John Peck (June 12, 1725

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

– May 3, 1790 Boston) was an American merchant and

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Architecture, Occupations ...

of the 18th century. He had been trained as a merchant, and as apprentice in that matter had served at sea as

supercargo A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchand ...

for a few voyages. Having become interested in naval architecture while studying mathematics in school, the experiences of observing ships at sea furthered that interest. It would appear, however, that his designing of ships was more of a hobby, compared to his main trade as a successful merchant. Additionally, he was appointed inspector of

saltpeter Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrat ...

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown ...

, around the time the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

started.H. I. Chapelle: ''The History Of American Sailing Ships''. Republished New York: Bonanza Books, 1982, p. 138 John Peck was married to Hannah Jackson, died 1770, with whom he had a son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, born in 1763.H. I. Chapelle: ''The History Of American Sailing Ships''. Republished New York: Bonanza Books, 1982, p. 142

Designing ships

Peck's son stated that Peck Sr. never had laid eyes on drawings of ships, but developed his own method to draw plans. The same source admits that these plans later on were close to unintelligible even to Peck Sr. himself, and states that his father only ever owned one book on ship building, although probably not when the first ships of his design and ideas were being built. Most of Peck's ships were built at yards, in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and

Newburyport Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...

. One was built abroad (''Maréchal de Cartries''), two on his own land, with a few of the others under his direct supervision in a private ship yard in Plymouth.H. I. Chapelle: ''The History Of American Sailing Ships''. Republished New York: Bonanza Books, 1982, p. 139 For the majority, Peck served as naval architect, but he was not a shipwright. This distinguishes him from the other ship-designers of his time, and makes him the first naval architect of the United States, insofar as the term is understood for one who draws ships, but is not a shipwright or -builder as well. In designing ships, Peck appears to have had his own ideas, supported by the building of the ''Minerva'' as a means to evaluating them. According to Howard I. Chapelle, he was "secretive, egotistical and easily discouraged," but was a "very clever designer," his ships being reputed as fast, handy, and able to carry a large press of sail. In 1774, Peck had a ship built to test his own ideas on ship design. ''Minerva'', of about 20 - 30 tons, was exceptionally broad compared to other ships of that time, but proved to be a fast and seaworthy vessel. When he learned that the Massachusetts legislature wanted to built ships-of-war, he submitted plans and proposals and was granted approval. One ship built thus was the

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, or

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, ''Hazard'', with sixteen guns, that was constructed in Boston. This ship proved to be a very fast vessel, but her career ended short when she was burned during the

Penobscot expedition The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval armada during the Revolutionary War assembled by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 support vessels sailed from Boston on July 1 ...

. Another ship by Peck Sr. was the

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

''Belisarius''. Being intended for that particular trade, she too was to be fast, a goal achieved according to

Joshua Humphreys Joshua Humphreys (June 17, 1751 – January 12, 1838) was an American ship builder and naval architect. He was the constructor of the original six frigates of the United States Navy and is known as the "Father of the American Navy". Humphreys wa ...

, who is quoted by Chapelle as saying that she was one of the fastest sailing ships at sea. According to Humphreys, she was spelled ''Bellesarius'' and of length, with a breadth of . ''Belisarius'' was captured in 1781 by the British after, as Peck claimed, she had been sent out to sea without

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and was caught in a calm. She served in the

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as a 20-gun ship. A better-known Peck design was , the first American ship to arrive at China under the new flag of the equally new nation. Owned by Robert Morris, and others, of

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, she was built in Boston in 1783. Despite being a rather full ship, she had a reputation for being a fast sailer.H. I. Chapelle: ''The History Of American Sailing Ships''. Republished New York: Bonanza Books, 1982, p. 140 ''Maréchal de Castries'' was a ship of 390 tons, built about 1781–1783 in France as an East Indiaman

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. She has the distinction of being the first ship built abroad to American plans.H. I. Chapelle: ''The History Of American Sailing Ships''. Republished New York: Bonanza Books, 1982, p. 141 One ship that was probably, but not with certainty, built to his design was the large privateer ''Rattlesnake'' which later in the Royal Navy was known as a fast ship as well. According to Chapelle, she was built in Plymouth while Peck was there as well to supervise the construction of the Continental packet-ketch ''Mercury''. ''Rattlesnake''s lines differ from ''Belisarius'', so it might be possible he was experimenting with the design. Around 1785, possibly earlier, Peck went to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, or perhaps

Kittery Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, Maine, Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The ...

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across the river, where he operated a small shipyard. In 1790, he fell ill and, by doing of his son, went back to Boston where he died in May of the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, John 1725 births 1790 deaths American naval architects People of Massachusetts in the American Revolution Engineers from Massachusetts