Giles Loring (March 26, 1813 – October 2, 1893)
[''Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine 1636-1936: A History'', William Hutchinson Rowe (1937)] was an American
shipwright
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
during a prolific period at
Yarmouth Harbor
Yarmouth Marina is a natural harbor and estuary of Casco Bay, and is located adjacent to the town of Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It is situated on the Royal River, around southeast of the town center, in an area known as Lower Falls. Today ...
in
Maine.
[''Images of America: Yarmouth'', Alan M. Hall (Arcadia, 2002), p. 16] His shipyard was one of the four major ones during the town's peak years of 1850–1875,
["Yarmouth Historic Context Statement]
– Town of Yarmouth and it launched the harbor's final vessel.
Early life
Loring was born on March 26, 1813, in
Pownal,
Massachusetts (now in Maine).
Career
Established in 1854,
[ the Giles Loring Shipyard became one of the four major shipyards at the harbor of Yarmouth during its time in the industry. Loring's yard was on the eastern side of the Royal River, and it was there that he built 34 ships, mostly ]brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
s and barques, with an average size of around 400 gross tons. The largest vessel he built was the 989-ton ''Alice Vennard'', launched in 1860.[''Two Centuries of Maine Shipbuilding'', Nathan Lipfert (2021) ] It was from his yard that the last major vessel, the three-mast schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
''Damietta and Joanna'',[ was launched in 1890. He sometimes built in tandem with Charles Poole (his son-in-law), John M. Cobb or Benjamin Chadsey.][
]
Personal life
Loring married twice: first to Sarah Mitchell Stubbs from 1834 until her death 1885, then Lydia Hannah Schofield, of Rochdale, England, from 1887 to his death in 1893.
After retiring in 1890, he went bankrupt after his investment in a mineral spring in North Yarmouth failed.
Death
Loring died on October 25, 1893, aged 80. He is interred in Yarmouth's Ledge Cemetery
Ledge Cemetery, also known as the Cemetery under the Ledge,''Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society'', Maine Historical Society (1899), p. 76 is a historic cemetery in Yarmouth, Maine, Yarmouth, Maine, United States. Dating t ...
. Although Loring was her second husband, and she married twice more after his death, Lydia was buried with him at the Ledge Cemetery upon her death in 1922.[''Church of England, Maine and Massachusetts Vital Records'']
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loring, Giles
People from North Yarmouth, Maine
People from Yarmouth, Maine
1813 births
1893 deaths
American shipwrights