Confederate Naval Works at Goose Creek
Baytown, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1854, brothers Thomas and John Chubb bought land in the William Scott League on the east bank of Goose Creek at the mouth of Tabbs Bay. On this site, they established the Chubb Shipyard prior to the Civil War. At the time, Texas shipbuilding was a developing industry. During the war, however, in an effort to compensate for the Union's industrial advantage, the Confederate government encouraged Texans to engage in manufacturing ventures that would aid its miltary effort. The Chubb brothers responded to this call with the Confederate Naval Works at Goose Creek, which built and repaired vessels during the war. Thomas Chubb also served in the Texas Marine Department, an element of the Confederate States Army operating indepently of the Confederate Navy. He obtained the rank of Captain and later became superintendent of the Confederate Naval Works. The design and structure of ships built at the Goose Creek shipyard were integral to the Department's effectiveness in running the Union blockade. The shallow draft of the centerboard schooners made them suitable for blockade running in shallow areas of the Gulf of Mexico, where deep draft vessels could not pass. These successful ships included the Royal Yacht, Bagdad, Phoebe, Henrietta, Marguereta and Altha Brooks. An important contributor to the Texas naval and industrial effort during the Civil War, the Goose Creek shipyard later built ships for the federal government and private mariners until Thomas Chubb left the business in 1869. The following year, the Thomas B. Gaillard family purchased the former shipyard and established Gaillard's Landing. Later, the site became part of the Goose Creek oil fields. (2007)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Brothers Thomas and John Chubb established a shipyard on Goose Creek before the Civil War, and when the war came they answered the Confederacy's call for Texas manufacturing by turning it into the Confederate Naval Works. There they built and repaired the shallow-draft centerboard schooners—vessels like the Royal Yacht and Bagdad—whose light draft let them slip through the shoals of the Gulf and run the Union blockade. Thomas Chubb rose to captain and superintendent in the Texas Marine Department, and the yard kept building ships for years after the war before the land eventually became part of the Goose Creek oil fields.
Why it matters
The site shows how a modest Texas shipyard became part of the Confederacy's improvised effort to overcome Union naval power and industrial superiority through blockade running.
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Related people
- · Thomas Chubb
- · John Chubb
Related events
- · Union blockade of the Gulf Coast
Themes & tags
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