Pusey and Jones
Encyclopedia
The Pusey and Jones Corporation was a major ship and equipment manufacturer from 1846 to 1959. Ship building was the primary focus from 1853 until the end of World War II, when the company converted the shipyard to production of paper manufacturing machinery. During the operation of the shipyard over 500 ships were produced ranging from large cargo vessels, to small warships and yachts, including “Volunteer” the winner of the 1887 America’s Cup.
company, in Wilmington, Delaware
. The shipyard was located between the Christina River and the main line of the Pennsylvania Rail Road.
In 1851 Edward Betts and Joshua Seal, who were operating an iron foundry in Wilmington purchased an interest in the business, and the name of the company then became Betts, Pusey, Jones & Seal.
s for the U.S. Maritime Commission During World War II, an example is USS Cyrene (AGP-13)
which was converted from a freighter to a patrol boat tender.
Other craft such as minesweepers were built along with specialty and smaller vessels, and many commercial and private vessels originally built by the company were converted to military use.
On Liberty Fleet Day
27 September 1941 one of the first Liberty ship
s SS Adabelle Lykes was launched by Pusey and Jones.
After WWII, Pusey and Jones converted the shipyard's facilities for the manufacture of paper-making machinery but the company closed in 1959.
History
The company began in 1848, with the partnership between Joshua L. Pusey and John Jones in the operation of a machine shop in space rented from a whalingWhaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
company, in Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. The shipyard was located between the Christina River and the main line of the Pennsylvania Rail Road.
In 1851 Edward Betts and Joshua Seal, who were operating an iron foundry in Wilmington purchased an interest in the business, and the name of the company then became Betts, Pusey, Jones & Seal.
Innovation
In 1854 Pusey and Jones built the first US iron hulled sailing vessel the schooner "Mahlon Betts" In 1887 the company built the first steel hulled yacht to win the America’s Cup, Volunteer.Civil War
At the beginning of the Civil War the company began building war vessels. The first ship built was a sloop of war, which required immediate expansion of the workforce. the company also built engines and boilers for other shipbuilding firms.World War I
More than 2.000 employees worked for the firm during World War I shipbuilding. A second shipyard was added in Gloucester City, New Jersey, it was initially called Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company, but this was soon changed to Pusey & Jones. But after producing 19 ships, the name was changed to New Jersey Shipbuilding Company. The yard was closed after the war ended.Between wars
After the business slump of the early 1920s, the Company reorganized in 1927 under Midwestern businessman Clement C. Smith, becoming Pusey and Jones Corporation. The company focused on building large luxury steam and motor yachts for wealthy patrons. As World War II approached military orders increased.World War II
The highest employment was reached during World War II when more than 3600 employees worked in the shipyards, plants and offices of the Company. The Wilmington shipyard was increased from two to three ways. Pusey and Jones built 19 Type C1 shipType C1 ship
Type C1 was a designation for small cargo ships built for the U.S. Maritime Commission before and during World War II. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original Maritime Commission designs, meant for shorter routes where high speed and capacity were less important. Only a handful...
s for the U.S. Maritime Commission During World War II, an example is USS Cyrene (AGP-13)
USS Cyrene (AGP-13)
USS Cyrene was a motor torpedo boat tender for the United States Navy.She was laid down as Cape Farewell, a Maritime Commission type hull under a Maritime Commission contract, at Pusey and Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware....
which was converted from a freighter to a patrol boat tender.
Other craft such as minesweepers were built along with specialty and smaller vessels, and many commercial and private vessels originally built by the company were converted to military use.
On Liberty Fleet Day
Liberty Fleet Day (Victory Fleet Day)
27 September 1941 was dubbed as “Liberty Fleet Day” due to the 14 “Emergency” vessels that were launched in shipyards across the United States. This fleet included the first Liberty ship SS Patrick Henry, one troop transport, a tanker, a US Navy ammunition ship and a Royal Navy aircraft carrier...
27 September 1941 one of the first Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
s SS Adabelle Lykes was launched by Pusey and Jones.
After WWII, Pusey and Jones converted the shipyard's facilities for the manufacture of paper-making machinery but the company closed in 1959.
Papermaking machines
In 1867, the prevailing custom in the United States was to order papermaking machines from abroad. Pusey Jones had made parts for papermaking machines, but had never built a complete machine. That year William Luke of the Rockland Paper Mills hired Pusey Jones to construct two complete papermaking machines to replace machines lost in a fire.Notable vessels built by Pusey and Jones
- CangardaCangardaThe Cangarda is a long luxury steam yacht built in 1901, at the Pusey and Jones Shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware.In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, huge fortunes were made prior to US income taxation. Opulence in homes and yachting reached a peak; many small private steamships...
- CSS BeaufortCSS BeaufortThe CSS Beaufort was an iron hull gunboat that served in North Carolina and Virginia during the Civil War.The Beaufort was originally called the Caledonia. She was built at the Pusey & Jones Company of Wilmington, Delaware in 1854. The Caledonia operated out of Edenton, North Carolina. In 1856...
- Exodus (ship)Exodus (ship)Exodus 1947 was a ship that carried Jewish emigrants, that left France on July 11, 1947, with the intent of taking its passengers to the British mandate for Palestine. Most of the emigrants were Holocaust survivor refugees, who had no legal immigration certificates to Palestine...
