Shipbuilding History

( Formerly Annapolis Yacht Yard and Chance Marine Construction )

Annapolis MD

Charles Chance established Chance Marine Construction as a yacht builder and marine service center in the Eastport section of Annapolis in 1912. In the Great Depression of 1937, Chance went under and sold all his assets to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which resold them to a new entity called Annapolis Yacht Yard, Inc., created by the owners of Nelson-Reid, Inc., a New York firm of naval architects and yacht brokers. Under AYY's ownership, the yard grew still further and was a major builder of sub chasers and torpedo boats. In 1947, however, Chris Nelson, the MIT naval architect who had been the company's driving force, died and his partners sold the business to John Trumpy, who relocated there from Gloucester City NJ. Trumpy had ongoing disputes with his unions, however, finally resulting in the yard's closure at the end of 1973. The yard was located on Severn Avenue, between Second and Fourth Streets: it faces Spa Creek and the Inner Harbor. Many of the boatyard's original buildings are still there and the area is still referred to in Annapolis as the Yacht Yard. (If you eat dinner in the Chart House restaurant in Annapolis, you are in Trumpy's outfitting basin.)