In 1764, when Newburyport was incorporated as its own town, Ralph Cross had a shipyard below the lower Long wharf (where the Custom House is today), Jonathan Greenleaf was building small vessels at the foot of Chandler’s lane (now Federal street), and Stephen and Ralph Cross, sons of Ralph Cross, Sr., had a shipyard between the foot of Federal Street and Independent Street, where Coast Guard Station Merrimack River is today.

While greatly reduced in the early 19th century, the number and production of Newburyport’s shipyards increased greatly after 1840. Perhaps none of these yards was more productive than that of John Currier, Jr., where Merrimac Court is today. From 1831 until 1883, the Currier shipyard produced 97 ships, from the 325-ton Wessacumcon to the huge 1,847-ton John Currier, named for the yard’s founder. This shipyard also turned out the last full-rigged sailing ship built in Massachusetts; the 1,575-ton Mary L. Cushing.

This painting purports to illustrate the first cutter named Massachusetts but it incorrectly shows the cutter flying the Revenue ensign and commission pennant, which were not adopted until 1799, well after the first Massachusetts had left service. Nevertheless, the illustration does show those characteristics typical of most of the first few generations of Revenue cutters: a small sailing vessel steered by a tiller, with low freeboard, light draft, lightly armed, and usually rigged as a topsail schooner.

Among many “firsts” associated with Newburyport’s many shipyards was the building and launching of the first US Revenue Cutter in 1791 – the USRC Massachusetts – from the yard of Searle and Tyler, near today’s Waterfront Park. The US Coast Guard considers this to be the first ship launched into its service, making Newburyport the “birthplace of the Coast Guard”.