From Rivets to Rust: The Surprisingly Short Life of Alexandria’s Wartime Shipyard
By: Lisa Timmerman, Executive Director
In 1919, the steel cargo carrier Betsy Bell launched in Alexandria with onlookers snapping photographs as the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation invited a select few to board and christen Gunston Hall’s sister ship. Tucked away in our archives, this family photograph captured a rare look at the steel carrier as people from the Dumfries community gathered for a patriotic and memorable event. Although short-lived, this impressively busy shipyard roared to life as Virginia embraced WWI.
(The Launching of the Betsy Bell, Keys Family Collection)
In 1918, construction of the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation of Alexandria, Virginia began with creators Charles W. and Benjamin W. Morse at the helm taking advantage of the prosperous and prolific contracts stemming from the Emergency Fleet Corporation. While the Naval Act of 1916 increased maritime development, legislators had not accounted for the additional strain and demand of the U.S. entry in WWI. Building over Battery Cove at Jones Point on the Potomac River, the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation received a contract for twelve steel vessels of 9,400 tons each, with 10 scheduled to set sail the following year. This mass increase in production naturally brought an increase in labor and employment as the Corporation hired 1,100 by 04/1918 estimating a need for 3,500 workers to meet the obligations of their first contract. Community public support in Alexandria was vital and officials challenged locals to craft a slogan for the noteworthy sign along with a small cash reward. By 05/30/1918, President Woodrow Wilson drove the first rivet with Mrs. Wilson naming the first ship Gunston Hall, a tribute to the founder (and Dumfries enthusiast!) George Mason.
By 05/1919, Betsy Bell approached its’ launch date with newspapers reporting, “…and when she takes to the water will probably be nearer completion than the majority of ships ever launched in this country. Already her smokestacks, auxiliary engines, and several fittings have been placed in her.” Mrs. Colin H. Livingstone, wife of the President of the corporation, received the honors of christening the ship. After the celebration and launch on 05/24, the ship then set sail on a trial run to Annapolis, MD in 09/1919. “Work at this plant is progressing rapidly and as heretofore stated in The Gazette soon this company will begin the work of laying keels for boats for private corporations so far advanced is the work on the government contracts.” While the Corporation emphasized the certainty of continued employment and high production of shipbuilding after armistice, troubling signs appeared in 1920 when the Corporation started laying off their workforce – by 1921, the operations that had employed close to 2,000 persons had gone mainly idle. While peacetime transition was a factor, more problematic was the Congressional inquiries into the Corporation as finances supposedly marked for actual ship construction went into the shipyard along with the housing project Rosemont. The Grand Jury of D.C. officially indicted Charles W. Morse, his three sons, Colin Livingstone and seven others on 02/27/1922 encompassing more than just the Corporation’s potential fraudulence. While officials eventually acquitted the Morse family and dropped charges against the others, 1922 saw auctions, rentals, and government seizures along the waterfront. In 1923, the Western Marine and Salvage Company briefly leased the land to dismantle vessels, but fires and other issues plagued the property leaving it abandoned with the leftovers dismantled. Today, you can visit the site as Jones Point Park eloquently offers history, commerce, and various recreation for locals and tourists. Although you will not see the hustle and bustle of a busy dock or hear the cheers of people as they crowd to watch the launch of an impressive ship, you can instead contemplate and enjoy the history of a waterfront submerged with everything from strong patriotism to surprising scandals.
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(Sources: Keys Family Photograph Collection; National Park Service, Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation, https://www.nps.gov/articles/virginia-shipbuilding-corporation.htm; The Culpeper Exponent, Volume 39, No. 6, 05/22/1919 via Library of Virginia’s Virginia Chronicle; The Alexandria Gazette, Volume 135, No. 185, 08/05/1919 via Library of Virginia’s Virginia Chronicle)
