American Patriot and Master Shipbuilder James Hackett set the bar for quality warship construction on the Piscataqua River. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) continues that tradition today by expertly maintaining the Navy’s fast attack submarine fleet that defends our Nation.
Born in 1739 to a family of shipwrights in Amesbury, Massachusetts, Hackett apprenticed in the trade of wooden boat construction, with a focus on merchant sailing vessels. He was about 15 years old when tensions in Europe ignited into the worldwide conflict known as the French and Indian War. He was quick to enlist in the most acclaimed American Unit to emerge from this bloody war, Rogers’ Rangers, the sacred forefathers of today’s U.S. Special Operations Forces.
On July 31, 1758, Hackett was the sergeant in charge of a scouting party that was ambushed by Native Americans allied with the French. Eight of his scouts were killed, one was captured, and Hackett escaped, only to be captured a year later. He remained a prisoner in Montreal until a prisoner exchange on November 15, 1759. The Rangers were disbanded in 1760. Hackett was discharged and settled in Exeter, NH.
At the beginning of the American Revolution, Hackett participated in the raid at Fort William & Mary in New Castle, New Hampshire. In April 1775, he was made a captain and led a company of 108 men to Cambridge, Massachusetts, following the attacks on Lexington and Concord. In 1776, he was appointed colonel in Wingate’s Regiment. He turned down taking command of the New Hampshire Regiment stating that he wanted to focus on the “fit out” of armed vessels built in New Hampshire.
Colonel Hackett is best known as a master shipbuilder completing an unparalleled list of vessels for the Continental Navy. With the assistance of his fellow countrymen James Hill and Stephen Paul, he constructed the frigate Raleigh, the ship that appears under construction on the seal and flag of the state of New Hampshire. He designed John Paul Jones’ famed sloop-of-war USS Ranger, the largest Continental warship of the Revolutionary War (depicted in a painting by John Sobart, above). Hackett built the ship of the line USS America; two early vessels for the U.S. Revenue Service, the USRC Scammel II and the Governor Gilman, both cutters; the USS Congress, which was one of the first six frigates of the United States Navy; and a host of privateer and merchant vessels including the McClary, the Portsmouth I, the Bellona, the Free Trade; and the tribute frigate Crescent.
In 1796, Hackett purchased a working farm and tavern in Brookfield, NH. In 1801, he was discharged from the Office of Naval Construction due to the downsizing of the Navy and stepped away from shipbuilding. He moved out to the farm full time. Colonel James Hackett died in Brookfield in 1802. At the time of his death, his tavern was considered one of the best and farm one of the most productive in New Hampshire. His legacy of quality warship construction for the U.S. Navy here in the mouth of the Piscataqua continues with the work done at PNS.
| Date Taken: | 11.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.17.2024 13:56 |
| Story ID: | 487703 |
| Location: | KITTERY, MAINE, US |
| Web Views: | 11 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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