Quite possibly the shipyard included a joiner’s shop where highly skilled carpenters
crafted the finer pieces that went into and on the ship including cabinetry. A vital shipyard
component would have been a “steam box” for heating and shaping the planking to form
the curved outer and inner skin of the hull. The shipyard would have also contained a
number of storage buildings and sheds; stacks of planking and timbers stood near the
launch way.
Important to the ship building operation was the water fence located along the southern
shore of North Cove, on what is now the Osage Trails Preserve. This fence sealed off
brackish water from the cove serving as a storage area for masts, yards and spars floated
into the cove from upstream locations via the Connecticut River. Like many areas
throughout Connecticut by the late 1790’s, the North Cove/Falls River region had been
timbered off with few usable trees left for ship construction and the Williams family had to
contract with people further up the Connecticut River for their lumber.
Denison Shipyard, Deep River
A 400 Year History
Jim Denham, Board Member Essex Land Trust
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