Isaac C. Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1797 |
| Died | March 15, 1877 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | ca. 1810 to ca. 1860 |
Isaac C. Smith (1797 – March 15, 1877) was an American sail and steamboat captain, shipbuilder, sparmaker and entrepreneur.
A longterm resident of Ossining, New York (then known as Sing Sing), Smith began his career working aboard Hudson River sloops, eventually rising to the rank of captain. He also built watercraft and worked as a sparmaker. In the mid-1830s, Smith was the initiator of a steamboat line from Ossining to New York City, supervising the construction of two steamboats for the line and taking command of the first.
In 1849, Smith opened a shipyard in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he built a wide variety of vessels, from small sloops to steamboats to large, full-rigged ships. In 1853 he was joined in this venture by his son J. Malcolm Smith, the firm then being renamed Isaac C. Smith & Son. About 30 ships were built at this yard before it closed in 1855 due to a nationwide shipbuilding slump. In all, Smith is said to have built about 100 ships through the course of his career, the best known of which was the 1600-ton Hurricane, reputedly the most extreme clipper ever built.[1][2][3]
Smith was also a devout Methodist and contributed to the construction of five churches of that denomination in his native town, for which he was known as "the father of Sing Sing Methodism".[4]
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