The 1849 Directory of Biddeford and Saco reports that during the years 1845-1848, the Edmund and Elisha Perkins yard built 10 vessels totaling 3,695 tons; while the custom house records mention only four vessels totaling 630 tons. This is a good example of the limits of the custom house records.
The explanation is that the larger vessels were built either for outside owners or for registry and operation outside the local port, and would be recorded at those districts. Examples of this include Biddeford built vessels found in the New York registry of 1875 (sloop "Richard McManus" - 824 tons, built by Perkins in 1864); and the Brunswick registry of 1875 (ship "Priscilla" - 954 tons, built by Perkins in 1865).
