Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation Stock Certificate (Maritime Salvage)

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Seller: Top-Rated Seller ghostsofwallstreet ✉️ (15,122) 100%, Location: Cold Spring, New York, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 112293880415 Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation Stock Certificate (Maritime Salvage). Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation Stock Certificate
The Coast Wrecking Company was established 1860 and reorganized as Merritt's Wrecking Organization. In 1897 it merged with Chapman Derrick & Wrecking Company to form Merritt & Chapman Derrick & Wrecking Company. The company merged again in 1922 with T.A. Scott Company to form Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation.  The 1850s and 1860s were a dangerous time for mariners and marine operations around the American continent. The transition from sail to steam with the consequent unreliability of equipment, and the growing needs of commerce to fuel US expansion meant that a large number of ships operated. Some foundered or got into trouble on their own, and some were lured to their doom by wreckers. Salvage operations were in their infancy, and commercial diving was almost unheard of. It was with this background that a number of companies started operating under law of the sea salvage rules rather than as wreckers. Israel Merritt founded Merritt Salvage in or before 1860 to operate in this nascent industry. The company continued to grow and expand the scope of operations, merging with other firms, and adopting the famous "black horse" house flag, a black horse in full gallop on a white flag. In addition to salvage operations, the company got involved in marine construction, acquiring a number of boats, and steam derricks. By the late 19th century, the firm had some experience in maritime investigation, with the ability to determine causes for wrecks and explosions. When, in 1898, the USS Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, the U.S. War department engaged Merritt-Chapman to determine whether the unknown explosion came from inside the hull or outside. Investigators decided that it was external, and attributed it to blast powder. This incident became the precipitate cause of the Spanish-American War. In 1909, the RMS Republic was struck by the SS Florida, and sank in 40 fathoms of open ocean off Nantucket, Massachusetts the next day after unsuccessful towing attempts by the MC&S Relief and other tugs, taking a rumoured 3 million in gold currency with her. Merritt-Chapman were engaged to evaluate salvage operations and whether it would be possible to raise her, or to carry out a diving salvage. It was their conclusion that operations were not possible, and the New York papers all reported the view as definitive, demonstrating that MC&S already had considerable reputation for expertise in maritime salvage. The USS Moody, a World War I vintage destroyer, obsolete, and over the London Naval Treaty limits for naval vessels, was headed for the breaking yard when MGM purchased her for approximately $35,000 to film Hell Below, a movie based on Commander Edward Ellsberg's novel Pigboats, which starred Robert Montgomery and Jimmy Durante. The Moody was towed from Mare Island to a nearby shipyard and reworked to resemble a German destroyer. To simulate her sinking by "torpedoes" by the American submarine, AL-14 (played by sub S-31), Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation were hired. A charge of dynamite was placed on board just aft of the bridge. Shortly after noon on February 21, 1933, the Moody was blown in two. The explosion was placed between two water tight compartments so she would continue to float after the explosion. Two other explosions took out the water tight bulkheads and the Moody finally sank at 5:30 PM. Several boats, many with newsmen aboard hoping to film the sinking destroyer, hovered around the film crew interfering with operations. Threats were exchanged, but the filming was done. As during World War I there was a fair bit of transference of MC&S assets to the Navy, and back again, as a result of World War II. One of the most famous salvage operations ever carried out by MC&S was the salvage of the Normandie, a French liner, the largest in the world when built, which was seized by the US after the fall of France. By 1941 the United States Navy decided to convert the Normandie into a troopship, the aptly named USS Lafayette. The ship was moored at Manhattan's Pier 88 for the conversion. On 9 February 1942, sparks from a welding torch ignited a stack of thousands of life vests filled with kapok, a highly flammable material, that had been stored in the first class dining room. The woodwork had not yet been removed, and the fire spread rapidly. The ship had a very efficient fire protection system, but it had been disconnected during the conversion. All on board fled the ship. As firefighters on shore and in fireboats poured water on the blaze, the ship developed a dangerous list to port. About 2:45 a.m. on 10 February, the Normandie capsized, crushing a fireboat. A shot of the capsized ship makes a brief cameo appearance towards the end of Alfred Hitchcock's film Saboteur. The ship was righted in 1943 by Merritt-Scott & Chapman in the world's most expensive salvage operation, but it was subsequently determined that the cost of restoring the liner was too great. After neither the US Navy nor the French Line offered to restore the liner, the ship's designer, Vladimir Yourkevitch, made a last-ditch proposal to cut the ship down and restore her as a mid-sized passenger liner. This, too, failed to draw backing, and the former Normandie was sold to Lipsett Inc. and scrapped in 1947. Another notable project was construction in 1942 of the Escanaba Ore Docks, Escanaba, Michigan, which were built as a backup in case the Marquette docks were sabotaged or bombed. MC&S acquired the New York Shipbuilding company at some point during the 1950s or 1960s and MC&S itself was to be taken over in 1951 by Louis E. Wolfson a renowned corporate raider of the time. The takeover was not without its problems, there were a number of stockholder suits, and eventually, further difficulties. But Merritt-Chapman & Scott was involved in a large number of projects during this decade, including the following: Washburn Tunnel Delaware Memorial Bridge John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge Walt Whitman Bridge Since the takeover, Wolfson had been stung with a dozen suits by angry investors, and in 1966 was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of fraudulent dealings in Merritt-Chapman stock. Such stock manipulations, if they occurred, are only one of Merritt-Chapman's misfortunes under Wolfson. Another is that he tried to build up and broaden the company too fast. Acquisitions such as the unprofitable New York Shipbuilding Corp cut into profits and dividends; in 1966, there was a loss of $740,000 and no dividend at all. To halt the drain, Wolfson sold off a paint company, a small steel mill, the company's derrick division and a small shipyard, but the future was not assured. Along with its losses on operations, Merritt-Chapman also added a $3,233,000 "special charge" to the books in 1967 as a provision against losses if other properties had to be sold. However, the company did carry out significant projects in this, the last full decade of its life. These included: Throgs Neck Bridge, New York Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona Talmadge Bridge, Savannah, Georgia Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Hampton Roads New Jersey Turnpike The company ceased operation in the early 1970s. After dissolution, some operations were taken over by Murphy Pacific.
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