Moore Dry Dock Company ships plans, 1768-1962,, bulk bulk 1916-1954

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Summary

Creators:
Moore Dry Dock Company Moore Shipbuilding Company Moore & Scott Iron Works
Abstract:
The Moore Dry Dock Company Ships Plans collection (HDC 1065) consists of naval architecture and marine engineering drawings from the Moore Dry Dock Company of Oakland, CA. It contains 21,700 drawings dating from 1882 to 1962. The company was first established in 1905 as the Moore & Scott Iron Works and then transitioned to the Moore Shipbuilding Company in 1917 with the United States' entry into World War One. It finally became Moore Dry Dock Company in 1923.
Extent:
21266 items.
Language:
In English.

Background

Scope and content:

The Moore Dry Dock Company Ships Plans collection (HDC 1065) consists of naval architecture and marine engineering drawings from the Moore Dry Dock Company of Oakland, CA. It contains 21,700 drawings dating from 1882 to 1962. The company was first established in 1905 as the Moore & Scott Iron Works and then transitioned to the Moore Shipbuilding Company in 1917 with the United States' entry into World War One. It finally became Moore Dry Dock Company in 1923.

The bulk of the collection consists of marine engineering drawings for vessel conversions and refittings for a wide range of components such as boilers, diesel engines, generators, mufflers, condensers, pumps, hoists, propellers, shafts, rigging, piping, ventilation systems, ammunitions storage, gun platforms, ladders, rails, stairs, fire suppression systems, hammock hooks, galley equipment, sail plans, towing details. The main types of vessels represented are hopper dredges, tankers, ferries, cargo steamers, schooners, tug boats, troop ships, pilot boats and Coast Guard Cutters. Plan views include inboard/outboard profiles, deck arrangements, and cross sections for some of these vessels.

Drawings of particular interest are related to the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's historic fleet. The drawings found in subseries 3.1 are of the vessels EUREKA (walking beam and components plans), HERCULES (propeller shaft plan), GALILEE (bunk plan) and CHARLES VAN DAMME (lines plan). In addition, drawings of significance are the 1913 and 1918 plans for the Moore & Scott Iron Works ship ways, shipyards, launching arrangements, traveling derrick crane and dry dock railway, the 1918 Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Co. (Bay Point, CA) shipyard plans and delivery schedule, and a circa 1918 blueprint "Map of the Trial Courses, San Francisco Harbor, Measured Mile Course" by D.W. & R.Z. Dickie.

The subseries 3.1 includes 1937 plans for the conversion of the ferry SAN PEDRO to the "Clubhouse for Women's Clubhouse Association, Golden Gate International Exposition" by architect William Wurster. While the conversion never took place, Wurster went on to design the Yerba Buena Club (Women's Clubhouse) as well as the Argentine Pavilion, the Decorative Arts Exhibit, the Fuller-Pittsburg Exhibit and the Maritime Exhibit for the Exposition. The subseries also has blue prints of the 1962 replica H.M.S. BOUNTY (midsection, plan and profile construction) built for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios' production of "Mutiny on the Bounty." A large group of ferry plans by naval architect Philip Spaulding (best known for designing 440-foot jumbo class ferries) are located in subseries 3.1 and 3.3.

While the inclusive date range begins with 1768 resulting from a small number of photocopied drawings from the British Admiralty, the bulk of the original Moore Dry Dock Company drawings date from 1916 to 1954.

Other date ranges of significance are Moore & Scott Iron Works, 1890-1922; Risdon Iron Works, 1898-1905; W.A. Boole & Son, 1905-1907; Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Co., 1917-1919; National Iron Works, 1889-1896; Union Iron Works, 1909-1926.

Biographical / historical:

Agency History
The Moore Dry Dock Company was established as the Moore & Scott Iron Works in 1905; changed to the Moore Shipbuilding Company at the start of World War One in 1917, and became Moore Dry Dock Company in 1923. With a long history of steel shipbuilding, the Moore Dry Dock Company, along with the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, was one of two major Bay Area shipyards that had participated in the 1917 wartime shipbuilding program, survived the Great Depression and could provide the experience for supplying the United States government's maritime demands during World War II. The company ceased operations in 1961 and was sold to Flug and Strassler, which was subsequently sold to Schnitzer Steel.

Bonnett, Wayne. Build Ships!: San Francisco Bay Wartime Shipbuilding Photographs, 1940-1945. Sausalito, Calif.: Windgate Press, 2000.
Moore, James R. The Story of Moore Dry Dock Company: A Picture History. Sausalito, Calif.: Windgate Press, 1994.

Acquisition information:
Accession number SAFR-00001.
Custodial history:

The Moore Dry Dock Company collection includes plans created by its predecessor and associated organizations, such as Risdon Iron Works, Moore & Scott Iron Works, Moore Shipbuilding, National Iron Works, W.A. Boole & Son shipyard, and Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company. The drawings from Risdon Iron Works are likely in the collection due to Joseph Moore, Sr. and Robert S. Moore both serving as superintendents at Risdon Iron Works (1868-1905). The drawings from the Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company originated from John T. Scott, a partner and founder of the company. Scott was a former partner with Robert S. and Joseph A. Moore in the Moore and Scott Iron Works (1905-1917). Moore & Scott Iron Works purchased National Iron Works in 1905 and the W.A. Boole & Son shipyard in 1909. In addtion, plans originating from Union Iron Works, W.P. Hincks, Skinner & Eddy Corporation, F.W. Shaw, Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, David W. Dickie, and Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd. are also present in the collection.

