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Home arrow Maritime History arrow The Shipyard arrow Workers Strike at Portsmouth Shipyard
Workers Strike at Portsmouth Shipyard Print E-mail
Written by Ray Brighton   

Disagreement on the dock/ SeacoastNH.com
THE SHIPYARD

A three-week strike at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is hard to imagine today -- yet it happened about 150 years ago. And it happened through one of those weird convolutions that only federal officials can get themselves into.

 

 

 

In November 1854, the Portsmouth Navy Yard was running in full thrust to meet the demand for new vessels and repair of aging warships like the USS Constitution. Construction of the USS Santee and the USS Franklin were well underway. Yet there was a worm even in that garden of military preparedness. Word came on December 2, according to the Portsmouth Chronicle:

"A STRIKE: We learn that on Friday morning the ship carpenters and blacksmiths employed on the Navy Yard near this city were informed that their wages from that time would be cut down twenty- five cents per day, leaving the ship carpenters $2 per day and the blacksmiths about the same. When the roll was called after dinner, not one carpenter answered; and it was said that all the blacksmiths were to quit last night. The carpenters are to hold a meeting to consider the matter this forenoon, at 10 o'clock, at Mr. Hayes' on the Foreside."

The ship carpenters had met on December 2 in Hayes' Hall, Kittery, and adopted the following resolutions:

     * Resolved Ist that we consider the reduction in our pay unjust and uncalled for, and we will not submit to it.

    * Resolved 2d that we view with contempt the conduct of those who continued to work.

     * Resolved 3d we render thanks to the brother mechanics not employed at the Navy Yard, for their sympathy and efficient aid in our behalf.

The group also named three members to a committee to set firm wage guidelines for the future. Another committee was to inform the Naval Constructor that they would all resume work at the former (higher) rate. Then the labor group voted to have the entire proceedings printed in the local Portsmouth newspapers.

Apparently that little insurrection was quelled. The Chronicle said on December 4 that the strikers had gone back to work, "satisfactory evidence being presented to the Commodore, that their wages were no higher than was paid in private yards. The payroll of the yard remains about 750 names."

For a daily paper the Chronicle seems a step or two behind the times. The December 4 issue reported that the strikers had gone back to work at that the strike had been quelled. The shipyarders had to buy an ad in the paper on December 8 to straighten out one reportorial error. Not all shipworkers refused to work, the ad read. "There were a few who did go to work, against the wish of the great majority --and whose conduct in so doing was strongly censured by the meeting afterwards. Their names were Charles Williams, Wm. W. Brooks, Alpheus Brooks and Ira Delano." Through the power of the press and peer pressure, the strikers named their "scab" colleagues and their own strike leaders openly.

1864 NAVY YARD STRIKE 


 

Calendar
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May 16, 2008
CONCORD -- Planetarium Educator Bob Veilleux will explain why you can collect meteorites - but not meteors or comets. Learn about these fascinating solar system interlopers, where they come from, how you can see them, and how they are related. See and...

Lighthouse Buffet Dinner
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The main event this evening will be the American Lighthouse Foundation's first “Lighthouse Trivia Challenge.” This will be a Jeopardy-style competition, complete with buzzers and sound effects. The winners of the early games will compete in a final roun...

Mother Courage
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Our mainstage season wraps up in May with the Senior Youth Repertory Company production of Bertolt Brecht’s epic masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children. Through Brecht’s stark vision, the play relentlessly questions the distinctions between war, bu...

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Books & Blooms Sale
May 17, 2008
BRENTWOOD -- Our Annual Books & Blooms Sale is scheduled for Saturday, May 17th from 9 - 11:30 am! Come to the Mary Bartlett Library, 22 Dalton Road in Brentwood, to purchase lots of books for little money - and purchase great plants at great prices. Pl...

Lighthouse Cruise
May 17, 2008
Lighthouse cruise from Portsmouth aboard the Thomas Laighton, sponsored by the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company. This cruise will leave from the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company dock at 315 Market Street in Portsmouth, across from the Sheraton Harbors...

American Lighthouse Foundation Annual Dinner
May 17, 2008
Portsmouth Elks Lodge, 500 Jones Ave., Portsmouth, NH. Buffet dinner featuring garden salad, baked stuffed haddock, chicken breast with fruit glaze, roast beef, and more. The featured speaker at the dinner will be Chris Mills, author, former lighthous...

2nd Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert
May 17, 2008
Seacoast Wind Ensemble presents “Peace & The Presidency: Music for Washington, Lincoln & Theodore Roosevelt” featuring Aaron Copeland's "Lincoln Portrait" narrated by Phillips Exeter Chaplain Robert Thompson. At The Music Hall. In 1905, diplo...

Free Gaelic Football Clinic
May 18, 2008
Gaelic Football is a FUN, fast moving high scoring game that incorporates the skills used in playing soccer and basketball. When- Sunday, May 18th, 2008 Where- Stevens Field-Stratham, NH Ages- 5-12-Boys & Girls Cost- FREE!! Prior Expe...

Mother Courage and Her Children
May 18, 2008
Our mainstage season wraps up in May with the Senior Youth Repertory Company production of Bertolt Brecht’s epic masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children. Through Brecht’s stark vision, the play relentlessly questions the distinctions between war, bu...

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