Strawbery Banke Presents
HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH #102

An early "action" photo shows the launch of the USS FRANKLIN on September 17, 1864. Ten years in the making the 265-foot steam-screw frigate was the largest wooden ship ever built at Portsmouth Yard. Here it leaves the gigantic doors of the Franklin Shiphouse. The picture shows a crowd of spectators and carriages including two horse-draw carts filled with brooms.