Skinner & Eddy

Skinner & Eddy Corporation
Private
Industry Shipbuilding
Predecessor Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company
Successor Skinner Corporation
Founded 1916
Founder Ned Skinner, John W. Eddy
Defunct (As a shipyard) 1923
Headquarters Seattle, Washington, United States
Products Steel merchant ships
Services Ship repairs

The Skinner & Eddy Corporation, commonly known as Skinner & Eddy, was a Seattle, Washington-based shipbuilding corporation that existed from 1916 to 1923. The yard is notable for completing more ships for the U.S. war effort during World War I than any other American shipyard, and also for breaking world production speed records for individual ship construction.

In total, the company built 75 ships—72 cargo ships and three oil tankers—from 1916 to 1920, including 32 completed for the Emergency Fleet Corporation during the war. The yard was closed in 1921 as a result of the severe postwar shipbuilding slump. Skinner & Eddy later became a shipping line operator, and appears to have been wound up in the early 1970s.

Background

The Skinner & Eddy Corporation was founded in January 1916 by two entrepreneurs, David E. "Ned" Skinner and John W. Eddy, owners of the Port Blakely Mill Company since 1903.[1] Shortly after its establishment, Skinner & Eddy Corp. began leasing the shipyard of the Seattle Construction & Drydock Company, located between Connecticut and Dearborn Sts., Seattle. Seattle Construction & Dry Dock was itself a successor to the Moran Brothers shipyard, which around the start of the 20th century had been one of America's largest shipyards, responsible for building Seattle's first battleship, USS Nebraska, in 1906.[2]

On April 6, 1917, 15 months after Skinner and Eddy Corp. began leasing the yard, the United States entered World War I. Skinner & Eddy responded to the news by purchasing an additional 15 acres (61,000 m2) of Seattle waterfront property from the Seattle Dock Company and the Centennial Flouring Mill for $1,500,000 and $600,000 respectively, which they used to begin building a second shipyard, which became known as Plant No. 2. After securing lucrative contracts from the Emergency Fleet Corporation for the construction of merchant ships for the war effort, Skinner & Eddy was also able in June 1918 to make an outright purchase of the yard of Seattle Construction and Dry Dock, which was named Plant No. 1.[2]

Facilities

When completed, Skinner & Eddy's facilities included ten building slipways—five at each Plant—and four outfitting docks. A five-section, 459-foot (140 m) drydock capable of servicing vessels of up to 15,000 tons was also acquired, along with a 50-ton floating crane.[3]

Most of the ships built by the company during the war were constructed at Plant No. 1,[4] as Plant No. 2 was still under construction for much of this period. With its two plants, which together covered about 57 acres (230,000 m2) of waterfront property,[3] Skinner & Eddy was Seattle's largest shipbuilding company, at its wartime peak employing about 13,500 people.[3]

World War I

Launch of the freighter Stolt Nielson from the Skinner & Eddy yard on 22 May 1917

The first seven ships built by Skinner & Eddy were for private contractors. The company completed its first ship, Niels Nielson, on November 9, 1916, and had completed a further two by the time the United States entered the war in April 1917. These three ships along with four partially completed vessels were then requisitioned for war service by the newly created United States Shipping Board (USSB). Thereafter, Skinner & Eddy was to build ships exclusively for the USSB, through the latter's agency, the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFT).[5]

Skinner & Eddy soon began to distinguish itself by its production speed. Prior to its operations, a cargo ship built and delivered in the United States in under 250 days was considered fast,[6] but as early as June 1917, the company under the capable direction of its general manager, David Rodgers, completed a freighter, Stolt Nielson, in under 150 days.[4] In November 1917, the company established a world keel-to-launch production speed record of under 70 days, maintaining and improving on the record over the following five months. In early 1918, another U.S. company briefly established a new world keel-to-launch record of 61 days, but Skinner & Eddy recaptured the record in April with the 55-day launch of West Lianga, a ship that was also completed in the record time of 80 days.[4][7]

Thereafter, all the company's ships built during the war were each completed in well under 100 days, with a best performance by war's end of 79 days from keel laying to delivery.[4] Good management alone was probably not entirely responsible for the company's outstanding performance however; Skinner & Eddy also paid its employees highly competitive wages, which enabled the company to attract the best and most skilled workers.

