Berg's Ship Yard

William P. Chappel American

Not on view

By the 1820s, New York City controlled more than thirty percent of the nation’s import trade. With the port’s rise came the revitalization of the shipbuilding industry. Corlear’s Hook, where Christian Bergh established his business, was the center of the industry that stretched from Stanton to Catherine Streets along the East River. The surrounding neighborhood would have buzzed with the activity of hundreds of riggers, rope and sail makers, and joiners. The wooden-hulled ships, as Chappel depicts, were constructed waterside near workrooms and blacksmith shops. In 1806, a local paper noted the launch from Bergh’s yard of the 350-ton "Galloway" bound for the "India trade."

Berg's Ship Yard, William P. Chappel (American, 1801–1878), Oil on slate paper, American

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