The collection was donated to San Francisco Maritime Museum in the early 1960s. The latest date of a drawing in the collection is from the Haviside company, dated November 11, 1962. In his book, "The Story of Moore Dry Dock Company", James R. Moore states that the company closed in 1961. When they were acquired, the drawings appear to have been rolled into large groups of 60-300 sheets while some plans were received folded.

The San Francisco Maritime Museum's collections were acquired by the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Recreational Area as part of the Maritime Unit in 1978. The collections were transferred after the establishment of a separate San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in 1988.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into the following 3 series: 1. Ship plans, rolled. 2. Crown City (motor ferry) construction plans, folded. 3. Ship plans, flattened. The collection records lack documentation regarding the Moore Dry Dock Company's original arrangement.

Series 1.
Ship plans, rolled, 1882-1966, bulk 1906-1944.
133 rolls (approximately 19,000 items)

This Series consists of multiple sheets of plans, which have been re-housed on 133 acid-free tubes. The plans are organized by types of projects such as the repair or installation of hoists, shafts, boilers, piping, winches, rigging, etc. Types of vessels being fitted include ferries, steam ships, tankers, freighters, US Coast Guard Cutters, dredges and schooners. The processes represented are blueprint, diazo, and Van Dyke (brownline and brownprint). Supports are drafting cloth (linen), tracing paper, vellum, and paper; applications include pencil, ink, and annotations in grease pencil.

Series 2.
CROWN CITY motor ferry ships plans, 1953.
61 items

This series contains 61 construction plans for the San Diego & Coronado Ferry Co. motor ferry CROWN CITY (Hull 308) built in 1953 and launched in 1954. The plans are blueprints and diazos, folded and housed in two 17" x 12" x 4" boxes. Copy of original "Plan Schedule" is housed in Box 1.

Series 3.
Ship plans, flattened, 1768-1966, bulk 1916-1954

Subseries 3.1
Ship plans, 1768-1966
1,892 items

The subseries contains Moore & Scott Iron Works drawings range in date from 1890-1922. Other early date ranges within the Series are as follows: Risdon Iron Works 1898-1905, W.A. Boole & Son 1905-1907, Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Co. 1917-1919, National Iron Works 1889-1896, Union Iron Works 1909-1926. In addition, it contains a small number of photocopied drawings from the British Admiralty, dated 1768-1813.

The subseries consists of drawings which appear to have been removed from drawers, rolled into large groups of 60 - 300 sheets, and donated to the San Francisco Maritime Museum in the early 1960's. Museum staff members flattened the plans, numbered them consecutively (#1 through #2156), and placed them in folders. An index, hand written on 3" x 5" cards, reflects the original order of the rolls at the time of the inventory. Each card has a number matching that of its corresponding plan. The processes represented are blueprint, diazo, and Van Dyke (brownline and brownprint). Supports are drafting cloth (linen), tracing paper, vellum, and paper; applications include pencil, ink, and annotations in grease pencil. In drawer B8.15 there are 12 drawings which have been separated from the rest of the collection due to mold damage (seven of these have inventory numbers) and 14 mass-produced lithograph line drawings of historic vessels (SANTA MARIA, MAYFLOWER, CONSITUTION, FLYING CLOUD etc.) heat mounted on paperboard, lacking inventory numbers.


Subseries 3.2
Ships plans arranged by San Francisco Maritime Museum classification system, 1909-1941
66 items

This subseries contains a mix of drawings from the "plans classified system" (an early SFMM classification system); they are not indexed or numbered in the same way as subseries 3.1.

The subseries contains blueprints, as well as drafting cloth (linen), vellum and photostats; applications are in ink and pencil. Annotations are in grease pencil. Vessels include the 9400 ton cargo boat ANIWA (displacement and other curves), freighter CARBELLA/ex-GLACIER (load line document), 5 masted schooner WILLIAM F. GARMS (deck profile), ferry CAZADERO (details: foundation girders, gallows frame, special crosses, table), cargo vessel C2-S-B1 (tables), oil tanker MT. SHASTA (steam tiller details), Army steam ship COL. GEO. ARMISTEAD (marine engine details), U.S.A.T. CAMBRAI (davit and skids details; deck arrangement), 26-foot life boat for S.S. BEAVER and S.S. BEAR (profile, deck, section), Western Pacific Rail Road Company 20-foot life boat (profile, deck, section), 90-foot steel hull fishing boat (profile, deck), screw steamer MAVERICK (deck, steering rope), U.S.A.T. SLOCUM (plumbing), S.S. TELEPHONE (oil tank details), sternwheel steamer CORCORAN (marine boiler), S.S. MANULAI and S.S. MAUNKAI (deck and details), 35-foot launch for S.S. LOS ANGELES (profile, decks, details, machinery arrangements).


Subseries 3.3
Folded plans, 1913-1942, bulk 1936
247 items

This subseries consists of folded plans that were arranged into small groups of separate file units during the 1995 survey and inventory. The inventory sheets created in 1995 remain with the file units.

Most of the drawings in drawers B7.17 and B7.18 are of pumps, valves, oil coolers and other small equipment. Many of the drawings refer to the transport vessel HENRY T. ALLEN from 1942. 169 plans. NOTE: subseries 1 also contains 125 drawings of the HENRY T. ALLEN. Drawer B7.17 also contains a few drawings of shipyards (Todd Shipbuilding Co., Tacoma WA and Marinship in Sausalito CA). Drawings in drawer B7.18 are labeled "Misc. Ships" and pertain to vessels such as the TALAMANCA, CHIRIQUI, JAMAICA and BLACK HERON. 78 plans.

Physical location:
Historic Documents Department
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
Building E, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123, US
Contact:
415-561-7030
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