ABSTRACT
As a number of works have been published on early 19th-century shipbuilding in America and Europe, this chapter is primarily dedicated to the construction and design of steamboats from the first quarter of the 19th century in the northeastern region of North America. Phoenix was built by Edward Roberts, a master carpenter and formal naval shipbuilder who traveled with renowned shipwright Noah Brown to assist in the construction of Macdonough's fleet at Otter Creek during the War of 1812, then remained in Vergennes afterward. The Phoenix frames varied widely in their dimensions while the Vermont frames appear to have been fairly consistent in size throughout. Ticonderoga was originally intended as a lake steamer by the Lake Champlain Steamboat Company, and the lower portion of its hull has the most interpretive value in a comparative analysis with Phoenix because this was probably left largely unaltered when purchased by the US Navy.
