In 1878, brothers Henry, Isaac, and Winslow Hall founded the
Hall Brothers Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Company in
Port Blakely, Washington. Among the ships built there were
A.N. Campbell, a
schooner built around 1897;
Alpena, a schooner; and
Caroline, a four-masted schooner built for
Joseph Knowland. In the early 1900s, the company obtained on
Eagle Harbor near the village of Madrone. (The village would be renamed
Winslow by Henry Hall, the last surviving brother.) Construction of the new yard required the removal of nearly 5,000 cubic yards of dirt; the harbor was dredged as well. Opened for operations in May 1903, the yard included a
marine railway, a powerhouse, sawmill, joiner loft, warehouse, and shipways. A specialty was five-masted
schooners whose design allowed cargo to be loaded fore and aft. Among those ships were: Some records from the Hall Brothers era are held at the
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco. Among the
Admirable minesweepers was
USS Inaugural (AM-242), which saw combat during World War II and then served as a
museum ship in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1968 to 1993. ==See also==