Consolidated Yachts is a former shipbuilder and (as of 2021) present-day marine service company located on City Island in The Bronx, New York City.

Consolidated Yachts
Industry
Predecessors
  • Charles L. Seabury Company
  • Gas Engine & Power Company
  • Consolidated Shipbuilding
FoundedJune 1896; 128 years ago (1896-06)
(via merger)
HeadquartersCity Island,

History

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The company was founded as the Gas Engine and Power Company & Charles L. Seabury Company in 1896 after the merger of the Charles L. Seabury Company (founded in 1885 in Nyack, New York) and the Gas Engine & Power Company (founded about the same time in Morris Heights, Bronx).[1] Seabury was famous for its steam yachts; the Gas Engine & Power Company's primary focus was on naptha-powered launches.[2] Among other products, the combined company manufactured express cruisers, runabouts, yacht tenders, gas engines and alcohol ranges under the Speedway brand.[3] The manufacturing facility in Morris Heights was referred to as the Speedway Shipyard,[4] and it stood along Mathewson Road, near what is today the location of Roberto Clemente State Park. On July 16, 1908 Charles L. Seabury & Co's shipyard launched the "largest yacht in the world driven by motor power ... in the presence of its owner Charles Henry Fletcher". She was 111 feet over all, with a 21-foot beam, and 260 horse power and an engineering feat for luxury yachts of the time.[5]

After the First World War the company rebranded itself as Consolidated Shipbuilding. It was heavily involved in the production of small yachts and military vessels, employing as many as 3,000 skilled tradespeople to that end.[6] Upon the conclusion of World War II, the company moved from Morris Heights to the former Robert Jacobs shipyard on City Island, and it continued to build ships until 1958.[2]

World War II shipbuilding

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References

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  1. ^ "A BIG YACHT-BUILDING PLANT.; Seabury and the Gas Engine Company Unite Their Forces". The New York Times. 1896-06-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  2. ^ a b "Consolidated Shipbuilding, Gas Engine & Power, Charles H. Seabury". shipbuildinghistory.com. March 3, 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  3. ^ "1917 Speedway Exhibit : New York Motor Boat Show, Grand Central Palace, January 27th to February 3rd / Gas Engine & Power Company and Charles L. Seabury & Company, Morris Heights, New York City". Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake. 1917. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Curtis Yacht at Morris Heights". The Rudder. Vol. 35. January 1919. p. 264. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  5. ^ "QUEEN OF MOTOR YACHTS, The Jemima F. III., Largest in the World, Launched in the Harlem". The New York Times. New York. 17 July 1908. p. 1.
  6. ^ "Asbestos Exposures at Consolidated Shipbuilding, Bronx New York". Levy Konigsberg, LLP. Archived from the original on 2021-12-07. Retrieved 3 December 2024.

40°51′8.16″N 73°55′23.09″W / 40.8522667°N 73.9230806°W / 40.8522667; -73.9230806