THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602030110
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Olde Towne Portsmouth
SOURCE: Alan Flanders
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
ALTHOUGH HE LIVED HERE 220 years ago, I feel like I have come to know Andrew Sprowle, founder of the Gosport shipyard in the 18th century.
For the last two weeks I have visited most of the primary maritime history sites in London, Greenwich, Chatham and Portsmouth, England. I have walked many of the same cobblestone streets, peered down the same drydocks, visited the same shipbuilding yards, looked into many of the same shipyard sheds and shops, held many contemporary ship construction scrolls, tools, and other artifacts from his era. I sat in some of the same pubs he would have frequented in 1730 London.
Now I am convinced that Andrew Sprowle came to Virginia with a plan he had spent decades thinking about. Had he settled in Maryland, North Carolina, or even in Philadelphia or Boston, he would have made a name for himself. Fortunately it was his destiny, and now part of our legacy, that he chose Portsmouth in Virginia.
When Andrew Sprowle first arrived in Norfolk Borough some time in the 1740s, he carried with him an ambition that no doubt had been developed during his days clerking in the shipping offices along the River Clyde at Dumbarton and Glasgow, Scotland. By the 1730s, when he became familiar with the London shipping centers at the Isle of Dogs, Deptford, West India Docks and Canary Docks, he already had recognized the vast talents of his countrymen's legendary talents in shipbuilding. As he walked among the busy warehouses and bustling wharves along the ``Southbank'' of the Thames, he heard stories from sea captains in the already legendary Anchor and George inns. Merchantmen filled those tight bar rooms with not only tobacco smoke but yarns about the potential in the colonies, especially Virginia. When Sprowle petitioned for sponsorship and support, the financial backers of the colony were only too happy to back another ``Scottish Merchantman'' for the ``New World.''
Had someone been able to interview Sprowle, they would have heard his measured enthusiasm about how he dreamed of building his own dockyard somewhere in the colonies.
Traveling several days by horse-drawn coach due east from London to the county of Kent, he conducted business on several occasions at the vast ship construction and repair facility of Chatham which had been in business on the Medway River since 1588. There he probably marveled, as contemporary visitors do, at Chatham's covered shiphouses, drydocks and ropewalk. He envied its vast foundry and sail loft. He studied in detail the mast sheds and mould loft facing the great basin on the Medway. He probably stopped like most visitors do today to check his watch against the dockyard's famous clock tower built in 1722, counting off the hours and days before he was to follow his countrymen to the colonies.
Sprowle not only was a dreamer but also a wily politician who knew not only how to make and invest money, but someone who knew where England was headed in the 18th century world domination of the seas. And to control shipping with colonies around the world, shipyards would be needed. Portsmouth saw its first drydock built in 1495 during the time it grew to become the Royal Navy's rendezvous point for attacks across the English Channel against France. There the flagship of Henry VIII, Mary Rose, was begun in 1509. By 1670, Charles II had decreed that a Royal Navy be formed in Portsmouth; thus the city's claim to be the birthplace of the British navy.
By the time Sprowle arrived in the 1730s, England was on her way to a 600-plus ship navy and Portsmouth had already become the largest industrial complex in the world.
As Sprowle entered by the 1711-era main gate, he could observe the vast mountains of red brick already rising to complete three large storehouses standing to this day over three blocks long. Across the way, he probably smirked to himself as future officers trained smartly in their new uniforms at the 1733 Naval Academy.
At Portsmouth, you can still feel Great Britain's imminent sea power. Sprowle was inspired at seeing great warships cradled perfectly in balance among the granite stones of Portsmouth's drydock. Visitors today can see the technology and craftsmanship of both shipyard and warship alike in Admiral Horatio Nelson's flagship, the 105-gun Victory rests her 1765-designed frame in drydock No. 2. Still in commission, the Chatham-built Victory would have been familiar to Sprowle as well for he had familiarized himself with wooden wealls exactly like her. When not on duty or combat, these great wooden ships of the Royal Navy driven by canvas sail needed repair. The bottom line for Sprowle was business and profits for the nation, the colony and himself!
Shortly after his arrival in Norfolk, he joined the various merchant guilds that outfitted merchant ships docked along the Elizabeth River. By 1752 Sprowle was able to buy waterfront lots 11 and 12 from colonial militiaman Colonel William Crawford, who had divided a land patent into lots from which he developed the new town of Portsmouth. After the purchase of another, lot 24 at the intersection of Crawford and King streets, Sprowle looked further up the river across Crab Creek to a new area of undeveloped waterfront that would shortly carry the name Gosport.
After his purchase of several tracts of land in Gosport on which he was to build his shipyard, Sprowle completed his home in 1769 on his original waterfront property which is described in his will as, ``A large well finished Dwelling House, situate upon the River, on an excellent waterfront lot, three stories high; the lower part, kitchen, cellar, and chimneys, built with stone. Sprowle's shipyard: ``The place named Gosport, in Virginia, of which Mr. Sprowle was sole Proprietor, is situated on the south branch of Elizabeth River, in the County of Norfolk, and separated from the town of Portsmouth by a small creek, from which it extends, in front, along the river, about half a mile, in all which space, the river near the shore, is deep, and being well sheltered from winds, forms on the whole, a most excellent harbour for ships of great burthen, either for careening, sheathing, repairing, or loading.'' The will adds that Sprowle owned ``a large Warehouse built with stone, 91 feet in length, and 41 feet wide, 5 stories high, 3 of stone, and 2 of wood; the doors and windows with a broad stairs of hewn stone, mostly brought from Britain at great expense; the whole of very substantial materials and strongwork. . . '' In addition, Sprowle's holdings included three other warehouses, an accounting house, smith's shop, a dwelling house and kitchen and a ``large iron crane with brass sheaves,'' which was brought from London.
No doubt by 1775, Andrew Sprowle had ``arrived'' in both the social and economic sense. The Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, thought so much of him that he anchored his ships at Gosport after fleeing the Royal Capital at Williamsburg. Unfortunately it might have been Sprowle's success and loyalty to the ``Crown'' that finally led to his undoing.
Meanwhile, Sprowle's Gosport shipyard changed hands several times during the Revolutionary War and lay in ruins until its subsequent purchase by the United States government from the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1801.
Sprowle's dream for Gosport lived far beyond him. From its first year in operation under the United States Navy, it made history as the construction site of one of the nation's original six frigates, the USS Chesapeake, and has made its mark in every great era of American naval seapower ever since!
Thinking back about my recent journey back to Sprowle's England, I think he deserves a larger place in our history. As far as I know, there are no monuments to his life or accomplishments here and that seems a pity. Although he was every bit a Tory, he also was a believer in the American dream - that you could come to this country and make something of yourself, and even improve on those things you left behind.
Sprowle did that in Portsmouth.
He established what the Royal navy would call the most well-equipped shipyard in the colony. No one can dispute that from those foundations grew the Norfolk Naval Shipyard - America's oldest and most famous. That alone deserves some recognition.
For now, I simply am glad to have gotten to know him better. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by ALAN FLANDERS
The iron-clad HMS Warrior, above, is docked at Portsmouth England.
It was constructed in 1860. Below is the 17th Basin, the ``cradle of
the Royal Navy.''
The iron-clad HMS Warrior, above, docked at Portsmouth, England, was
constructed in 1860. Below is the 17th Basin, the ``cradle of the
Royal Navy.''
by CNB