- Gay Head (steamboat)Gay Head (steamboat)The Gay Head was a sidewheel steamer operating as a ferry serving the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket during the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth...
engines only - SS Tarpon (shipwreck)
- State of Pennsylvania (steamboat)State of Pennsylvania (steamboat)The State of Pennsylvania was a steamboat that was built in Wilmington, Delaware in 1923, along with her identical sister ship the State of Delaware. The steamboat operated on the Delaware River between her homeport of Wilmington and the cities of Chester and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, as well...
and her identical sister ship, the State of Delaware - T. J. PotterT. J. PotterThe T.J. Potter was a steamboat that operated in the Northwestern United States. The boat was launched in 1888. Her upper cabins came from the steamboat Wide West. This required some modification, because the T.J. Potter was a side-wheeler, whereas the Wide West had been a stern-wheeler...
engines only - VolunteerVolunteer (yacht)"Volunteer" was the victorious American defender of the seventh America's Cup race in 1887 against Scottish challenger "Thistle".-Design:"Volunteer," a centerboard compromise sloop, was designed by Edward Burgess and built by Pusey & Jones Shipbuilding Company at Wilmington, Delaware in 1887 for...
- Launched 1887. Successful defender of the 1887 America's CupAmerica's CupThe America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging... - United States lightship Nantucket (LV-112)United States lightship Nantucket (LV-112)The United States lightship Nantucket , also known as Lightship No. 112, Nantucket, is a National Historic Landmark lightship that served at Lightship Nantucket position...
- United States lightship Portsmouth (LV-101)United States lightship Portsmouth (LV-101)The United States Lightship 101, known as the Portsmouth, was first stationed at Cape Charles, Virginia. Today the vessel is at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum in Portsmouth, Virginia...
- USCGC Mohawk (WPG-78)USCGC Mohawk (WPG-78)The fifth US Coast Guard cutter named Mohawk was built by Pusey & Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware, and launched 1 October 1934. She was commissioned on 19 January 1935.-Active service:...
museum - USS Alacrity (SP-206)USS Alacrity (SP-206)USS Alacrity was an Alacrity -class patrol boat acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of patrolling American coastal waters during the First World War....
- USS Albatross (1882)USS Albatross (1882)The second USS Albatross, often seen as USFC Albatross in scientific literature citations, was an iron-hulled, twin-screw steamer in the United States Navy and reputedly the first vessel ever built especially for marine research....
- USS Anacapa (AG-49)USS Anacapa (AG-49)USS Anacapa was a Q-ship in the United States Navy. She was named for Anacapa, an island near the coast of California.- Construction :...
- USS Aquamarine (PYc-7)USS Aquamarine (PYc-7)USS Aquamarine was a patrol boat in the United States Navy during World War II. Later known as Miss Ann, the ship was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1998....
- USS Crystal (PY-25)USS Crystal (PY-25)USS Crystal was a patrol yacht in the United States Navy.Crystal was built in 1929 as the yacht Cambriona by the Pusey and Jones Co., Wilmington, Del. She was renamed Vida by Erle P. Halliburton, founder of the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company now known as Halliburton, after his wife Vida Tabor...
- USS Cyrene (AGP-13)USS Cyrene (AGP-13)USS Cyrene was a motor torpedo boat tender for the United States Navy.She was laid down as Cape Farewell, a Maritime Commission type hull under a Maritime Commission contract, at Pusey and Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware....
- USS Eider (AM-17)USS Eider (AM-17)USS Eider was a of the United States Navy.Laid down on 25 September 1917 by the Pusey and Jones Company of Wilmington, Delaware, Eider was launched on 26 May 1918, and commissioned as USS Eider, on 23 January 1919, LT Arthur E...
- USS Galatea (SP-714)USS Galatea (SP-714)USS Galatea was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as an armed patrol craft and served in the North Atlantic Ocean. At war’s end she was used as a receiving ship in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for submariners before being sold in 1921.- A yacht built in Delaware...
- USS Galaxy (IX-54)USS Galaxy (IX-54)USS Galaxy , was a diesel motor yacht built in 1930 by Pusey and Jones Company, in Wilmington, Delaware for Mr. Bernard W. Doyle, of Leominster, Massachusetts. Purchased by the United States Navy on 8 September 1941 and commissioned at East Boston, Massachusetts, on 20 September 1941, with...
- USS General Putnam (SP-2284)USS General Putnam (SP-2284)USS General Putnam was ferry boat acquired by the U.S. Navy for local service for a short period of time during World War I. She was returned to her owner at the close of the war.- World War I service :...
- USS Jamestown (PG-55)USS Jamestown (PG-55)USS Jamestown was a patrol gunboat and after 13 January 1943 a Jamestown-class motor torpedo boat tender acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II...
- USS Lydonia (SP-700)USS Lydonia (SP-700)USS Lydonia was a 497 gross ton yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as a patrol craft and spent most of the war based out of Gibraltar, escorting and protecting Allied ships in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Europe. Post-war she was ...
- USS Miantonomah (CMc-5)USS Miantonomah (CMc-5)USS Miantonomah was built as SS Quaker by Pusey & Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware, in 1938 and during the next three years operated along the eastern seaboard as a fast inland water passenger and freight carrier....
- USS Monadnock (ACM-10)USS Monadnock (ACM-10)USS Monadnock was named after Mount Monadnock, a solitary mountain of more than 3,100 feet in southern New Hampshire close to the border of Massachusetts....
- USS Nokomis (SP-609)USS Nokomis (SP-609)USS Nokomis was a yacht purchased by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as a patrol craft with 3-inch guns, and assigned to protect commercial shipping in the North Atlantic Ocean from German submarines and Q-ships. Post-war she was returned to the U.S. and decommissioned...
- USS Thrush (AM-18)USS Thrush (AM-18)USS Thrush was a acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing....