Construction
West Point was built in 1847 by Westervelt & MacKay, a company that acquired renown by constructing streamlined clipper ships and fast steamships. The shipyard also produced United States Navy ships such as the screw sloop USS Brooklyn. Westervelt & MacKay co-owner Jacob Aaron Westervelt reached prominence as a Mayor of New York 1853–1855.
The West Point was built of southern live oak despite the fact that the use of iron had started to catch on in the building of ships – especially in the United Kingdom. In the following years the advantages of building iron ships became more obvious and the value of ships purely made of wood decreased perceptibly. The owners of wooden ships therefore began to fasten their vessels with iron and copper. In case of West Point, this happened in November 1857.
Read more about this topic: West Point (1847)
Famous quotes containing the word construction:
“There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Striving toward a goal puts a more pleasing construction on our advance toward death.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)