Last week, we took a look at the ship repair business at the marine railway in Ferry Village, on the site where Aspasia Marina is today on Front Street. For much of its history, the marine railway was superintended by Nathan Dyer and then his son, Nathan Randall Dyer. While we are still researching the Dyer family, I will share here what we have learned so far about these two shipbuilders. We’ll pick up Part 2 of the Portland Shipbuilding story next week.

Nathan Dyer was born in the Ferry Village section of Cape Elizabeth on Dec. 11, 1802, son of Caleb and Mary (Randall) Dyer. Caleb and Mary Dyer were natives of the town (called Falmouth when they were born) and prominent members of the community. Caleb was a shipbuilder in Ferry Village, but very little exists to document the ships that he built.

Nathan Dyer built and repaired many ships in Portland and operated a very active shipyard at the foot of State Street. He was building in Portland as early as 1825, when he built and launched the brig Saccarappa.

He steadily produced ships over the next several decades. Some of these include: a nearly 200-ton brig in 1834; the steamboat Portland in 1835; the 235-ton bark Jubilee in 1844; the 255-ton brig Hogan, the 150-ton brig Henrietta, and a large bark, all in 1845; a 400-ton bark in 1847; and the 180-ton brig Eolian in 1848.

From 1842 to 1849, Nathan Dyer also owned a controlling interest in the Cape Elizabeth Ferry, although the ferry service between Portland and Ferry Village consisted entirely of rowboats at the time. He sold his interest in the ferry to George Turner (the Turner of the Turner and Cahoon Shipyard in Ferry Village).

Nathan’s son, Nathan Randall Dyer, was born in 1832 and followed his father right into the shipbuilding business – in 1848, when Nathan R. was only 15 years old, a ship launch announcement was already describing the yard in Portland as the “Nathan Dyer & Son” shipyard.

As with the other shipyard owners along the Portland waterfront, Nathan Dyer had some decisions to make in 1850. It became clear that Portland would embrace the expansion of the railroad and the site of his shipyard was right in the path needed to lay tracks. The last ship we’ve been able to find him launching in Portland was a bark in the fall of 1851.

In 1850, Nathan Dyer was appointed yard superintendent at the newly formed Cape Elizabeth Wharf and marine railway in Ferry Village. While he worked at the marine railway through the 1850s and 1860s, it appears that work at the railway was not consistent, as census and other records often find him working as a farmer throughout these years.

I like to think of this as Nathan being that typical, self-reliant Mainer that we still see today – when work becomes slow in one area, Mainers just turn to a different line of work to make do. Nathan Dyer owned more than 25 acres of land in Ferry Village at that time, plenty of land for farming. Nathan R. sold much of that land in the 1880s after Nathan had died. The land was subsequently developed into residential house lots.

The work at the railway appears to have become steadier around 1868 when Nathan started working on a more consistent basis at the yard.

Nathan R. Dyer, who had started to learn the skills of shipbuilding under his father in Portland, also had to decide what to do when his father’s shipyard shut down. In 1851, he reportedly joined Green & Deguio in Portland and worked there learning the shipwright trade until 1857, when he left and worked on his own for a few years.

According to one biographical sketch about Nathan R. Dyer (copy on file at South Portland Historical Society):

“In 1860, he entered into partnership with Galen J. Deguio, being the junior member of the firm. They carried on a substantial business until the great fire of 1866, which, it is worthy to note, started in their shop, originating, as Mr. Dyer says, without doubt, from the spark of a locomotive passing through Commercial Street.”

Of course, this is just one account of the start of that devastating fire that occurred on July 4, 1866. There are other accounts that blame the fire on a firecracker that was thrown into Deguio & Dyer’s shipyard (located on Commercial Street near the intersection of Maple Street). The firecracker ignited wood shavings and wind helped the fire quickly spread to a boat shed there and then beyond.

After the fire of 1866, Nathan R. Dyer would begin working under his father at the marine railway in Ferry Village.

While the marine railway was engaged in ship repair, there was land along the waterfront next to the railway that was suitable for new ship construction. In 1873, we see the first announcement of Nathan Randall Dyer about to start construction of a schooner “on the land of the Cape Elizabeth Marine Railway Company, at Ferry Village.” So while the marine railway itself was not constructing new ships at the time, Nathan R. Dyer had set up his own shipyard operation on their property and built a good number of ships there throughout 1874.

In January, 1874, he was already laying the keel for a 75-ton tugboat. He was soon laying keels for a large schooner and ferry boat, as well.

The steam ferry Mary W. Libby was launched about June 30, 1874; she was built for Capt. Benjamin J. Willard and others, and put to work on the Cape Elizabeth Ferry service between Cape Elizabeth and Portland. The 217-ton schooner Maggie Ellen was launched about July 21, 1874. She had many owners, including Charles H. Chase & Co., Capt. Asa Littlejohn, Capt. Robert M. York, and others.

The schooner Maggie Ellen was commanded by Capt. Asa Littlejohn, who lived on Front Street in Ferry Village. On July 30, 1874, a sloop of 30 tons was launched from Nathan R. Dyer’s yard, however, the work on that sloop was done by yet another Dyer relative, Joseph H. Dyer.

By the end of 1874, we see the last of Nathan R. Dyer’s yard on the marine railway property. Nathan Dyer retired from the railway a few years before his death in 1880. Nathan R. Dyer took over as superintendent upon his father’s departure. The railway was leased to the George E. Hagan Company from 1885 to 1887, but Nathan R. Dyer took over the lease again in 1887 and put the wheels in motion to add new ship construction to the company’s business model.

He found investors and a new company was formed in 1891, Portland Shipbuilding Company, which would lease the railway and put Nathan R. Dyer in charge of the operation. It was a smart move as construction of new ships would be in high demand in both of the coming World Wars.

Note to readers: Thank you to everyone who has helped us so far with an unexpected repair bill related to our air conditioning system. We need to maintain climate control for the archives, so we had to call in a repair company. We’re just a couple hundred dollars shy of the funds needed to pay this bill.

If you can help, donations can be made through our Online Museum website at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline, or if you’d prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to South Portland Historical Society and mail to us at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106. Thank you.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director of the South Portland Historical Society.

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