Building and Outfitting Ships in Colonial Boston

Early eighteenth-century Boston experienced significant population and economic growth as it became fully integrated into Atlantic trade and credit networks. Shipbuilding boomed, and the hundreds of vessels entering the port each year required provisions, supplies, and repairs. Building and outfitting vessels generated good paying jobs for maritime specialists and laborers. Merchants, however, had no desire to spend scarce silver or gold to pay waterfront tradesmen. Instead, they formed long-term credit arrangements through complex bookkeeping practices that moved food, goods, labor, and debts among multiple parties. They also attempted to protect this system during periods of crisis and strategically employed waterfront tradesmen to build or work on vessels for foreign partners as part of their wider Atlantic ambitions. This article places building and outfitting ships at the center of everyday interactions in colonial Boston and broadens our understanding of credit arrangeents, commodity exchange, and capital formation in the Atlantic World.