J. F. Duthie & Company was a small shipyard located on the east side of Harbor Island in Seattle, Washington. It was reportedly organized in 1911 and expanded to 4 slipways on 25 acres (10 ha) of property in World War I to build cargo ships for the United Kingdom, France and Norway, but those resources were eventually all diverted at the behest of the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Work on the new plant started on 10 September 1916 and the first keel was laid on 29 November the same year. At that time, the new Skinner & Eddy plant across the water was already launching its first two ships: Niels Nielsen and Hanna Nielsen.