Lawrence and Foulks ~ Shipbuilding History

Lawrence and Foulks

Williamsburg and Greenpoint NY

Most recent update: May 24, 2016.

Herbert Lawrence and Thomas Foulks started this yard in 1852. Lawrence was the son of the Lawrence of an earlier shipbuilder, Lawrence & Sneden, while Foulks was a shipbuilder from England, who had already built a few ships under his own name. Initially, their yard was at the foot of Cherry Street, in Manhattan, but they moved it in 1854 to North Fifth Street, in Williamsburg, and again, in 1871, to the foot of Noble Street, in Greenpoint, where they remained until they closed in 1902. The table below is incomplete:

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	O/N	Name	Customer	Type	GT	LOA	Built	Notes
Built by Lawrence & Sneden in Manhattan, 1825-1850
		Fanny		steamer	126		1825	abandoned 1844
		Napoleon		steamer	136		1830	abandoned 1856
		William Seabrook		steamer	227		1831	captured 1861
		Frank		steamer	175		1835	abandoned 1861
		New Haven		steamer	342		1835	abandoned 1877
		Highlander		steamer	313		1835	abandoned 1864
	18557	New York	Union Ferry Co.	ferry	304		1836	abandoned 1867
		Arrow		steamer			1837
		Neptune		steamer	745		1838	to USAQMD, stranded 1846 off Tampico
	16109	Massachusetts		steamer	308		1842	abandoned 1881
	11476	Hero		steamer	462		1845	foundered 1870
	24369	Thomas Powell	Thomas Powell et al	steamer	585		1846	abandoned 1887
		Fawn	Sebago & Long Pond S.N. Co.	steamer	80		1846	built in Bridgton ME
	4897	Connecticut	Curtis Peck	steamer	1,129		1848	abandoned 1894
	4433	Canonicus		steamer	396		1849	to USAQMD 1863, burned 1894 in Port Richmond NY
		North America	Cornelius Vanderbilt	steamer	1,440		1851	stranded 1852 off Las Ramidas, Mexico
Built by William Foulks in Manhattan, 1850-52
		Catharine		steamboat	65		1850	abandoned 1860
			Mexican Govt.	schooner	76		1851
			Mexican Govt.	schooner	76		1851
	19913	Peter Crary	Reuben Coffin and others	tugboat	85		1852	later Hazel Kirke, Naiad, abandoned 1919
Built by Lawrence & Foulks in Manhattan, 1852-1854
			Staten Island ferry	ferry	500		1852
			Greenpoint ferry	ferry			1852
			Houston Street ferry	ferry			1852
			Williamsburg ferry	ferry			1852
			Capt. Day	steamship			1852
	13167	Josephine	Tompkinsville & Stapleton FC	ferry	552		1852	Henry E. Bishop 1886, lost 1898
	75214	Joseph Johnson	Parks & Duvall	tugboat	240		1852	abandoned 1872
				steamer	1,300+		1853
				steamer	1,300		1853
				steamer	1,300		1853
			Peruvian Govt	riverboat	120		1853
			Peruvian Govt	riverboat	80		1853
	13157	J. S. Underhill		tugboat	123		1853	burned 1878 in Wilmington NC
		William H. Brown		steamboat	450		1853
			U.S. Government	schooner	34		1853
Built by Lawrence & Foulks in Williamsburg, 1854-1871
			Houston St. ferry	ferry			1854
		Henry Munsi	A. O. Jackson	tugboat	150		1854
		Neptune	Peter Crany	steamboat	160		1854	sold foreign 1860
		Surprise	Edgar Wakeman	steamer	456		1854	burned 1863 in the Yangtze River
		Commonwealth	Norwich & New London SB Co	steamboat	1,732		1855	destroyed by fire at Groton CT 1865
		E. H. White	Fancher & McChesney	lighter	100		1855
			Catherine Street-Williamsburg	ferry	550		1855
			Catherine Street-Williamsburg	ferry	550		1855
		H. Delafield	Henry Delafield	brig	250		1855
		Know Nothing	NY & Williamsburgh SBC	tugboat	300		1856
		Corilla	Johnson & Lowden	bark	600		1856
		John Faron		steamship	251		1856	to USAQMD 1863
	12751	James A. Stevens	Palmer & Crary	tugboat	150		1856	abandoned 1891
			Peter Crary	tugboat	100		1857
			Roy, Coffin & Co	tugboat	100		1857
			Captain Porter	steamer	300		1857
		General Concha	Spanish Govt.	steamer	300		1857
		General Serrano	Spanish Govt.	steamer	300		1857a
			Spanish Govt.	schooner	150		1858	for dredging Matanzas harbor
			Spanish Govt.	schooner	150		1858	for dredging Matanzas harbor
			Spanish Govt.	schooner	150		1858	for dredging Matanzas harbor
	6562	De Soto	Livingston, Crocheron & Co	passenger freighter	1,675		1859	to USN 1861, sold 1868, burned 1870 near New Orleans LA
		William Foulks	Dallett & Bliss	steamer	293		1859	sold to Venezuelan Navy, 1860
				tender			1859	for the new fort at Sandy Hook
			Oatey, Squires & Co	tugboat			1859
				ferry	60		1859
	2551	Bienville	Livingston, Crocheron & Co	passenger freighter	1,558		1860	to USN 1861, sold 1867, burned 1872 in the Bahamas
	20132	Thomas Freeborn	Richard M. Squires	tugboat	306		1860	to USN 1861, sold 1865
