Biddeford History & Heritage Project

After the closure of the Perkins yard, the most prolific shipbuilder remaining in the area appears to have been Captain Richard F. C. Hartley. Hartley, the son of a sea captain and noted shipbuilder, went to sea in 1838, at the rather late age of 26. He left the sea at the outbreak of the Civil War and devoted himself to shipbuilding.

His first yard was on the Biddeford side of the river in the vicinity of the Perkins yard. Captain Hartley eventually moved to Proprietor's Wharf in Saco and organized the Saco Shipbuilding Company, where he built many fine vessels. Captain Hartley died at sea in September 1897, a passenger on board his own vessel, the schooner "Richard F. C. Hartley". He was 85.