Dialogue & Company was a shipbuilding firm located in the

Port of Camden The Port of Camden is situated on east bank of the Delaware River in Camden and Gloucester City in southern New Jersey. It is one of several ports in the Delaware Valley metro area port complex and is located near the mouth of Newtown Creek oppo ...

on the Delaware River in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. It was founded by John H. Dialogue. Born in 1828, Dialogue moved at age 30 to Kaighn’s Point in

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

. In 1862, he and several partners founded the National Iron Armor and Shipbuilding Company, which opened a year later. The first boat to be built at the shipyard was the 25-ton screw-driven ''Lookout''. In 1870, the shipyard was renamed River Iron Works, Dialogue & Wood, proprietors. The first boat to be built at this facility was the 48-ton screw-driven ''Frank G. Fowler''. On the death of Mr. Wood, Mr. Dialogue took over control of the business. By the late 19th century, the shipyard grew to with of waterfront, employing up to 800 workers. The shipyard produced numerous

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s for the civilian market and for the U.S. Navy. In 1871, the shipyard was building iron vessels ordered by the Revenue Marine department, such as the United States Steamship ''Colfax''. In 1876, the company helped restore the USS ''Constitution''. In 1878, the yard began to build compound engine tugboats. And, during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

, the shipyard completed and launched the United States Navy gunboat Princeton, which was sent to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and was decommissioned in 1919. John H. Dialogue died in 1898. His son, John H. Dialogue, Jr., took over the business and ran it until it failed just before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

References

Ships built by Dialogue & Co.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dialogue and Company Shipyards of the United States Defunct companies based in New Jersey Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Companies based in Camden, New Jersey Industrial buildings and structures in New Jersey Shipyards of New Jersey