		Flambeau	Forbes & Co.	steamer	791		1861	to USN 1861, sold 1865, wrecked 1867 at New Inlet NC
		Isaac Smith	Hamilton & Smith	passenger freighter	453		1861	to USN 1861, captured 1863 and renamed Stono, wrecked 1863 near Fort Moultrie SC
			Carey & Co.	propeller	160		1862
			Carey & Co.	propeller	160		1862
			Bronder & Borlis	propeller	160		1862
		D. S. Miller	Hamilton & Smith	propeller	593		1862
		John S. Williams	B. U. Crary	propeller	170		1862	Little Orphan 1863, sold foreign 1866
	86521	James F. Freeborn	Richard Squires	passenger freighter	335		1862	to USN 1863 as Nansemond, to USCG 1863 as W. H. Crawford, sold 1900 as General J. A. Dumont, burned 1914 at Severn Side MD
		Paquette de Maule	G. K. Stevenson & Co	freighter	400		1862	to USN, captured and scuttled by Spain 1866
		Tah Wah	Govt. of China		590		1862	assembled in Yankin, China
	13180	John L. Hasbrouck	Hamilton & Smith	propeller	710		1864	Marlboro 1900, scrapped 1917
	5664	Chauncey Vibbard	A. Van Santvoord	steamboat	1,158		1864	scrapped 1902
	4873	Clara Clarita	Leonard Jerome	yacht	231		1864	abandoned 1908
	19201	Oriflamme	Forbes & Co.	schooner	1,225		1864	scrapped 1879
	10496	Gen. J. K. Barnes	Atlantic Coast Mail SS Co	steamer	1,365		1864	foundered 1878 off Cape Hatteras
	11460	Herman Livingston	Atlantic Coast Mail SS Co	steamer	1,314		1864	scrapped 1883
	810	Albemarle	Atlantic Coast Mail SS Co	steamer	871		1865	barge 1882, schooner 1883, sank in squall 1885
	11477	Hatteras	Atlantic Coast Mail SS Co	steamer	868		1865	Schooner barge 1882
	21459	Raleigh	Atlantic Coast Mail SS Co	steamer	868		1865	burned 1867 off Charleston SC
	21460	Rapidan	Atlantic Coast Mail SS Co	steamer	868		1865	disappeared 1886 en route to West Indies
		Sze-Chuen	Forbes & Co.	steamer	1,090		1865	abandoned 1875
		Kiang-Tsze	Forbes & Co.	steamer	1,100		1865	sold foreign 1877
		Foong-Shuey	Forbes & Co.	steamer	1,930		1865	later Plymouth Rock, sold foreign 1877
		Shan-Se	Forbes & Co.	steamer	1,095		1865	sold foreign 1877
	17014	Manhattan	American & Mexican SS Co	steamer	1,337		1865	barge 1877, sank 1882
	25660	Vera Cruz	American & Mexican SS Co	steamer	1,340		1865	stranded 1866 on Body Island NC
	22811	Sleepy Hollow	Lower Hudson SBC	steamboat	745		1865	abandoned 1892
	17012	Maspeth	Nassau Ferry Co.	ferry	431		1866	Fort Lee 1882, abandoned 1898
	19219	Oregonian	Oregon SNC	steamship	2,200		1866	scrapped 1866
	12343	Isaac Bell	Old Dominion SSC	steamship	1,500		1868	burned 1880 in Norfolk VA
	23768	Sylvan Glen	Harlem SBC	ferry	350		1869	scrapped 1915
			Mr. Cheeseborough	yacht	100		1869
	105094	Americus	Norwalk Line	steamboat	600		1870	later Myndert Starin, Newark
		James G. Bennett		pilot boat			1870
Built by Lawrence & Foulks in Greenspoint, 1871-1901
	90288	Martha's Vineyard	New Bedford & Nantucket SBC	steamboat	515		1871	Keyport 1913, in collision 1917 and abandoned
				tugboat			1871
	9982	Farragut	Fulton FC	ferry	648		1871	iron hull by Continental Iron Works
	9981	Fulton	Fulton FC	ferry	648		1871	iron hull by Continental Iron Works
	95131	Harlem	Morrisania SBC	ferry	466		1872
	90264	Morrisania	Morrisania SBC	ferry	420		1871
	115840	Sylvan Dell	Harlem & New York NC	ferry	440		1872	sank 1919
	90729	Midland	NY Central RR	ferry	402		1872	deleted 1910
	6781	Day Star	American SBC	steamboat	682		1873
	105291	Amos C. Barstow		steamboat	268		1873
		Fidelity	Commissioners of Charities	launch			1873	collision and sank in East River 1879
	75537	Jane Mosely	Long Island RRC	steamer	800		1873
		Jennie Stout	F. Alexander & Son	schooner	600		1873	sank in storm off Cape Hatteras 1875
		Jessamine	U.S. Revenue Service	cutter			1873
	85328	Governor Andrew	Boston & Hingham SBC	steamer	503		1874
			City of Boston	steamboat			1875	Deer Island prisoner transport
			St. John's Guild	steamboat			1875	floating hospital
		Crystal Wave	American SBC	steamboat	700		1875
	120265	Fanwood	New Jersey Central RR	ferry	1,300		1876
	130176	Northampton	Old Dominion SS Co	passenger freighter	483		1880	burned at Norfolk 1898
			Old Dominion SS Co	launch			1881
	196063	Albertina	Red Bank Line	steamboat	612		1882	burned 1932
	120586	F. P. James	NY & Coll. Pt Ferry Co.	ferry	445		1884	later Bronx 1902, scrapped 1917
	76574	Jacob H. Tremper		passenger	571		1885	scrapped 1929
	96029	Haarlaem	NY & East River Ferry Co	ferry	382		1889	Harlem 1922, abandoned 1927
	3485	Bowery Bay	Astoria Ferry Co.	ferry	382		1890	Bouwery Bay 1922, abandoned 1931
	126866	Clermont	A. Van Santvoord	yacht	259		1892