About this property
The Percy & Small Shipyard is a former shipyard and modern-day historic site located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine. In 1909, the shipyard launched Wyoming, the largest wooden sailing ship ever built. Born in Phippsburg, Maine, on December 13, 1856, Samuel Rogers Percy Jr. was the child of his namesake father, a ship's captain, and Eleanor M. (Golder) Percy. After the death of Samuel Percy Sr., Eleanor married a shipbuilder named George M. Adams. At age 16, Percy left school to work at a steam sawmill for half a year, then joined his stepfather's shipyard Adams & Hitchcock, followed by a stint at another yard. At age 19 he went to sea, initially in California including a stint on a steamer based in San Francisco, before rising to first mate and officer on the ship Enos Soule built in Freeport, Maine. He received his first command in 1882, on board Normandy built by Adams & Hitchcock. Percy returned to Bath in 1893 after learning his stepfather was near death, and the following year created Percy & Small alongside Frank Small. Frank Albion Small was born in Bath on April 17, 1865, as the youngest son of shipmaster Joseph Small. Graduating from Bath High School, Small worked initially for a shipbroker and insurance agent, then took a job with the Kelley, Spear & Co. shipyard in Bath. Small would serve as Bath mayor in 1911 and 1912. Percy & Small's lead designer was Miles M. Merry, who was born in 1844 in Damariscotta, Maine and learned shipbuilding at Goss, Sawyer & Packard and two other shipyards. Samuel R. Percy and Frank A. Small founded the Percy & Small Shipyard in 1894 to build coastwise schooners. The shipyard also operated a fleet of collier ships along the New England coast. Over an 18-year period, Percy & Small built 42 schooners, seven of which were stepped with six masts, including Wyoming. The shipyard is credited with building the ten largest sailing ships in Bath between 1890 and 1921. In addition to the Percy & Small Shipyard's tandem slipways which could accommodate two ships under construction simultaneously, at least six buildings were known to have been built on the three-acre property: a sawmill and carpentry shop, a caulking shed, a blacksmith building, a mould loft to lay out ship designs, a paint and treenail production shop, and a generator building to furnish electricity. The last known surviving ship built by Percy & Small was a four-masted schooner launched under the name Annie C. Ross and later renamed Star of the Sea, which sank in 1955 while moored at Glen Cove, New York. In 1971, the Percy & Small Shipyard was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Prior owners donated the property to Maine Maritime Museum in 1975.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Percy and Small Shipyard listed on the National Register?
Percy and Small Shipyard was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 26, 1971.
What type of historic resource is Percy and Small Shipyard?
Percy and Small Shipyard is classified as a district in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Percy and Small Shipyard?
The period of significance for Percy and Small Shipyard is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1909.
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