Shipbuilding in Bagdad

Evidence from as early as 1763 shows the Jones Brothers' yard in Bagdad careening and repairing British men-of-war, and the town’s first major shipyard was built in 1833 by Captain John Gardner before changing ownership several times. John Forsyth purchased the shipyard in 1853 for $750, operated it for two years, and after his death it reverted to the newly organized E.E. Simpson & Company. In 1858, William Ollinger and Martin Bruce began operating a small repair plant and marine railway that lasted for 60 years. In 1861, during the Civil War, Confederate President Jefferson Davis authorized the construction of three gunboats, and Ollinger and Bruce received the contract. In March 1862, Confederate forces destroyed the gunboat and shipyard to keep them from falling into Union hands. Workers quickly sank the 500-ton drydock, the only dock of its kind in Northwest Florida, beneath the surface of the Blackwater River, and a 110-foot twin-screw gunboat was boarded and set afire by Confederate soldiers. Although most of Bagdad’s population fled to Greenville, Alabama, James Creary remained behind to oversee the remaining property, was taken prisoner by a Union scouting party, and was briefly imprisoned at Fort Pickens in Pensacola. During Reconstruction, the Ollinger and Bruce Shipyard reopened in 1867, George Bruce inherited his father’s share in 1894, and the yard remained in operation until 1917, when it moved to Mobile and operated as the Mobile Shipyard.

Bagdad, Florida · United States