At one time, Milford was home to seven different shipyards between the years of 1782 and 1951, employing as many as three-quarters of the town’s workforce. A few of the vessels built in the town served their owners for many years and some, including the Augusta and Kismet still travel the waterways. However, two of the largest vessels constructed in Milford were not quite so lucky.
The largest ship built in Milford was the four-masted cargo schooner, the George May. The ship was constructed at the Vineyard Shipyard and launched in the early 20th century. The ship was 162 feet long with two decks and four masts. She operated in the coastal lumber trade between Florida and Philadelphia. Owned by the Jonathan May family, the ship was worth $40,000, the equivalent of $1.5 million today. It was contracted by Captain John C. Davis in 1899.
On October 25, 1911, the George May sank off the coast of the Bahamas during a storm. Reports are that all of the crew survived and it is believed that the iron pipe she was carrying interfered with a compass which caused the ship to deviate off course.
The Albert F. Paul, however, had a much more sinister fate. Built at the Abbott Shipyard in 1917, the Albert F. Paul weighed 735 tons, 174-feet long, also a four-masted schooner, and hauled coal, salt as well as lumber up and down the Atlantic coast. The Paul was the last large sailing ship to be launched on the Mispillion River from the Abbott Shipyard. In early 1942, she was sold to the Albert Shipping Company of Baltimore and her first voyage for them scheduled for February 23, 1942. The ship was heading to the Bahamas to deliver a cargo of coal, then to Grand Turks Island to pick up salt that would be delivered to Norfolk, Virginia. She was scheduled to arrive in Norfolk on March 11, 1942, but she never arrived…