His letter attempts both to reassure the BNC in light of the recent Nat Turner Rebellion which occurred on 22 August 1831 and to serve as a reply to the Dry Dock's stonemasons who had quit their positions and accused the project chief engineer, Loammi Baldwin Jr., of the unfair hiring of enslaved labor in their stead. Warrington's letter to the BNC was in response to various petitions by white workers to curtail or end enslaved labor on the Dry Dock. Some idea of the human scale can be found in this excerpt from a letter of Commodore Lewis Warrington dated 12 October 1831 to the Board of Navy Commissioners (BNC). Enslaved labor Įnslaved labor was extensively utilized in the Norfolk Navy Yard from its foundation until the Civil War. Black employees during the antebellum era were often enslaved laborers. United States Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, station log, entries,19-20 August 1850.The Log provided a record of weather data, daily work assignments for white and black employees, naval and commercial vessels entering and departing shipyard. Additional land on the eastern side of the Elizabeth River was purchased in 1845. Officer's Quarters A, B, and C were built about 1837. Dry Dock One, as it is referred to today, is still operational and is listed as historical landmark in Portsmouth, Virginia. The first one was completed three weeks ahead of similar projects in both Boston and South America, making it the first functional dry dock in the Americas. In 1827, construction began on the first of what would be the first two dry docks in the United States. This tract of land measured 16 acres (65,000 m 2) and now makes up the northeastern corner of the current shipyard. The federal government purchased the shipyard from Virginia in 1801 for $12,000. In 1799 the keel of USS Chesapeake, one of the first six frigates authorized by Congress, was laid, making her the first ship built in Gosport for the U.S. In 1794, United States Congress passed "An Act to Provide a Naval Armament," allowing the Federal Government to lease the Gosport Shipyard from Virginia. In 1779, while the newly formed Commonwealth of Virginia was operating the shipyard, it was burned by British troops. Following Governor Dunmore's retreat from Portsmouth in May 1776, Sprowle was exiled along with other Royalists to Gwynn's Island (now Mathews County, Virginia), where he died and was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1775, at the beginning of the American Revolution, Sprowle stayed loyal to the Crown which confiscated all of his properties, including the shipyard. This shipyard became a prosperous naval and merchant facility for the British Crown. The Gosport Shipyard was founded on November 1, 1767, by Andrew Sprowle on the western shore of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk County in the Virginia colony. The shipyard was again rebuilt, and has continued operation through the present day. Changing hands during the American Civil War, it served the Confederate States Navy until it was again destroyed in 1862, when it was given its current name. Destroyed during the American Revolutionary War, it was rebuilt and became home to the first operational drydock in the United States in the 1830s. It was established as Gosport Shipyard in 1767. Located on the Elizabeth River, the yard is just a short distance upriver from its mouth at Hampton Roads. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy)ĬAPT Dianna Wolfson (January 2021-present) The 350-ton hammerhead crane at Norfolk Naval Shipyardġ767 as Gosport Shipyard ( Royal Navy) current name since 1862 ( U.S.
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