William Henry 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 19, 1816. His father Isaac trained at the shipyard of New York shipbuilder Henry Eckford before opening his own shipyard, Isaac Webb & Co., near Corlears Hook in about 1818, later relocating to Stanton Street. Isaac eventually took on a partner and the firm was renamed Webb & Allen.

Career After completing his six-year apprenticeship, William decided to further his education by travelling to Scotland in 1840 to visit the famous shipyards of the Clyde. During this journey, however, his father Isaac died suddenly at the age of 46, and 23-year-old William returned home to assume management of the shipyard.

Clippers and packets

Webb soon began turning out larger and more ambitious vessels, including several sailing packets and clipper ships, types for which the yard would soon become famous. The 900-ton packets Montezuma and Yorkshire were built in 1843, along with the pre-clipper Cohota. Another packet built by Webb was Harvest Queen.

The California gold rush was by then in full swing, bringing with it strong demand for new ships to convey prospectors and supplies to and from the goldfields. Clipper ships were seen as ideal for the trade, and in 1851, Webb built a number of them, including Gazelle, Challenge, Comet, Invincible and Swordfish. Comet and Swordfish, 1,836 and 1,036 tons respectively, were both to set sailing speed records. The Comet was represented by a half-model. The lines and sail plan are in the William H. Webb's Plans Of Wooden Ships.

Freight rates to the goldfields had by this time skyrocketed to such an extent that a ship could pay for its construction with a single voyage.

Webb's clipper designs "employed the most judicious use of timber of all the major shipbuilders." For the Challenge, Webb relied on the hull planking as an integral part of the ship's structural strength, and increased the width between frames at the bow and stern of the ship, thus using four fewer frames for a 200 ft. hull, saving about 25,000 lbs.

In 1853, Webb built the 1,961-ton clipper Young America, considered by many to be the most beautiful clipper ship ever built, the "acme of perfection" in clipper design. In 1855, he built the 1,406-ton packet ship, the Neptune for the Black Ball Line.

Steamboats and steamships Though renowned for the beauty and speed of his packets and clippers, Webb nevertheless built many steamboats and steamships through the course of his career.

Notable steamships built by the Webb shipyard include the 1,857-ton sidewheel steamer United States (1846), which became the first steamship to operate in the New Orleans trade; the California, the first steamer to enter the Golden Gate; and the first steamers built for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.

Postwar slump and closure After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the U.S. government auctioned off the hundreds of ships it had requisitioned during the war at firesale prices, depressing the market and leaving American shipyards with no work. The result was that most American shipyards, along with marine engine specialists, went to the wall. The shipbuilding industry in New York was particularly badly affected by the slump, being practically wiped out in the ensuing years.

Webb's shipyard suffered like all the rest. In 1867, the yard added one last distinction to its record with the completion of the twin sidewheel steamers Bristol and Providence—two of the largest and most lavish steamers of their era, which were to set new standards of comfort and luxury on Narragansett Bay. After this however, Webb was able to secure only two further contracts over the next two years.

Increasingly however he turned his hand to philanthropy. He took an interest in public affairs in his home city of New York, but eschewed the role of politician, turning down an offer of the Mayoralty on no less than three occasions. Instead, he accepted the role of Chairman of the New York City Council on Political Reform, an organization formed to combat political corruption. One of his most important achievements in this regard concerned his opposition to the Aqueduct Commission, by which he helped secure a safe and reliable water system for New Yorkers, which is still in operation today.

In 1894 he built the Webb Academy and Home for Shipbuilders, in the Fordham section of the Bronx (now the site of Fordham Hill Apartments) and provided an endowment for its running estimated at $2,000,000. The main purpose of the Academy was in the words of its charter to "furnish gratuitous education in the art, science and profession of shipbuilding".

Publications Plans of Wooden Vessels Selected as Types from one hundred and fifty of various kinds and descriptions, from a fishing smack to the largest clipper ships and vessels of war, both sail and steam, built by Wm. H. Webb, in the city of New York, from the year 1840 to the year 1869; 2 volumes. William H. Webb Collection 1895 The William H. Webb collection consists of a selection of folio plates removed from a copy of the book "Wooden Vessels built by William H. Webb in the City of New York, 1840-1869".

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