Holland Torpedo Boat Company Station: Difference between revisions
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#00008B">In late 1898 American inventor and submarine pioneer John P. Holland was exhausted from the nearly unrelenting activity needed to get his submarine, the Holland VI, ready for U.S. Navy trials. Needing an influx of capital to continue to fund the tests and realizing that a full production capability was needed to build follow-on units should the Holland VI be accepted, Holland agreed to have his Holland Torpedo Boat Company acquired by the newly formed Electric Boat Company. EB was the brainchild of Isaac Rice, a New York City capitalist who was eager to explore the potential of submarines in naval operations. HTBC was to be a wholly owned subsidiary of EB with John Holland as its general manager and financier Elihu B. Frost as Secretary-Treasurer. | <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#00008B">In late 1898 American inventor and submarine pioneer John P. Holland was exhausted from the nearly unrelenting activity needed to get his submarine, the Holland VI, ready for U.S. Navy trials. Needing an influx of capital to continue to fund the tests and realizing that a full production capability was needed to build follow-on units should the Holland VI be accepted, Holland agreed to have his Holland Torpedo Boat Company acquired by the newly formed Electric Boat Company. EB was the brainchild of Isaac Rice, a New York City capitalist who was eager to explore the potential of submarines in naval operations. HTBC was to be a wholly owned subsidiary of EB with John Holland as its general manager and financier Elihu B. Frost as Secretary-Treasurer. | ||
Holland, never the savvy business man, was further exhausted by all the machinations of the business world and decided that he needed a break to rejuvenate his energies. He set off for his native homeland Ireland, looking for a good rest. Nearly as soon as Holland's ship cleared New York Harbor, Rice set in motion a plan to move the Holland VI and most of the HTBC subsidiary to a new facility on Little Peconic Bay, Long Island at a little town called New Suffolk. Rice leased the Goldsmith & Tuthill Boat Yard and set up a dedicated maintenance and storage facility, along with a machine shop and a draftsman's shop. The new yard had a hook shaped stone rip-rap breakwater that formed a small protected basin that would provide docking space for the Holland VI and any potential follow-on sister craft. Accommodations were acquired in the town for the company's personnel, including Holland and Frost. | Holland, never the savvy business man, was further exhausted by all the machinations of the business world and decided that he needed a break to rejuvenate his energies. He set off for his native homeland Ireland, looking for a good rest. Nearly as soon as Holland's passenger ship cleared New York Harbor, Rice set in motion a plan to move the Holland VI and most of the HTBC subsidiary to a new facility on Little Peconic Bay, Long Island at a little town called New Suffolk. Rice leased the Goldsmith & Tuthill Boat Yard along First Street in New Suffolk and set up a dedicated maintenance and storage facility, along with a machine shop and a draftsman's shop. The new yard had a hook shaped stone rip-rap breakwater that formed a small protected basin that would provide docking space for the Holland VI and any potential follow-on sister craft. Accommodations were acquired in the town for the company's personnel, including Holland and Frost. The new facility was not a construction yard, as it lacked the space for building ways. The Holland VI's construction had been sub-contracted to Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard at Elizabeth, NJ, and it was likely that follow-on boats would be built there as well. The New Suffolk station was for final fitting out and testing. | ||
The move of the HTBC subsidiary to New Suffolk without Holland's knowledge was actually one of a series of Machiavellian business moves by Rice, who sought total control of the company and was seeking to move Holland out of the way, literally and figuratively. Holland had already signed over his patents to Electric Boat in a move to raise capital for continued tests and future construction. However, there was also a very practical reason for the move as well. The previous testing areas for the Holland boat had been in Raritan Bay off Staten Island, NY and Perth Amboy, NJ near the Crescent building yard. Inevitably, the trials of the submarine garnered tremendous interest from the press and the New York City public alike and the submarine was often accompanied by a plethora of pleasure craft, making it potentially dangerous to operate the boat submerged. The move to rural New Suffolk gave the company a reasonably private operating area to test the boat in, and it kept it from the bulk of the prying eyes of the press. | |||
Revision as of 11:38, 18 June 2024
The Holland Torpedo Boat Company Station
Holland, never the savvy business man, was further exhausted by all the machinations of the business world and decided that he needed a break to rejuvenate his energies. He set off for his native homeland Ireland, looking for a good rest. Nearly as soon as Holland's passenger ship cleared New York Harbor, Rice set in motion a plan to move the Holland VI and most of the HTBC subsidiary to a new facility on Little Peconic Bay, Long Island at a little town called New Suffolk. Rice leased the Goldsmith & Tuthill Boat Yard along First Street in New Suffolk and set up a dedicated maintenance and storage facility, along with a machine shop and a draftsman's shop. The new yard had a hook shaped stone rip-rap breakwater that formed a small protected basin that would provide docking space for the Holland VI and any potential follow-on sister craft. Accommodations were acquired in the town for the company's personnel, including Holland and Frost. The new facility was not a construction yard, as it lacked the space for building ways. The Holland VI's construction had been sub-contracted to Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard at Elizabeth, NJ, and it was likely that follow-on boats would be built there as well. The New Suffolk station was for final fitting out and testing.
The move of the HTBC subsidiary to New Suffolk without Holland's knowledge was actually one of a series of Machiavellian business moves by Rice, who sought total control of the company and was seeking to move Holland out of the way, literally and figuratively. Holland had already signed over his patents to Electric Boat in a move to raise capital for continued tests and future construction. However, there was also a very practical reason for the move as well. The previous testing areas for the Holland boat had been in Raritan Bay off Staten Island, NY and Perth Amboy, NJ near the Crescent building yard. Inevitably, the trials of the submarine garnered tremendous interest from the press and the New York City public alike and the submarine was often accompanied by a plethora of pleasure craft, making it potentially dangerous to operate the boat submerged. The move to rural New Suffolk gave the company a reasonably private operating area to test the boat in, and it kept it from the bulk of the prying eyes of the press.
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