Since Columbus set sail in 1492, seafaring has figured prominently in American history. The same bodies of water that brought European explorers to the New World have offered the United States ready access to foreign markets as well as safety from distant enemies.

Consequently, shipbuilding has played a prominent role in U.S. commerce and in its military strategies. Shipbuilding has provided employment for generations of Americans. From the nation's navy to its merchant marine and pleasure craft industry, Americans have been building ships of all kinds for more than two centuries. Dock workers also play a prominent role in the American labor force, and their services are as much in demand today as they were in the earliest colonial times.

These materials which include images, government documents, and advertising materials, sample a portion of the activity that bustles around America's ports and shipyards. Using these documents, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

• What factors dictated the location of early American shipyards?
• How did shipyards affect the communities where they were located?
• Which historical events have most dramatically affected shipbuilding in the United States?

1. View: Workmen leaving ship construction - The Seeandbee.
2. View: Steamer William P. Snyder--1906.
3. View: U.S.S. Maine under construction at Brooklyn Navy Yard -- 1889.
4. View: People working on one of the two waterfronts of Salem, Massachusetts 1771.
5. View: Illustration showing the British prison ship Jersey anchored in harbor; a rowboat approaching and other revovlutionary war.
6. View: Interior of the old Jersey prison ship, in the Revolutionary War / Darley ; Bookhout, eng. N.Y.
7. View: U.S.S. Constitution [port broadside].
8. View: U.S.S. CONSTITUTION [at dock].
9. View: Old Ironsides, U.S. frigate, built 1797].
10. View: The Constitution, the gem of the ocean.
11. View: U.S.S. Constellation.
12. View: U.S. frigate Cumberland: 54 guns. the flag ship of the Gulf Squadron, Com. Perry.
13. View: United States Frigate LANCASTER.
14. View: U.S. steam frigate Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico, March 1847.
15. View: U.S.S. Pensacola, Capt. Dewey on the bridge.
16. View: The jolly flat boat men painted by G.C. Bingham, esq. engraved by T. Doney printed by Powell & Co.
17. View: Great Republic sailing off the coast.
18. View: Photograph of the Erie Basin outside New York Harbor with several large ships at dockside. Handwritten labels identify ships as the THERESE of New York, the BENARES of Glasgow and the GREAT ADMIRAL.
19. View: Loading an oil barge.
20. View: Photograph of the ship Seminole preparing to be rerigged.
21. View: Aquatint print of Rotch fleet in the midst of a school of sperm whales off the coast of Hawaii. 1833
22. View: Barge sailing beneath the open Michigan Avenue Bridge, Chicago, 1929.
23. View: San Francisco rooftops.
24. View: Welder going to his place of work on a barge.
25. View: Sea Serpent Passing South Head, San Francisco.
26. View: Panoramic view of Port Townsend, Washington.
27. View: Divers on barge, Chicago, 1915.
28. View: Ship David Dows and boat unloading cargo at grain elevator; carts and wagons hauling merchandise…
29. View: Iron Ship Building. Harrison Loring, City Point Works, South Boston.
30. View: Poster promoting Philadelphia, showing ships at dock.
31. View: Shipping Cotton.
32. View: The United States' first foreign trade zone, Staten Island, city of New York, opened February 1, 1937.
33. View: Ships loading at wharves in San Francisco.
34. View: Men on a dock, one holding a wetsuit.
35. View: Chinese Fishermen, Monterey, California. 1875.
36. View: Unloading coal at Boston Coal docks, Duluth, Minn.
37. View: Kate Borst christening the steamer "Snoqualmie," August 11, 1919.
38. View: Ship launching in Portland, Maine.
39. View: Launching of 10,000 ton ships.
40. View: The interior of a shipbuilding plant, showing men working with acetylene torches.
41. View: Men unloading cargo from a canal boat docked along a wharf.
42. View: Pouring wheat into hole of barge at Port Kelly.

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1. Read: Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 5 August 16, 1776 - December 31, 1776 Richard Henry Lee to James Maxwell.
2. Read: Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, 1789-1873 THURSDAY, March 24, 1870. Letter from U.S. Grant re/merchant marine.
3. Read: shipping and prohibition: battling the 'wet fleet'.
4. Read: difficult life on the waterfront.
5. Read: shipping in Texas in the early 19th century.

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