C & R Poillon
19th Century Brooklyn Shipbuilders
Updated November 2002

Several years ago the Poillon family had a reunion at South Street Seaport. The museum historian, Norman Brouwer, personally met with the family to explain what was known of the Poillon's New York shipbuilding firm. This meeting and a later query from the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, RI lead to the historical uncovering of this important Brooklyn, New York firm.

Much to the delight of numerous maritime museums, Nannette Poillon (a great-great-granddaughter of Cornelius Poillon,) is currently writing the evolution of four generations of Poillon shipwrights. This Brooklyn firm, known as C & R Poillon (a.k.a. Poillon Brothers, C & R Poillon Steamboat Company) dates back to the early 1800s spanning the century into the 1900s.

In her work in progress, Nannette covers the history of the firm from its early days as ships carpenters, to its shipyard and saw mill located on the East River at the Foot of Bridge Street, Brooklyn; their wharfs and yard located in Gowanus, South Brooklyn; the development of their wholesale lumber trade; and their monopoly on ship repair work in New York harbor.

Poillon Brothers built, and in many cases also designed, many famous vessels of a variety of types from Civil War gunboats, transports, ferries, and screws to America's Cup defenders, schooners, sloops, and steamers. All in all more than 175 vessels were turned out of their two yards in Brooklyn where 300 men were gainfully employed. The vessels that have been identified and recorded to date are noted in the following list, with many still missing. From viewing the list, hull number 157 is identified with Paladin, built in 1899, yet we know their building activities extended up to at least 1904.

Nannette said, "I have spent the past several years researching the records of close to two dozen of Poillon Brothers' most famous racing yachts. I was contacted by the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, RI, who had assigned a researcher to find the Poillon family that was related to the builders of the grand Victorian schooner Coronet. Built in 1885, Coronet is the oldest existing wooden-hulled schooner built in New York harbor. She is currently being restored to her original splendor in the loving hands of IYRS. In 1999 the Grand Victorian Schooner Coronet was designated an official project of "Save America's Treasures". Dedicated to the celebration and preservation of America's priceless historic legacy, "Save America's Treasures" works to recognize and rescue the enduring symbols of American Tradition that define us as a nation. These goals are accomplished through a public and private partnership between the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

I cannot ever begin to explain the thrill of walking on board Coronet and touching part of my family history. Dad and I both felt that we had an obligation to history to record what is known of the firm. We had no idea how large a task this would turn out to be!"

Moving chronologically from one decade to the next, the individual yacht descriptions in her book begin with Sappho, the 1871 America's Cup defender. The book unfolds details such as the lines, old regatta course charts, and mini biographies of the yacht owners, interspersed with highlights of the state of the nation. It includes articles on the evolution of yacht design and measurement rules as covered and debated by the leading maritime writers on both sides of the pond.

"I have had a tremendous response from people interested in this firm and its vessels. A number of people have generously sent me their well-documented research files providing me with the support to correct inconstancies within some older nautical books mentioning the Poillon Brothers. Some critical information is still being researched, such as more details on the backgrounds of William Townsend, the naval architect employed by Poillons and Richard E. Pease, the last family owner of the firm.", said Nannette.

According to John Summers, former curator of the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, R.I., "William Townsend was an adherent of the traditional practice of modeling, whereby a scale half model was carved first from which the yacht's lines were laid down full-size for building."

In his classic study of American Sailing Ships, Howard Chapelle depicted William Townsend as follows. "The brothers C. and R. Poillon were shipwrights who specialized in the construction of yachts and pilot-boats; they had a shipyard and sawmill on the Brooklyn waterfront, later moving to Gowanus Creek. Their foreman, William Townsend, did all their designing except for a few yachts built from the designs of "Bob" Fish, "Phil" Ellsworth and A. Cary Smith. Among the yachts modelled (sic) by Townsend were the centerboard schooners Peerless, 1871 and Clio, 1873; and the keel schooner Sappho built in 1867. He also modelled many pilot-boats. Sappho was said to have been of lines original to Townsend. Other yachts registered as built by C & R Poillon, designed by Townsend are Dreadnaught and Peerless (1871), Clio (1873), Norseman renamed Alsacienne (1881), and a design participant of Coronet (1885)."

Some of Chapelle's statements above are known to be incorrect, such as "later moved to Gowanus". The firm continued to operate from the Bridge Street yard when it opened a second yard at Gowanus. Another correction is "except for a few yachts designed by"; there were many yachts built by Poillon Brothers from the designs of most of the leading naval architects.

