Ships Swindlers and Scalded Hogs: The Rise and Fall of the Crooker Shipyard in Bath Maine

Brothers William Donnell Crooker and Charles Crooker were among the most prominent mid-nineteenth-century shipbuilders in Bath Maine itself one of the most prominent shipbuilding cities in the world during that time. This colorful history of the Crookers company by the great-great grandson of William Donnell provides a thorough overview of a family its contributions to shipbuilding and the historic sweep of shipbuilding in the area as well as a fascinating glimpse into everyday life in Maine during this time. Today a small portion of Maines twenty-first-century shipbuilder Bath Iron Works occupies land that was once the Crooker yard.