The company's improved performance over time is also reflected in its total production figures. In 1917, the company produced a total tonnage of 72,800 tons; the following year it raised production more than threefold, to 232,400 tons. In all, Skinner & Eddy delivered 32 ships to the EFT, including 29 freighters and three tankers, over the course of the war[4]—more than that of any other shipyard in the country.[2]

Postwar history

Since it was a widely held belief in the United States that a shipbuilding boom would follow the end of hostilities, the USSB declined to cancel many of its wartime shipbuilding contracts at the end of the war. In Skinner & Eddy's case, this meant that the company was to complete a further 43 ships for the USSB in the postwar period.[5] In 1920 however, the USSB cancelled a contract for an additional 25 ships, prompting the company to launch a $17 million claim against the government for lost anticipated profits, later reduced to a $9 million claim.[8]

Skinner & Eddy delivered its last ship in February 1920,[5] but failed to secure any further shipbuilding contracts after this date because of the severe postwar shipbuilding slump. In 1923, the Skinner & Eddy shipyard was permanently closed, and the company's proprietors, Ned Skinner and John Eddy, dissolved their longstanding business partnership. John Eddy returned to the lumber business, and Skinner became sole proprietor of the Skinner & Eddy Corporation, which retained its original name.[1]

Skinner & Eddy now entered the shipping line business with the purchase of the Pacific Steamship Company, which operated from the company's former Plant No. 2. The company also invested heavily in Alaskan salmon canneries. In 1944, Skinner & Eddy bought the Alaska Steamship Company, and in the postwar period also operated a cruise line. Ned Skinner's grandson, David E. "Ned" Skinner II, discontinued the business in 1971, moving the family assets into real estate. His Skinner Corporation would eventually become one of America's largest private companies.[9]

The ships

SS West Arrow, one of the first ships built by Skinner & Eddy. This ship was very similar in design to the USSB Design #1013 ships that would later be built by the company

Skinner & Eddy produced a total of 75 ships from 1916 to 1920 (the yard no. sequence ends at 76 as the number 13 was skipped). Most of the ships were freighters, but three 10,000-ton tankers were amongst the seven ships built for private contractors prior to the U.S. entry into World War I.[5]

The company built three different types of standard freighters for the USSB, all of them of Skinner & Eddy's own design. The USSB designated these types as Design 1013, Design 1079 and Design 1105 respectively.[5]

The Design 1013 ships were 8,800 tons deadweight, with a length of 423 feet 9 inches (410 ft between perpendiculars), beam of 54 feet (16 m) and hold depth of 29 feet 9 inches (9.07 m) Some examples of this type of ship were turbine powered and others were fitted with triple expansion engines. Some were also completed as oil fired and others as coal fired vessels. Skinner & Eddy built a total of 24 ships of this type.[10] Most of the ships completed by the company during the war were of this type.

The Design 1079 was of 9,600 tons deadweight, turbine-powered and oil fired, with dimensions of 409.6 x 54.2 x 27.1 feet (8.3 m). Skinner & Eddy was the only company which built this type.[11] A total of 23 were completed.[5] The Design 1105 was also 9,600 tons deadweight, oil-fired and with triple expansion engines. Dimensions were 401.5 x 54.8 x 32.1 feet (9.8 m). Again, Skinner & Eddy was the only company which produced this type. A total of 14 were built.[12]

Additionally, eleven 8,800 deadweight-ton freighters, similar if not identical to the Design 1013s were built prior to the manufacture of the USSB types listed above.[5] All types had a typical service speed of between 11 and 12 knots (22 km/h).[13]

In service

USS Rigel (AD-13), one of three Skinner & Eddy freighters converted into destroyer tenders

Of the first 39 ships built by Skinner & Eddy during and shortly after World War I, 23 were immediately commissioned on completion into the U.S. Navy, and served briefly as supply ships before decommissioning in 1919. A further three were assigned Navy ID's but never commissioned.

