assistance of King Iron Works. His shipyard appears to have changed hands several times, having previously been Woodward & Warner (1857-1859), O. B. Woodward (1860-1861), Hitchcock & Gibson (1861-1870) and finally Gibson & Craig (1870-1876). It was said to have been on the west side of the Evans Ship Canal and this may have been where he built wooden ships, but when he transitioned to iron ships, he apparently built them in the facility operated by King Iron Works, which occupied a whole block on the west side of Chicago Street, between Miami and the waterfront. Confusingly, some of the ships Gibson built are listed as having been built by King Iron Works: presumably, some customers felt more secure doing business with King as the prime contractor. Exactly who built what in the table below is far from clear.

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O/N Name Customer Type GT LOA Built Notes
Built by Hitchcock & Gibson
120172 Fanny White yacht 31 1862 burned off Saginaw 1877
11860 H. P. Smith tugboat 37 1864 burned & sunk 1872
17032 Maria Melvin tugboat 24 1865 wrecked 1870, recovered, abandoned 1883
2109 Bridgewater bark 706 1865 wrecked and burned 1875, rebuilt 1880 as US 14452
1496 A. C. Van Raalte tugboat 177 96 1867 later Ashland, abandoned 1937
2145 Benton freighter 418 146 1867 burned 1909
23354 St. Joseph freighter 473 151 1867 later Frank B. Stevens (Canada ON 134517), sunk off Ashtabula 1919
13874 J. V. Taylor schooner 473 151 1867 built in Winneconne WI, abandoned 1928
10998 George Hand tugboat 24 1868 burned off Oscoda 1888
24785 Thomas A. Scott steamer 1,159 1869 collision and sunk 1880
85194 Gibson schooner 327 1870 wrecked 1875
Built by Gibson & Craig
105135 Alaska Erie & Western Transportation passenger cargo 1,288 212 1871 built by Shepard IW, barge (Canada) 1936, scrapped 1947
100008 India Erie & Western Transportation passenger cargo 1,239 210 1871 later City of Ottawa 1907 (Canada ON 122018), India 1927, Sault Ste. Marie 1929, India 1930, scrapped 1945a
5792 China Erie & Western Transportation passenger cargo 1,239 210 1871 built by King IW, City of Montreal 1905 (Canada ON 117073), Westerian 1913, Sula 1921, Westerian 1923, hulked 1925, scuttled 1935
9 75323 Japan Erie & Western Transportation passenger cargo 1,239 210 1871 later City of Hamilton 1910 (Canada ON 126526), City of Walkerville 1927, Roy K. Russell 1929, Japan 1930, Roy K. Russell 1932, scrapped 1936
Eureka canal boat 122 1871
125028 Cuba Holt & Ensign passenger cargo 1,526 232 1872 built by King IW, Ionic 1906 (Canada ON 116954), Maple Branch 1920, scrapped 1947
75388 Java Holt & Ensign passenger cargo 1,525 232 1872 sank 1878
110063 Russia Holt & Ensign passenger cargo 1,501 232 1872 foundered 1909
105254 Arabia Erie & Western Transportation passenger cargo 1,395 222 1873 later Bickerdike (Canada ON 121784) 1906, Maplebrook 1920, City of Windsor 1926, Belleville 1930, scrapped 1938a
115271 Scotia Holt & Ensign passenger cargo 1,502 232 1873 grounded 1884
115145 Schuylkill schooner 472 151 1873 wrecked 1889
8882 Eliza Williams tugboat 37 63 1872
Oliver Gordon tugboat 60 1873
Calumet tugboat 37 58 1873
Richard J. Karney barge 397 1873
72720 Thomas H. Nasmith tugboat 49 1873 scrapped
Salty Jack tugboat 28 1874
80531 William R. Crowell tugboat 56 74 1875 built by Gibson & Osman, foundered 1893
85501 George B. Dickson tugboat 33 60 1876 later Henry 1892, laid up 1915
115479 Siskiwit tugboat 37 58 1876 sunk 1879, raised 1880, to Canada (ON 92287) 1883
14452 Keystone freighter 722 164 1880 wrecked and burned 1898
145193 T. H. Fulton tugboat 14 41 1880
110578 Red Cloud tugboat 40 62 1883 foundered 1899
140649 Lorenzo Dimick tugboat 42 66 1883 abandoned at Grand Haven 1920
85976 George Nester schooner 751 206 1887 built in Baraga MI, lost off Huron Is. 1909
141020 Leona tugboat 14 39 1889 built in Tonawanda NY, Mohawk, abandoned at Chicago 1914

Printed from shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net