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Part One
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William Doughty was a draftsman in the Wharton-Humphreys yard
when Josiah Fox came to prominence. Under the direction of Fox,
Doughty drew up the plans for the frigates United States,
Constitution, and President. Trained as a shipwright
and draftsman, Doughty eventually became a significant figure
in the yard. He was involved in the design and plans of many ships
the yard built, although who gets credit for what is hard to decide.
Evidently, Joshua Humphreys made the overall decisions, Fox handled
the details, and Doughty drew the plans and did the lofting. Possibly,
his talent for lofting led to him becoming the equivalent of office
manager at the yard.
What may be revealing here is the United States was
designed, built, and launched first, in Philadelphia by Humphreys
at his yard. She was the slowest of the frigates to come from
the Humphreys concept of big frigates. Six months later in Boston,
Constitution slipped down her ways as a faster, heavier,
better designed and armed frigate. And then President was built
in New York, after many delays being launched in April, 1800.
She was the fastest of the frigates built with the vision of Humphreys,
the knowledge of Fox, and William Doughty's capacity for drawing
plans and lofting. It seems the three men learned quickly what
works. Chapelle says the designs from these three men, 'influenced
American frigates to the end of the sailing ship period.'
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President |
After this, Doughty left the Wharton-Humphreys yard to operate
a shipyard in Georgetown, MD, from 1801 till 1813. His capacity
for organizing ship construction enabled him to be employed at
the Washington Navy Yard off and on for many years. While Doughty
was a good draftsman, it seems his ability to supervise construction
was his greatest asset.
Then, around 1815 his life changed. He had grown up along the
Chesapeake, watching the topsail schooners which sailed the Bay.
While he was at the Washington Navy Yard the commission came for
three new 44 gun frigates and four large ship-sloops. Doughty
drew the three frigates within inches as copies of President,
as if they didn't interest him or he thought no improvements could
be made on the Humphreys-Fox collaboration. What did interest
him were the large ship-sloops. He took a gamble with these craft.
No designers in the Washington yard showed any interest in clipper
schooner models, but Doughty did. He took the Baltimore clipper
schooner hull model, enlarged it, and made his mark on the history
of American ship design.
He drew a hull with plenty of keel aft, a midsection with 23
degrees of deadrise, and slight tumblehome in the topsides.
The Ontario, Erie, and Argus were
117 feet on deck, 31' 6" beam, and 14 feet depth of hold.
These sloops carried 20 carronades, 32 pounders and 2 long 18
pounders. Although they were called sloops, they were rigged with
square sails on three masts. Later, the Wasp, Peacock,
and Frolic were built on these plans (Wasp was
named after the first Fox Wasp).
The Peacock had such a successful career it became the
model of all subsequent ship sloops for the next 26 years.
Many of these ship sloops were built by the Navy. After 1815
Doughty specialized in the sharp hulls of the Baltimore clipper
schooners. The Navy had asked Josiah Fox for revenue cutters,
which he designed with deadrise and long keels, around 1798. War
had decimated these cutters so when peace came the Navy needed
to replace them. In 1815, when the Navy asked Doughty to design
three new classes of revenue cutters, he took the direction laid
out by Fox even further. No square sails for Doughty now, these
cutters were fore-and-aft schooners, the classic American rig.
In 1825 Doughty designed two more classes of cutter, for shoal
waters. One class is interesting for its use of two 'drop-keels,'
which we would call daggerboards. The boards were very square,
dropping vertically with rollers to ease any jamming. This class
of cutter was 60 feet between stem and stern, a topsail schooner
with bulwarks. The Peacock had such a successful career it became
the model of all subsequent ship sloopsfor the next 26 years.
Many of these ship sloops were built by the Navy.
After 1815 Doughty specialized in the sharp hulls of the Baltimore
clipper schooners. The Navy had asked Josiah Fox for revenue cutters,
which he designed with deadrise and long keels, around 1798. War
had decimated these cutters so when peace came the Navy needed
to replace them. In 1815, when the Navy asked Doughty to design
three new classes of revenue cutters, he took the direction laid
out by Fox even further. No square sails for Doughty now, these
cutters were fore-and-aft schooners, the classic American rig.
In 1825 Doughty designed two more classes of cutter, for shoal
waters. One class is interesting for its use of two 'drop-keels,'
which we would call daggerboards. The boards were very square,
dropping vertically with rollers to ease any jamming. This class
of cutter was 60 feet between stem and stern, a topsail schooner
with bulwarks.
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A revenue cutter from 1825 with the drop keel. |
The second class of cutter was bigger, bulkier with more sail
area. They had one drop keel, shoal draft, one more foot in depth
of hold and 10 tons heavier than the first class of drop keel
cutter.
Chapelle says of these revenue cutters, 'The spirit and traditions
of the present Coast Guard were founded in the slippery little
revenue schooners of the days of sail. These rakish topsail schooners,
slashing through the heavy seas of a winter's gale, were the first
to express the motto of the present service, Semper Paratus-Always
Ready.'
William Doughty had gone from the great frigates of Humphreys-Fox
to the revenue cutters of 30 years later. He doesn't appear to
have been in any controversy. He was not the selfpromoter Humphreys
was; Chapelle says he wasn't the detail man Fox was. Yet he sustained
the high level of design and plans from the 1790s to the 1830s.
While William Doughty didn't create any new fad, he did develop
his lines in a certain way. He drew a hull form which had a full
body well forward and well aft, with substantial deadrise in between.
While other designers had long narrow entrances with hollow lines,
Doughty never wavered from the general shape of Constitution.
His ships had great deck space with narrow deadrise through the
water. It was ideal for revenue cutters, especially those with
topsails and square sails on the foremast.
I began this series on the note of how the United States Navy
became such an international force in such a short time. One answer
is the number of great seamen, trained in the Revolutionary War,
who came to maturity in the War of 1812. Another answer is the
great pine and oak available in this new untouched land, right
up to the coastline in New England. A third reason might well
be the three men whose designs kept our shipbuilding at a high
level for a long time when the Navy was made of wood. And finally
the great craftsmen who worked in metal, in cannons, in sails,
in the yards.
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These articles could not have been put together without the writing
of H. I. Chapelle, Ian Toll, George Daughan, and Larrie Ferriero.
The remarkable drawn images are from Henry Rusk. They are invaluable.
Writing this has been a boyhood dream come into the present. I
have to sincerely thank Chuck for allowing me to dip my fingers
in the history of the U. S. Navy.
If you have a son or daughter, I would recommend taking them
to see the USS Constitution at the Boston harbor. Someday
I'll make it there, myself. I hope to give the Navy the opportunity
to arrest me for climbing the yards. I wonder what the food's
like in the brig...
The End
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