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William Dawson Lawrence (16 July 1817 – 8 December 1886) was a successful shipbuilder, businessman and politician. He built the ''William D. Lawrence'', which is reported to be the largest wooden ship ever built in Canada.〔("William D. Lawrence" Maritime Museum of the Atlantic Frequently Asked Questions )〕 In 1874, W.D. Lawrence's great ship was reported to have been the largest wooden sailing ship in the world.〔This claim is made by Frederick Wallace (1924) in his book Wooden Ships and Iron Men and Canada’s national magazine Macleans (1957). There were larger wooden ships built before 1874, but they were no longer in operation. At the time, there was also a larger vessel from New York which is discounted as a sailing ship because it was converted from a steamer.〕 The William D. Lawrence represents the pinnacle of W.D.’s career as a marine architect, businessman, and politician. He built the ship in Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia. The vessel was 263 feet long. Renowned historian Frederick William Wallace writes, :“It was a memorable event in Canadian ship-building annals when his big ship took the water, and had it been elsewhere but in a quiet little Nova Scotia town on the banks of the Shubenacadie River, there would have been a great furor, and Lawrence’s genius and skill would have been proclaimed to the four corners of the earth.”〔Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The story of the square-rigged merchant marine of British North America, the ships, their builders and owners, and the men who sailed them, London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1924 (reprinted by White Lion (London) in 1973).〕 ==Ship builder== Lawrence began his ship building career at the John Chappell shipyard in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where he designed his first ship (1849). He also worked at the Alexander Lyle shipyard in Dartmouth. Lawrence also had the opportunity to study in Boston under the great Nova Scotian ship builder Donald McKay. He returned to Nova Scotia and built two vessels close to his childhood home in Maple Grove, Nova Scotia. Then Lawrence built six more vessels in the William D. Lawrence Shipyard opposite his home in Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia. Lawrence was very successful in business. The three-year maiden voyage of the William D. Lawrence involved Lawrence being towed from Maitland to Saint John, New Brunswick. Upon the ship being fitted, Lawrence then traveled to Liverpool, England; Aden, British India (present day Yemen); Callao, Peru; Le Havre, France; St. John’s, Newfoundland, and then returned home. While in France, Lawrence successfully sued in French supreme court those who owed him money from an unexpected delay in Peru.〔William D. Lawrence: Nova Scotia Shipbuilder & Anti-Confederation Campaigner. The Complete Annotated Writings. 2010. www.lulu.com publishing.〕 During his voyage he recorded the life of sailors at sea and in port. While at sea, Lawrence records events such as catching a shark. In terms of a sailors life in port, he recorded a significant amount of their lives being intimately linked with sex trade workers. Lawrence makes significant observations about the plight of women around the world. Lawrence built eight vessels which were very profitable for him. The two last vessels he built, the Pegusus (1867) and the William D. Lawrence (1874) were the most profitable. From the first four years at sea, W.D. earned from the ''Pegusus'' a profit of $1.4 million.〔The dollar amounts in this article have been converted to reflect inflation. The Statistics Canada Currency Converter was used to establish the conversion.〕 From the first three years at sea, W.D. earned from the ''William D. Lawrence'' a profit of $1 million. After profiting from the vessel for five more years, W.D. sold the William D. Lawrence for $2.4 million. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Dawson Lawrence」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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