It’s not much of a stretch to guess that there was a healthy boat and ship-building economy in Lynn towards the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 20th century. That said, there’s precious little information about it. Until you hit the Britt brothers in West Lynn.
This is just the start of a trail of breadcrumbs, but here’s where we began – the Mystic Seaport Museum archives: Records of Britt Brothers Boat Builders
There you’ll see around 100 various records of Andrew and Chester Britt. A little more searching and you’ll see photos such as this:
This is the launch of one of the last boats the brothers built, the Venture, launched at their Saugus shop in about 1938. This is the note on the back of the photo:
A whole lot more snooping around will lead you to the mother lode- a story written by Andrew Britt, in his late ’80s at the time, about his father and uncle’s remarkable career, published in Wooden Boat Magazine. Look up Issue 167, you’ll find the whole story, probably as complete and accurate as you’d hope for.
The Britt brothers moved down to Lynn from Harpswell, Maine, where their father built skiffs and dories. They started out doing the same, when they got an order for a larger boat. That began what was a remarkable career of building yachts for the likes of Herreshoff and Alden, as well as the US Navy. Their West Lynn shop was destroyed by fire around 1936, forcing them to relocate across the river, where this launch took place. The photo above shows Andrew, the author, standing in the rear with a v-neck sweater. His father, Andrew Sr. is standing at the bow. This is the same boat – the 8m Venture.
In putting together this history, Andrew worked with information from several sources, including the Peabody Essex Museum and the MIT Museum, but notably the Mystic Seaport Museum – to whom he donated his mother’s collection of records and memorabilia from his father’s career – thus closing our circle of breadcrumbs.
Like any good detective story, this leaves more questions than it answers – the more intriguing being Andrew’s comment about the years leading into the Depression taking a toll on his father’s business. “They are now the only boatbuilders in Lynn…” certainly implying that soon before there were more. Also, apparently brother Chester was a bit of an inventor as well – with a US patent to boot!
…so yes, there was boatbuilding in Lynn, and some of the finest work in the world, mind you. And, we’re guessing, a whole lot more to the story.