Isaac Webb (8 September 1794 - 14 January 1840), was a 19th-century shipbuilder, owner and founder of the Isaac Webb & Co.

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

. He was one of the founders of shipbuilding in the United States.

Early life

Isaac Webb was born in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, on September 8, 1794. He was the son of Wilsey Webb and Sarah Jessup. Isaac and Phebe had four children. Their son, Eckford Webb was named after the shipbuilder, Henry Eckford. His son,

William H. Webb William Henry Webb (June 19, 1816 – October 30, 1899) was a 19th-century New York City shipbuilder and philanthropist, who has been called America's first true naval architect. Early life William Henry Webb was born in New York on June 1 ...

, became a shipbuilder.

Isaac Webb shipyards

In September 1810, Henry Eckford took on the 16-year-old Isaac Webb as an apprentice at his shipyard in New York. In the following years, Eckford would take on many other apprentices who would become important naval architects and shipbuilders, including Jacob Bell,

William Bennett William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative politician and political commentator who served as secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of director of the Office of ...

, David Brown,

Andrew Craft Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

, John Dimon,

John Englis John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

Thomas Megson Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, Stephen Smith, and

Sidney Wright Sidney may refer to: People * Sidney (surname), English surname * Sidney (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Sidney (footballer, born 1972), full name Sidney da Silva Souza, Brazilian football defensive midfielder * ...

Isaac Webb & Co.

After completing his training Webb opened his own shipyard, Isaac Webb & Co., near

Corlears Hook The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an i ...

, New York City in about 1818, later relocating to Stanton Street. In 1822, Isaac Webb built the three-masted ship ''Superior'' for the Black Ball Line.

Webb & Allen

Webb eventually took on a partner, John Allen, and the shipyard was renamed Webb & Allen in 1825. The shipyard continued to operate in the 1830s. The packet ship ''Natchez'', was built by Web in 1831 for Captain Waterman. The pilot-boat ''John McKeon,'' was built in 1838 by Webb & Allen for the New Jersey pilots. For the first couple of years at the helm, the Webb & Allen shipyard, relocated between Fifth and Seventh Streets on the East River, built a variety of mostly small sailing ships, including ferries,

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

s and

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 ...

s. Two other apprentices, Jacob Bell and David Brown founded the Brown & Bell shipyard in New York and built the famous sidewheel steamer ''

USS Jacob Bell USS ''Jacob Bell'' was a sidewheel steamer acquired by the Union Navy for use during the American Civil War. She was one of the oldest vessels so acquired.Silverstone, Paul H. (1989): ''Warships of the Civil War Navies'', p. 85; Naval Institu ...

''.

Death

On 14 January 1840, Webb died in New York City, at the age of 46, of inflammation of the lungs. Upon examining the accounts his son, William Webb, discovered that his father's business was technically insolvent, and thus one of his first duties was to settle his father's debts. Having done so, he set about reinvigorating the business. In 1843, William bought out his father's old partner John Allen and subsequently renamed the business William H. Webb shipyard.Dunbaugh, Edwin L. and Thomas, William duBarry (1989): ''William H. Webb, Shipbuilder'', Webb Institute
as reproduced
at shipbuildinghistory.com.

Webb & Bell shipyard

In 1848, Isaac's son, Eckford Webb, teamed up with George W. Bell and created the Webb & Bell shipyard at Milton Street in

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn� ...

. The company produced many ships, gunboats, and pilot boats. On October 31, 1860, the 100-ton pilot-boat ''Isaac Webb,'' No. 8, was built by Webb & Bell for the New York and Sandy Hook pilots. The pilot boat ''

Charlotte Webb ''Charlotte Webb'' was a 19th-century New York City pilot boat built in 1865 at the Webb & Bell shipyard to take the place of the '' James Funk,'' that was destroyed by the rebel ''Tallahassee'' during the Civil War. She survived the Great Bliz ...

'' was built in May 1865 at the Webb & Bell shipyard. During the American Civil War the government used his pilot boats as

blockade runners A blockade runner is a merchant vessel used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait. It is usually light and fast, using stealth and speed rather than confronting the blockaders in order to break the blockade. Blockade runners usuall ...

. The most noted gunboat was the ''Chippewa'' built in 1861. After the Civil War, the firm built several of the Pacific Mail steamers. In 1871, the firm built and sank the underwater

Caissons Caisson (French for "box") may refer to: * Caisson (Asian architecture), a spider web ceiling * Caisson (engineering), a sealed underwater structure * Caisson (lock gate), a gate for a dock or lock, constructed as a floating caisson * Caisson (pe ...

used for the foundation of the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Isaac American shipbuilders American businesspeople in shipping Boat builders 1794 births 1840 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople