Thatcher+Magoun+Sr.

=About Thatcher Magoun the Ship Builder=



Thatcher Magoun was born in Pembroke, Massachusetts on June 17, 1775. His family came originally from Scotland and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts in around 1655. As he grew up, he decided to become a shipwright and first worked in the yard of [|Enos Briggs] at Salem for five years. From there he went to Mr. Barker's shipyard in Charlestown (now the [|Boston Navy Yard]), where he worked and studied for two years and assisted in the modelling of ships. In 1802, Thatcher Magoun decided to begin his own shipbuilding business in Medford, Massachusetts.

Though boats were built sporadically on the Mystic River at Medford from early Colonial times, Mr. Magoun was the first to establish a regular yard and embark on what proved to be an important and profitable industry. Others quickly followed him and in 1873 when the last boat was launched, five hundred and sixty seven vessels had been constructed with a total tonnage of 272,124. Of the 84 vessels he constructed, fifteen were built for himself, enabling him to enter the shipping business as well as ship building, and four for the new firm of Thatcher Magoun and Son, which was founded in 1833.

Up to 1856, the year of Thatcher Magoun Sr.'s death and the launching of the //Thatcher Magoun//, the firm had built for their own use eleven vessels as follows: > > > > > > >
 * //Timoleon// - 445 Tons - Built by Thatcher Magoun - 1833
 * //Archimedes// - 452 Tons - Built by Thatcher Magoun - 1834
 * //Molo// - 492 Tons - Built by Thatcher Magoun - 1835
 * //Deucalion// - 509 Tons - Built by Thatcher Magoun - 1836
 * //Medford// - 553 Tons - Built by Waterman and Ewell - 1837
 * //Pharsalia// - 617 Tons - Built by Waterman and Ewell - 1839
 * //Prairie// - 189 Tons - Built by H. Ewell - 1845
 * //Manilus// //-// 701 Tons - Built by Hayden and Cudworth - 1849
 * //Herald of the Morning// - 1250 Tons - Built by Hayden and Cudworth - 1852
 * //Electric Spark// - 1216 Tons - Built by Hayden and Cudworth - 1855
 * //Thatcher Magoun// - 1248 Tons - Built by Hayden and Cudworth - 1856

= = =Additional Resources on Thatcher Magoun Sr.=

Books in the Phillips Academy Collection
[|The Thatcher Magoun : an American clipper ship, her owners, captains, and model]

Selected Websites
[|A Biography of Thatcher Magoun from the Medford, Massachusetts Homepage] [|Medford Ship Building from the Medford Historical Society Homepage] [|Short Biographhy from the Medford Public Schools Homepage]