Merchant Shipbuilding Chester, Chester Shipbuilding, Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding & Engine Works, J. Roach & Sons Shipbuilding, Reaney, Son & Archbold

This shipyard was originally established in 1857 and had a distinguished career building fine ships before it closed in 1922. It was revived for the war effort in 1917 but was acquired by Averell Harriman's American Ship & Commerce Corporation in 1919 and renamed Merchant Shipbuilding. Like Hog Island and Submarine Boat, the yard was designed to assemble ships from parts fabricated by others. It is notable that the yard numbering system continued without interruption by five different companies. The yard was located at Front and Lloyd Streets in Chester: after it closed in 1924, it was redeveloped as a Ford assembly plant, which closed in 1961. See the site from the air on Google here. If anyone can fill any of the gaps in the table below, please e-mail me at tim@coltoncompany.com

Yard #	Original Name	Original Owner	Type	GT	DWT	Delivery	Disposition
Built by Reaney, Son & Archbold (1857-1870)
1	Starlight		Tug	74		1861
2						1861	Saw mill engines
3	William B. Reaney	Reaney, Son & Archbold	Tug	104		1861
4	Union		Tug	121		1861
5						1861	Engines only
6	American Eagle		Tug	63		1861
7	Clyde	Thomas Clyde	Tug	96		1862
8						1862	Engines only
9	James J. Green		Barge			1862
10	Paul Green		Barge			1862
11	William Stroud		Barge			1862
12						1862	Engines only
13						1862	Engines only
14						1862	Engines only
15						1862	Engines only
16						1862	Engines only
17	American Union		Tug	74		1862
18	Caroline		Tug			1862
19	Hope		Tug	111		1862
20	Sangamon	U.S. Navy	Ironclad	1875d		Apr-63
21	Lehigh	U.S. Navy	Ironclad	1875d		Feb-63
22	Wateree	U.S. Navy	Gunboat	974d		Jan-64
23						1862	Engines only
24						1863	Engines only
25						1863	Engines only
26						1862	Engines only
27						1863	Engines only
28	Rebecca Clyde	Thomas Clyde	Psgr./Cargo	446		1863
29	Helen Brook		Tug	26		1863
30							Engines only
31	Mayflower		Psgr./Cargo	164		1864
32	Tunxis	U.S. Navy	Ironclad	614d		Jul-64
33	Suwanee	U.S. Navy	Gunboat	1370d		Jan-65
34	Shamokin	U.S. Navy	Gunboat	1370d		Jul-65
35	Olando	U.S. Navy
36							Machine shop engine
37	Pinta	U.S. Navy	Tug	420d		Oct-65
38	Nina	U.S. Navy	Tug	420d		Sep-65
39	Hudson		Tug	163		1864
40	Admiral		Tug			1864
41	Liberty		Tug	150		1864
42							Engines only
43							Engines only
44	Pawtucket		Barge
45						1864	Engines only
46	Wm. P. Clyde	Thomas Clyde	Psgr./Cargo	504		1865
47	Croatan	Norfolk	Psgr./Cargo	22		1864
48							Engines only
49							Engines only
50							Engines only
51	Edwin Forrest		Psgr./Cargo	607		1865
52	Washington		Psgr./Cargo	472
53	Commodore		Tug	50
54	Alice	Port Deposit Co.	Psgr./Cargo	147		1865
55							Reconstruction
56							Boiler Shop engine
57							Stock engine
58							Engines only
59	Thomas Kelso	Baytime SS Co.	Psgr./Cargo	1,430		1865
60	Lamokin	Phil. & Chester	Cargo Ship	167		1865
61							Stock engine
62							Engines only
63							Saw mill engine
64							Boilers
65	Samuel M. Felton	P. W. & B. RR	Cargo Ship	671		1866
66							Engines only
67							Engines only
68							Engines only
69							Engines only
70							Blast engine
71							Blast engine
72							Repairs only
73	Tioga	Savannah SS Co.	Psgr./Cargo	1,074		1867
74							Steam fire engine
75							Condensers
76							Boilers only
77							Boilers only
78							Boilers only
79							Stock boilers
80
81							Engines only
82	Volunteer	Jacob Lorillard	Cargo Ship	611		Oct-68
83	Novelty	New York Company		303		1870
84							Engines only
85							Overhaul
86							Saw mill engine
87							Saw mill engine
88	Arasapha		Ferry	408		1869	Reconstruction
89							Reconstruction
90							Reconstruction
91	Rattlesnake	Philadelphia & Reading R.R. Co	Cargo Ship	404		Mar-69
92	Centipede	Philadelphia & Reading R.R. Co.	Cargo Ship	436		Aug-69
93	Panther	Philadelphia & Reading R.R. Co.	Cargo Ship	711		1870
94	Achilles	Philadelphia & Reading R.R. Co.	Cargo Ship	763		Feb-70
95	Hercules	Philadelphia & Reading R.R. Co.	Cargo Ship	764		1870
96							Boilers only
97							Ruddick's patent
98							Reconstruction
99	Regulator	Jacob Lorillard	Cargo Ship	847		Nov-69
100							Hoisting engine
101							Schooner
102	Millie May		Tug			1869
103	Benefactor	Jacob Lorillard	Cargo Ship	843		May-70
104							Engines only
105							Repairs only
106							Repairs only
107							Repairs only
108							Repairs only
109							Repairs only
110	Ella Wood No.2		Tug	44		1870
111	Elizabeth
112						1871	Reconstruction
113						1871	Repairs Only
114			Launch			1871
115	Vindex	R. Center	Yacht	36		1871
116			Launch			1871
117						1871	Repairs Only
118	City of Houston	C H Mallory & Co.	Cargo Ship	1,253		Apr-71
Built by J. Roach & Sons (1871-1887)
119	City of San Antonio	C H Mallory & Co.	Cargo Ship	1,605		Mar-72
120	Garden City	East River Ferry Co.	Ferry	825		1872
121						1873	Engines only
122	City of Chester	Oregon S.S. Co.	Cargo Ship	935		Apr-74
123	Colon	Pacific Mail S S Co.	Pass. Cargo	2,686		Nov-72
124						1873	Reconstruction
125						1873	Repowering
126						1873	Repowering
127						1873	Repowering
128	Colima	Pacific Mail S S Co.	Pass. Cargo	2,906		Apr-73
129	Erie	Erie Railway Co.	Ferry	981		1873
130	City of Peking	Pacific Mail S S Co.	Pass. Cargo	5,080		Mar-74
131	City of Tokio	Pacific Mail S S Co.	Pass. Cargo	5,079		May-74
132	Sarah J. Fleming		Barge			1874
133	City of Waco	C H Mallory & Co.	Pass. Cargo	1,486		May-73
134	Perkiomen	Philadelphia & Reading R.R. Co.	Cargo Ship	1,035		May-74
135	Berks	Philadelphia & Reading R.R. Co.	Cargo Ship	565		May-74
136	State of Texas	C H Mallory & Co.	Pass. Cargo	1,736		Jan-74	Later Idaho
137	City of Panama	Pacific Mail S S Co.	Pass. Cargo	1,490		Jul-73	Later Olga M.
138	City of Guatemala	Pacific Mail S S Co.	Pass. Cargo	1,505		1873
139						1873	Repairs only
140						1873	Repairs only
141	George W Elder	Old Dominion S S Co.	Pass. Cargo	1,710		Feb-74	Later America
142

Merchant Shipbuilding Corp., Chester PA