Shipbuilding on the Ohio River 1798-1816

Most people who live in the states bordering the Ohio River think of themselves as living in a landlocked part of the country. However, this isn't true. The industrial centers along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers have a tradition of shipbuilding going back as far as European settlement. Even as Lewis and Clark stopped at Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh to have a keel boat built in the boatyards there, the town was turning out a large number of seagoing craft. Here's a list from the endnotes to Leland D. Baldwin, The Keelboat Age on Western Waters (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980) pp. 224-226 n. 11 and 18. 

As you can see, the numbers fell off sharply after 1807, when the Embargo Act was passed forbidding all exports of American goods. The Act was repealed in 1809, but the succeeding Non-Intercourse Act and the subsequent War of 1812-15 dealt harsh blows to the American merchant fleet. After 1816, shipbuilding resumed, but now the yards were busy turning out a new kind of craft, the river steamboat (the first of which plied the waters of the Ohio in 1811).

By comparison, the two war brigs built at Erie in 1813 were 300 tons each. East Indiamen, the "bulk carriers" of the time, were generally 1100-1400 tons. Most of these ships spent their careers on the high seas, since the shallow Falls of the Ohio at Louisville Kentucky made upstream traffic the domain of nimble keelboats and shallow drafted steamboats. However, the USS Senator Ross was a galley assigned to the rivers: her service history seems to have been forgotten.

Seagoing Vessels Built in Pittsburgh:

Name	Class	Tonnage	Date
President Adams	Gunboat		1798
Senator Ross	Ditto		1799
Dean	Brig		1803
Amity	Schooner	103-120	“
Pittsburgh	Ship	250-270	“
?	Schooner	120	“
?	Brig or Schooner	120	1804
Nanina	Brig	132-200	“
Louisiana	Brig or Ship	169-300	“
Conquest	Schooner	126	“
Allegheny	Schooner or Brig	150	“
General Butler	Ship or Brig	400	1805
Fayette	Brig		“
Western Trader	Ship	400	1806
Black Walnut	Brig		“
Betsy O’Hara	Brig		“
?	Brig	160	1810

Seagoing Vessels Built in Marietta, Ohio:

Name	Class	Tonnage	Year
St. Clair	Brig	110	1801
Muskingum	Ship	230	“
Eliza Green	Brig	126	“
Dominic	Brig	100-140	1802
Indiana	Schooner	75	“
Marietta	Brig	150	“
Mary Avery	Brig	150	“
Whitney	Schooner	75	1803
McGrath	Schooner	75	“
Orlando	Brig	150	“
Galett	Brig	185	“
Minerva	Brig		“
Temperance	Ship	230	1804
Ohio	Brig	150	“
Nonpareil	Schooner	70	“
Perseverance	Brig	160	1805
Rufus King	Ship	300	1806
John Atkinson	Ship	320	“
Tuscarora	Ship	320	“
Sophia Green	Brig	100-144	“
?	Gunboat		“
?	Gunboat		“
Francis	Ship	350	1807
Robert Hall	Ship	300	“
Rufus Putnam	Brig	300	“
Collatta	Brig	140	“
Belle	Schooner	100-144	1808
Adventurer	Schooner	60	1809
Maria	Schooner	75	1812
Maria	Schooner	50	1816