Edward A. Costigan (October 1820 – June 7, 1901), was a 19th-century Boston, Massachusettsshipbuilder. In 1858, he founded the E. A. Costigan shipyard at Commercial Street in Boston, where he built many notable pilot boats and scows. He was one of the oldest of Boston shipbuilders, being connected with shipbuilding most of his life. Costigan died in Boston in 1901.
Early life
Edward A. Costigan was born in October 1820, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.[1] At the age of 15, he joined the Fire Department and became Chief Engineer in Charlestown. He remained in the fire department for 33 years.[1]
Edward A. Costigan was one of the Boston's oldest shipbuilders being connected with shipbuilding most of his life. He did fishing work from the ages of 11 to 15 on fishing vessels catching Mackerel. He was on the 100-ton schooner Louise, which sailed from Boston to North Carolina bringing back grain. In 1841, he did his apprentice work as a shipbuilder at the Brown & Lovel shipyard in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He later worked at the Holbrook & Dickinson shipyard. In 1842, he stood on the deck of the ship Thomas H. Perkins in Medford, Massachusetts. At Holbrook & Dickinson he helped build the pilot boat Northern Light, which sailed from Boston to California on December 17, 1849.[1]
In 1858, he launched his own shipyard at 361 Commercial Street, Boston, Massachusetts, which he had for thirty years. He had a large business and employed up to 40 workmen. He built pilot boats, scows, which is a flat-bottomedbarge, and did repairing and caulking. Two pilot boats he built were the Pet and the Gracie.[2][1]
In 1876, Costigan retired from the shipbuilding business. He was a resident of Dorchester, Boston, which is a neighborhood in the city of Boston.[2] He belonged to the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, which he joined in 1884.[3]
Death
Edward A. Costigan died, at age 81, on June 7, 1901, at the Old Men's home in Boston, Massachusetts.[4]