In the immediate postwar period, three Skinner & Eddy ships (including one of those previously assigned a Navy ID) were converted into destroyer tenders and commissioned into the U.S. Navy as USS Altair (AD-11), USS Denebola (AD-12) and USS Rigel (AD-13). All three of these vessels would remain in Navy service through the end of World War II.[13]

Only one Skinner & Eddy ship was lost (to enemy action) in World War I. In the interwar period, most of the company's vessels were engaged in commercial service. Three, Western Front, Elkton and Nile were lost to maritime accidents in the 1920s, and seven more were scrapped in the 1930s, probably because of the oversupply of shipping.[5]

World War II took a heavy toll of Allied merchant vessels, and of the 64 Skinner & Eddy ships that saw service in the war, 31, or almost 50%, were lost to enemy action, most of them to U-boats. Another two were deliberately sunk as breakwaters during the Normandy Campaign. The 31 that survived the war were mostly scrapped in the late 1940s and 1950s, and only four were still in existence by 1960. The last Skinner & Eddy vessel to see service was probably Edray, transferred to the Soviet Union under lend-lease during World War II and scrapped in 1967.[5]

Fate of the shipyards

Following the closure of the Skinner & Eddy shipyards in 1923, the company's Plant No. 2 was sold in 1924 to the Pacific Steamshp Company, which built a new office and terminus on the site. The site also became the terminus of the Admiral Line, which did considerable trade with Siberia and the Orient.[2]

With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, the site became a Hooverville for Seattle's unemployed. During World War II, the Hooverville was razed to make way for a huge supply depot run by the Army Quartermaster Corps, and after the war it became a base for the U.S. Coast Guard. Today, the site is the location for several large container shipping terminals. Skinner & Eddy's Plant No. 1, meanwhile, has become part of Seattle's SoDo district.[2]

Production history

The following table represents a complete list of all ships built by the Skinner & Eddy Corporation. Ships marked with an asterisk (*) are those commissioned into the U.S. Navy in 1918-19. Ships marked with a double asterisk are those assigned ID numbers by the Navy but never commissioned. Ships which had different names during their career are linked (where a link is available) to the last name in the "Yard name(s)" column, in order to make active links easier to find.

Fields marked with a hyphen indicate that the given field is not applicable to this particular ship. Gross tonnage values (GRT) use the nominal GRT for the ship type (identifiable by a "00" in the last two digits) where a more precise GRT is not available for the individual ship. Consult the table legend for additional information about the table.

