The Ferguson Boat Yard in Groton

Carol W. Kimball

Charles & William Ferguson, local boat builders
Schooner Yacht, Her Royal Highness
The Ferguson house on Thames Street
Mystic Seaport Museum and its Ferguson boat

Kim01-090

Scrapbook

8: Communication Artifact

Documentary Artifact

The Day

New London, CT

01/15/1987

Carol W. Kimball

William P. Ferguson and son Charles F. Ferguson were boat builders on the Groton bank of the Thames River. William, born in 1821, once lead the Abraham Gordon boat shop when New London was the second most important whaling port in the nation. He once worked for noted whaleboat builder George Rogers. His son Charles, born 1859, built the 65 foot schooner yacht, Her Royal Highness, for famous Shakespearian actor, Richard Mansfield of New London. The original Ferguson wharf went with the 1938 hurricane. Amelia Ferguson Safford (1987) still lives in the Thames Street house above the old Ferguson yard.

Ferguson, William P. (Capt.)
Ferguson, Charles F. (Capt.)
Bailey, Mother
Bailey, Priscilla
Rogers, George
Mansfield, Richard
Chester, Braddock (Capt.)
Moran, T. F.
Avery, Giles
Safford, Amelia Ferguson
Plant, Morton
Fleishmann family
Avery, Giles

Her Royal Highness (schooner yacht)
Ferguson Boat Yard
Groton
Thames Street
Venture (steam yacht)
Mystic Seaport Museum
Griswold
catboats
Hurricane (1938)
Mabel (steamer)
Thames Towboat Company
Griswold Hotel