| The subject of this study is the first two decades of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, one of the largest private shipyards in the world, which existed on the banks of the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey. The business had global ramifications since the ships built there circled the world carrying a variety of goods and passengers for a variety of purposes; they fought in global and localized wars. Regionally, the shipyard provided jobs to hundreds of thousands of workers during its life, supported hundreds of thousands of people, and pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy. The yard's founder, Henry G. Morse, Sr., developed a system to quickly construct large, steel ships. The Morse System was the basis of the extraordinary number of ships constructed during both world wars. This work examines the shipyard, the Morse system of construction, and the development of both over a two decade time span, the period in which the Morse system was perfected. This study reveals the interaction among the shipyard and Camden City, the region, and the U.S. Navy. Additionally, this work illuminates the shipyard's impact on its workers and their families, the wages earned, and how workers spent their incomes. This work investigates the company's methods to control workers with the welfare capitalism developed at the yard, through sports, patriotism, and housing. |
