New Hampshire, The

Description of the property

The site of the wreck of the New Hampshire is located on the ocean side of Graves Island which is just off the coast of Manchester, Massachusetts. The wreckage lies on a sandy bottom in about thirty-five feet of water at its deepest. The New Hampshire was one of nine ships to rate not less than 74 gins each as authorized by Congress in 1816. Her keel was laid in the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, in 1819, and she is said to have been designed by William Doughty of Philadelphia. She was first named the Alabama in honor of that state's entry into the Union. The New Hampshire (a name she received on October 28, 1863, and by which she is most com- monly known) was a square rigged, three masted ship-of-the-line.

She measured 196 feet 3 inches by 53 feet, weighed 2,633 pounds, and had a draft of 25 feet 6 inches. The New Hampshire had 74 guns and was capable of carrying a crew of 820. On May 23, 1921 the New Hampshire caught fire and sank at her pier in the Hudson River. Her hal1 was sold on Aúgust 19, 1921 to the Mulholland Machinery Corporation, and she was refloated in July 1922 and taken in tow to the Bay of Fundy. On the way the towline parted and she again caught fire and sank. Today the New Hampshire lies underwater in various pieces. About six of her ribs protrude from the sandy bottom where the greater part of her wooden structure is found.

The copper and brass fittings and rolled copper sheathing are said to have been forged in Paul hogpenteh part of revere's foundry, and are still present throughout the remains of the wreckage.

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT attributed to William Doughty The New Hampshire is significant as one of the last wooden battle ships to be constructed before the development of steam and speed. The wreckage is significant in Massachusetts because it is one of the few visible in New England waters. At the end of the War of 1812, most of the American Navy's warships were well worn out and beyond repair. The increased activity of piracy in the Caribbean and other develop- ments called for the building of a new efficient Navy. The American Navy had no so-called "ships-of-the-line" until after the War of 1812. A ship-of-the-line may be defined as a "ship of war large enough to have a place in the line of battle," or more precisely as a ship which carried from 70 to 140 guns on two or more armmred decks.

The ship of the battleline was the backbone of battle fleets and could hit the hardest blows and take the most punishment in conflict. The New Hampshire was one of nine of these ships to rate not less than 74 guns each authorized by Congress in April 1816. Three years later she was built in the Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire. Her design is said to have been by William Doughty of Phi- ladelphia who was the principal advisor in ship design and construction for the Board of Navy Commissioners. At the time of her construction in 1819, she was named the Ala- bama since it was the year that state was admitted to the Union. Even though ready for launch by 1825, there was no immediate need for the Alabama and she remained on the stocks for preservation until the Civil War.

As a battleship she was out- dated before she saw battle.

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