Ships built by the Skinner & Eddy Corporation, 1916-1920
Image Yard
No.		 USSB
No. 		Name Type Design
No. 		GRT Deliv. Fate
1 - Niels Nielson
Yoshu Maru 26 		Freighter - 5711 09/11/16 Bombed, 1945
2 - Hanna Nielson
Taian Maru 26 		Freighter - 5655 22/12/16 Torpedoed 1943
3 - S. V. Harkness
Svithiod 26 		Tanker - 6400 08/05/17 Scrapped 48
4 - Josiah Macy Tanker - 6400 09/06/17 Scrapped 1950
5 - Stolt Nielson Freighter - 5600 26/06/17 Torpedoed 1918
6 - J. M. Fox
Jeannette Skinner* 		Freighter - 5800 20/08/17 Scrapped 1943
7 - Luise Nielsen
Taigen Maru 26 		Freighter - 5660 10/03/17 Torpedoed 1942
8 - Lt. de Missiessy Freighter - 5600 19/09/17 Scrapped 1933
9 - Martha Washington
Nikkosan Maru
Indiana*
Western Front* 18 		Freighter - 5600 20/10/17 Destroyed by fire and explosion at sea, 1921
10 - War Flame
West Haven*
Marian Otis Chandler 29
Onomea 38
Empire Leopard 40 		Freighter - 5520 24/12/17 Torpedoed 1942
11 - Trontolite Tanker - 7115 02/02/18 Scrapped 1946
12 - Jas G. Eddy
West Arrow**
Black Osprey 35 		Freighter - 5589 26/02/18 Torpedoed 1941
14 83 Western Hero Freighter 1013 5611 05/01/18 Scrapped 1946
15 84 Absaroka*
Primavista 46
Panenterprise 48
Maryland 52 		Freighter 1013 5600 12/02/18 Scrapped 1954
16 - David Rogers
Westlake
Port Texaco No. 1 32 		Freighter - 5600 09/03/18 Scrapped 1951
17 - Elizabeth Gibbs
Western Queen
Virginia 46
Virginia II 48 		Freighter - 5600 25/04/18 Scrapped 1954
18 85 Canoga Freighter 1013 5600 23/03/18 Scrapped 1933
19 86 Ossineke Freighter 1013 5600 13/04/18 Scrapped 1931
20 1175 West Durfee Freighter 1013 5522 16/05/18 Scrapped 1946
21 1176 West Lianga*
Helen Whittier 29
Kalani 38
Empire Cheetah 40
Hobbema 42 		Freighter 1013 5600 04/05/18 Torpedoed 1942
22 87 West Alsek* Freighter 1013 5600 04/06/18 Scrapped 1933
23 88 West Apaum* Freighter 1013 5600 19/06/18 Scrapped 1933
24 1177 West Cohas*
Empire Simba 40 		Freighter 1013 5600 29/06/18 Scuttled 1945
25 1178 West Ekonk*
Empire Wildebeeste 41 		Freighter 1013 5600 13/07/18 Torpedoed 1942
26 1179 West Gambo*
Empire Hartebeeste 41 		Freighter 1013 5600 20/07/18 Torpedoed 1942
27 1180 West Gotomska*
Andelien 43 		Freighter 1013 5728 07/08/18 Scrapped 1948
28 1181 West Hobomac*
Ile de Batz 40 		Freighter 1013 5600 17/08/18 Torpedoed 1942
29 1182 West Hosokie*
Constance Chandler 29
Liloa 38
Belorussia 45 		Freighter 1013 5600 29/08/18 Scrapped 1960
30 1183 West Humhaw* Freighter 1013 5527 14/09/18 Torpedoed 1944
31 1184 West Lashaway* Freighter 1013 5637 30/09/18 Torpedoed 1942
32 1185 West Loquassuck* Freighter 1013 5644 15/10/18 Scrapped 1936
33 1186 West Madaket* Freighter 1013 5565 30/10/18 Torpedoed 1943
34 1187 West Mahomet* Freighter 1013 5600 13/11/18 Scrapped 1938
35 1188 West Maximus** Freighter 1013 5561 —/04/19 Torpedoed 1943
36 1925 West Cressey*
Briansk 43
Tallin 45 		Freighter 1013 5596 —/12/18 Wrecked 1946
37 1926 West Elcajon*
Golden Kauri 28
Waipio 39
Paralos II 46 		Freighter 1013 5548 —/01/19 Scrapped 1954
38 1927 West Elcasco*
USAT Major General Henry Gibbins 41 		Freighter 1013 5766 23/10/18 Torpedoed 1942
39 1928 West Eldara*
Mae 36 		Freighter 1013 5607 —/11/18 Torpedoed 1942
40 1731 Edenton*
USAT Irvin L. Hunt 41
Edenton 46 		Freighter 1079 6800 05/12/18 Scrapped 1948
41 1732 Edgecombe
USS Rigel (AD-13) 21 		Freighter
Destroyer Tender 		1079 6800 24/12/18 Scrapped 1950
42 1733 Edgefield
Empire Ibex 41 		Freighter 1079 6800 31/12/18 Collision 1943
43 1929 Eldena Freighter 1079 6800 —/05/19 Torpedoed 1943
44 1930 Eldora
Polybius 		Freighter 1079 7041 —/05/19 Torpedoed 1942
45 1734 Edgehill
Oremar 39
Mangore 48 		Freighter 1079 6854 02/04/19 Scrapped 1950
46 1735 Edgemont
American Sailor 40 		Freighter 1079 6800 22/04/19 Scrapped 1953
47 1931 Eldridge
Tacoma 28
Ewa 37
Nogin 43 		Freighter 1079 6800 —/06/19 Scrapped 1957
48 1736 Edgemoor
American Seaman 39 		Freighter 1079 6800 08/05/19 Scrapped 1952
49 1737 Edgewood
USS Denebola (AD-12) 21
Edgewood 		Freighter
Destroyer tender 		1079 6800 —/05/19 Scrapped 1950
50 1932 Elmsport
Kenmar 39 		Freighter 1079 6844 —/07/19 Wrecked, 1945
51 1738 Edisto
USS Altair (AD-11) 21
Edisto 46 		Freighter
Destroyer tender 		1079 6800 —/06/19 Scrapped 1947
52 1933 Elkader
Colorado Springs
Marymar 39 		Freighter 1079 6847 —/07/19 Scrapped 1947
53 1739 Edmore
Grays Harbor 28
Honomu 37 		Freighter 1079 6800 —/07/19 Torpedoed 1942
54 1934 Wheatland Montana
Seattle 28
Lihue 37 		Freighter 1079 6800 —/08/19 Torpedoed 1942
55 1740 Edray
City of Spokane
Olympia 28
Hamakua 37
Kuibyshev 45 		Freighter 1105 6400 —/07/19 Scrapped 1967
56 1935 Stanley
Empire Pelican 41 		Freighter 1105 6463 —/08/19 Torpedoed 1941
57 1741 Eelbeck
Empire Bunting 41 		Freighter 1105 6318 —/08/19 Sunk as breakwater, 1944
58 1936 Elkridge
Golden Star 28
Tennessean 37
Empire Penguin 40
Van de Velde 42
Rijnland 47
Vaptistis 57 		Freighter 1105 6379 —/08/19 Scrapped 1959
59 1937 Elkhorn
Port Texaco No. 4 36 		Freighter 1105 6400 —/09/19 Scrapped 1951
60 1938 Editor
Empire Dunlin 41
Norlom 42 		Freighter 1105 6400 —/09/19 Bombed, 1943
61 1939 Endicott
Empire Mermaid 40 		Freighter 1105 6400 —/09/19 Torpedoed 1941
62 1940 Elkton Freighter 1105 6400 —/09/19 Mss 27
63 1941 Brave Coeur
Empire Gull 41 		Freighter 1105 6458 —/10/19 Torpedoed 1942
64 1942 Cripple Creek Freighter 1105 6400 —/10/19 Torpedoed 1942
65 1943 Crisfield
Golden Horn 28
Kaimoku 38 		Freighter 1105 6400 —/10/19 Torpedoed 1942
66 1743 Effna Freighter 1105 6400 —/11/19 Torpedoed 1941
67 1742 Effingham Freighter 1105 6400 —/11/19 Torpedoed 1942
68 1744 Eglantine
Empire Buffalo 40 		Freighter 1105 6325 —/11/19 Torpedoed 1942
69 1745 Egremont
Calobre 41
Borodino 45 		Freighter 1079 7000 —/11/19 Scrapped 1963
70 1944 Nile Freighter 1079 7000 —/12/19 Wrecked 1927
71 1945 Jadden
J. B. White 41 		Freighter 1079 7000 —/12/19 Torpedoed 1941
72 1946 Crosskeys
Golden Peak 28
Utahan 37
Futura 51 		Freighter 1079 7031 —/12/19 Scrapped 1960
73 1947 Crown Point
Robin Hood 		Freighter 1079 6887 —/12/19 Torpedoed 1942
74 1948 Crowswind
Robin Adair
Bonaventure 46 		Freighter 1079 6895 —/01/20 Scrapped 1952
75 1949 Croydon
Robin Gray 		Freighter 1079 6896 —/01/20 Sunk as breakwater, 1944
76 1950 Crystal Spring
Robin Goodfellow 		Freighter 1079 6885 —/02/20 Torpedoed 1944

