Westervelt & Son

New York NY

Jakob Westervelt was the son of a successful builder. He began his career in 1814 as an apprentice in Christian Bergh's shipyard at the foot of Gouverneur Street, leaving in 1835 to start his own operation. The original yard was at Corlear's Hook, but he moved to Lewis and Seventh Streets in 1844, where the soccer field and running track in East River Park are today. Over the course of its 30-year existence, Westervelt built 243 ships, the early ones being sailing ships, the later being steamships, but he never converted to iron shipbuilding. In the later years, Westervelt owned many of the ships he built, with the result that the war losses and the post-war collapse essentially bankrupted him and the yard closed in 1868. The table below is clearly incomplete.

O/N Name Customer Type GT LOA Built Notes
Baltimore Second Line full-rigged ship 658 1836 sold 1853
Mediator Black X Line full-rigged ship 660 1836
Oneida Second Line full-rigged ship 791 1841 wrecked 1849
St. Nicholas Second Line full-rigged ship 797 1841 sank 1861
Prince Albert Red Swallowtail Line full-rigged ship 884 1843 sank 1853
American Eagle Black X Line full-rigged ship 1,049 1846
Margaret Evans E. E. Morgan full-rigged ship 1846
Washington Ocean SN Co steamer 1,640 1847
West Point Red Star Line full-rigged ship 1,046 1847 inactive 1863
Hermann Ocean SN Co steamer 1,734 1848 wrecked in Japan 1869
St. Denis Second Line full-rigged ship 959 1848 foundered 1856
Constellation Red Star Line full-rigged ship 1,534 1849
Gold Hunter William Skiddy steamer 436 1849 later USC+GS ship Active
Columbia Pacific Mail SS Co steamer 777 1850
Francis P. Sage full-rigged ship 1,200 1850
Franklin Havre Line steamer 2,183 1850 lost 1854
Louisiana Charles Morgan steamer 1,056 1850 burned in Galveston 1857
Mexico passenger 840 1850
Ocean Queen Black X Line full-rigged ship 1,182 1850 sank 1856
William Tell Second Line full-rigged ship 1,153 1850 wrecked 1866
Aramingo Chamberlain & Phelps clipper ship 716 1851
Eureka Chambers & Heiser clipper ship 1,041 1851
Golden Gate Chambers & Heiser clipper ship 1,349 1851
Havre Havre Line steamer 2,700 1851
Hornet Chamberlain & Phelps clipper ship 1,426 1851 burned and sank 1866
Humboldt Havre Line steamer 2,181 1851 wrecked in Halifax 1853
Mercury Boyd & Hinckin's Line of Havre Packets clipper ship 1,351 1851
N. B. Palmer A. A. Low & Bro. clipper ship 1,399 1851 abandoned 1892
Roanoke NY & Virginia SS Co steamer 1,071 1851 burned by CSA 1864
Winfield Scott Davis, Brooks & Co steamer 1,291 1851 wrecked 1853
Contest A.A. Low & Brother clipper ship 1,098 1852 burned by CSA 1863
Golden City Chambers & Heiser clipper ship 810 1852
Golden State A.A. Low & Brother clipper ship 1,363 1852
Reindeer Charles Morgan steamer 827 1852 burned 1856
Cortes (ex-Saratoga) Davis, Brooks & Co steamer 1,117 1852 destroyed by fire, Shanghai, China, 1865
Patriotic Line 1852
Calhoun 1852
Jamestown NY & Virginia SS Co steamer 1,300 1853 sunk by CSA 1862
Kathay Goodhue & Co. clipper ship 1,438 1853
Resolute A.A. Low & Brother clipper ship 786 1853
Sweepstakes Chambers & Heiser clipper ship 1,500 1853 scrapped 1862
Charles Morgan Charles Morgan steamer 1,215 1854 exploded 1862
Orizaba Charles Morgan steamer 1,335 1854 scrapped, 1887
Santa Anna steamer 536 1854 later cutter Cuyahoga
Sonora Pacific Mail SS Co steamer 1,616 1854 scrapped, 1868
St. Louis Pacific Mail SS Co steamer 1,621 1854 scrapped 1878
Arago Havre Line steamer 2,240 1855 sold to Peru 1869
Zephyr Chamberlain & Phelps clipper ship 534 1855
Huntsville H. B. Cromwell & Co steamer 817 1858 burned 1877
Montgomery H. B. Cromwell & Co steamer 787 1858 sunk in collision 1877
Ocean Queen Morgan & Garrison 2,801 1858 scrapped, 1875
Queen of the Pacific Morgan & Garrison steamer 2,801 1858 later Ocean Queen, scrapped 1875
Brooklyn US Navy screw sloop 2,532 1859 sold 1891
John P. King Spofford, Tileston & Co steamer 1,517 1860 laid up 1885
Peruano Peruvian owners 570 1860
Rhode Island steamer 2,000 1860
Ottawa US Navy gunboat 691 1861 sold 1865
Eagle Spofford, Tileston & Co steamer 1,385 1862
Otsego US Navy gunboat 974 1863 sunk by mine 1864
Hudson City Morgan X Line packet 1863
Kankakee US Revenue Service cutter 350 1864 sold 1867
Morro Castle steamer 1,987 1864
Plymouth Rock steamer 2,379 1864 later Foong Shuey
Favorita 865 1865
Niagara NY-Richmond steamer 1,100 1865
Saratoga NY-Richmond steamer 1,100 1865
Chesapeake steamer
Eusiyama Govt. of Japan
Guadalquivar Govt. of Spain
Hope Govt. of Greece
Rhine full-rigged ship
Waterloo 893

Printed from shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net