In Manning's Register of Yachts, a new shipbuilding firm, Townsend and Edgets, appears in 1886 as the builder of a small centerboard sloop the Osceola (renamed Marjorie). Then in 1901 a group of launches appear under the name of Townsend and Downey, Shipbuilders and Repair Company, Shooters Island, New York. A number of smaller sailboats appear in 1901 and grow substantially in size from 1902 onward, with some of steel construction (Shenandoah, a three masted schooner, 134 feet; Elmina, a steel hulled centerboard schooner, and Thistle, a well photographed steam yacht). Additionally, the firm of Townsend and Osbern is listed on Erie Basin in Brooklyn as a supplier of machinery and boilers for yachts in 1903. According to Brooklyn directories, these were the firms of James Townsend, believed to be William R. Townsend's son, or nephew, as both resided in the same address on Cheevers Street.

The client lists for the Townsend firms and the Poillon shipwrights are very similar. William Townsend would have worked side by side with Cornelius Poillon in the operation of the yards, and his son or nephew. James Townsend, may have apprenticed there. When Cornelius Poillon passed away in 1881 his nephew James Oscar Poillon took his place and another nephew, Richard E. Pease also joined the firm. While continuing to monopolize the ship repair business in the harbor, they began some experimental building such as the electric powered boat, Eureka, joint ventured with the John Secor. William R. Townsend, most likely left C. & R. Poillon and joined his son (or nephew) in the part of the 1880s. He passed away in 1902. James Oscar Poillon retired from the firm in 1897 and Richard Pease eventually shut down the firm sometime after 1904. James became the Resident Manager (President) of the Webb Academy for Shipbuilders where Richard Poillon and Cornelius had been founding members of the school's Board of Directors.

The "Yachts" volume of the book includes a photograph of each of the famous racing yachts accompanying what is known of the particular yacht's racing history, with dimensions, notes on alterations, and mini biographies of the owners. This book is a yachtsman's treasure trove filled with Currier & Ives, Frederic S. Cozzens, Antonio Jacobsen, Wm. Stebbins, Wm. G. Yorke, James Buttersworth, George Stacy and other leading marine photographers and artists of the period.

The book includes details of Winona, a Civil War 90 day gunboat; the stories of Cotopaxi being sold to the Brazilian Navy; Kuroda and Capron, built for the Japanese Navy, and many reputable pilot boats including T.S. Negus, Thomas F. Bayard, E. C. Knight and Alexander M. Lawrence are considered to be among the fastest designed in this era.

Nannette Poillon lives on Long Island. She is a member of the Nautical Research Guild, an honorary patron of IYRS and a member of L.I. Maritime Museum. She is particularly interested in hearing from anyone interested in 19th century schooners and shipbuilding. She is attempting to locate a grant for individuals doing historic research to fund the completion of the book. She can be reached by email at poillon1@optonline.net. Information on Coronet can be viewed at www.iyrs.org

"I would like readers of the following ship list to please note that the list is being researched and updated regularly. While research is being conducted, I make notes on known conflicts in source information listed under a particular vessel. My current concentration is on the racing yachts in particular. Many thanks to each of you for your interest in this project."

REFERENCE LIST

SSSM = South Street Seaport Museum Library, New York City

**SPNEA = Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in Glouchester, MA

Reg. @ NYYC = Registered at New York Yacht Club

*History of American Sailing Ships, by Howard I. Chapelle

*History of NY Shipyards, by John Harrision Morrison

History of NY Harbor

A.C.Smith (A. Cary Smith)-designer- a.k.a Smith, Cary & Ferris, a.k.a Cary Smith and Barbey, a.k.a. Archie Smith (not A.E. "Lon" Smith of Islip, NY or Smith of Nyack, NY)

ABS -American Bureau of Shipping

*HNYYC- History of New York Yacht Club, by John Parkinson, Jr (not distributed outside of club members)

*Yachtman’s Souv. – Yachtsman’s Souvenir, by Stebbin. Stebbins wrote several books with a wealth of photographs in them

*Trad. & Mem. – Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, by Wm. Stevens

*CIA- Currier & Ives "America", "Navy", "Steamboats"

*Warships and Naval Battles of the Civil War, by Tony Gibbons, published Gallery Books/WH Smith Publications, 112 Madison Ave NY 10016 (Tony Gibbons of Bernard Thorton Artists, London, England)

Philadelphia on the River, by Philip Chadwick Foster Smith, published by Philadelphia Maritime Museum, 1986

MMNNVA,= Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, Virginia, 23206. The Eldridge Collection files of C & R Poillon, aka Poillon Brothers.

Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, Salem, MA 01970-3783

* in scanned file ** SPNEA list shows Puritan as C & R Poillon, this is incorrect she was a Burgess design built by G. Lawley in 1885.

©Copyright Nannette Poillon, 1998, 1999, 2000 All Rights Reserved

Nannette Poillon
Lake Grove, NY 11755
Phone & Fax 631-467-3011
Email: poillon1@optonline.net

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