LEGEND: Yard No. = yard number; USSB No. = USSB number; Name = name of ship. Two digit field following names in this colum indicates last two digits of year in which ship was renamed. Type = type of ship, either freighter or tanker. Design No. = USSB Design number. Ships with no listed number were built prior to the introduction of the system. GRT = gross register tons. Ships for which an exact tonnage is not available are listed here with the nominal GRT of the type, usually recognizable by the last two digits being zero. Deliv. = date of ship's delivery to customer. For some ships the exact date is not known. Fate = fate of ship.
 Sources for this table: Pacific Ports Annual pp. 63–64, 402-405; Jordan; shipbuildinghistory.com; and various individual DANFS ship entries.

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 "A Brief History", Port Blakely Companies website.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pier 36 -- Seattle Waterfront", historylink.org.
  3. 1 2 3 Pacific Ports Annual, p. 405.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Pacific Ports Annual, pp. 64-65.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "General Cargo Ships Built in Pacific Coast Shipyards", shipbuildinghistory.com.
  6. ↑ Pacific Ports Annual, p. 402.
  7. ↑ "55-Day Launching Breaks World Record", New York Times, 21 April 1918.
  8. ↑ "Ex Parte in the Matter of Skinner & Eddy Corp., 265 U.S. 86 (1924)", justia.com.
  9. ↑ "Skinner, Ned (1920-1988) and Kayla (1919-2004)", historylink.org.
  10. ↑ McKellar, Part I.
  11. ↑ McKellar, Part V.
  12. ↑ McKellar, Part VI.
  13. 1 2 See DANFS entries for individual ships.

References

Books and journals

Websites

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