Submarine Boat Corporation (Electric Boat)

Product Details

Beautifully engraved antique stock certificate from the Submarine Boat Corporation dating back to the 1920's. This document, which is signed by the company President and Assistant Treasurer, was printed by the American Bank Note Company and measures approximately 11 1/2" (w) by 7 1/2" (h).

This certificate's vignette features a submarine on open waters.

Images

Historical Context

John Holland founded the Electric Boat Company in 1899 to build submarines. After Hollands death in 1914, Electric Boat reorganized and the name was changed to Submarine Boat Corporation.

With the likelihood of the United States becoming involved in World War I in 1917, the Submarine Boat Corporation decided to commit its resources to building disposable cargo vessels instead of submarines, and leased a large shipyard in Newark, New Jersey (Newark Bay) to build at least 30 ships. The company soon realized the decision to build cargo vessels instead of submarines was a mistake, but the war ended before they could complete setting up for submarine production.

This costly mistake nearly bankrupted the company, and after another reorganization in 1923, the name of the company was changed back to the Electric Boat Company, with headquarters in Groton, Connecticut.

The Submarine Boat Corp. continued in business for some years thereafter. While it made money during the War, it made a permanent dive into the sea of losses in 1925. In 1929 Submarine Boat, still submerged in losses, crashed into a receivership. The Transmarine Line was a subsidiary of Submarine Boat Corp. which emerged from this wreckage. It operated 22 freight vessels in the well-served intercoastal route, though they were withdrawn from service in 1928 and anchored at Port Newark. In July 1931 they were sold into the fold of the big Dollar Line fleet for $400,000.

In January 1923, the Newton Amusement Corporation awarded a construction contract for a stadium-type theater, capable of seating 1,000 people, to William Houghton. It was designed in "Colonial Style" by Reilly & Hall of New York. Load-bearing columns, consisting of 50 tons of steel supplied by the Submarine Boat Corporation of Newark, made the building of "the safest type known to modern engineering science."

Today, the company is known as the General Dynamics Corporation.