West Point Foundry

Cold Spring NY

The West Point Foundry Association was founded in 1817, across the Hudson River from West Point itself. It was one of the earliest iron shipbuilders in the U.S. and is claimed by many to be the first U.S. builder of an iron ship, although some say that this was the appropriately named "United States" and others that it was the revenue cutter "Spencer", built six years later. The foundry closed in 1911 and the site is now in ruins, but is the subject of archeological exploration.

O/N Name Customer Type Tons LOA Delivered Notes
United States steamboat 222 1838 first iron ship built in the U.S.
Rebecca steamboat 60 1843 sold foreign 1844
Margaret Kemble Myers and Myers and Co. tugboat 107 1844 abandoned 1857
Spencer USCG revenue cutter 398 1844 converted to lightship 1848

Printed from shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net