VAN SANT SHIPYARDS

MANAHAWKIN

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VAN SANT SHIPYARDS

MANAHAWKIN

Either Joel Van Sant I worked at a shipyard in Manahawkin or he operated a shipyard there. Records show that his daughter, Madaline or Adaline, was born there in 1852. Also, another daughter, Catherine Elizabeth, was born in Manahawkin in the year 1855. Furthermore, Joel's daughter Lydia married John Randolph in Safford Township on September 11, 1857. Records show that Joel Van Sant, a ship's carpenter and father of the bride, was at that time a resident of Manahawkin. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Joel either worked or operated a shipyard there from a period of time before 1852 to a time after 1857.

Apparently one of the ships built by Joel I at that time was named for himself or for his son, Joel II. An old sea chantey, known to residents of Manahawkin, includes the name Joel Van Sant. The chantey was brought to the attention of the author by Joe Oliphant in the fall of 1979 at the 50th reunion of Tuckerton High School, which was held in Manahawkin. A part of the chantey is as follows:

Henry Taylor to New York went

Hired by Benny Oliphant

To bring the good ship "Joel Van Sant"

Back to Hawkin.

Next morning at the rise of sun

They saw they were off of Cedar Run

Dave White the second mate

Couldn't tell a flat from codfish bait.

That is all of the chantey that Joe Oliphant could remember, and no other person contacted in Manahawkin could remember more of the chantey.

As a young boy, I recollect my father, Joel III, showing me how sailors used to chant while hoisting a sail or performing other ship duties when teamwork was required. He sang parts of the same chantey presented above, but I never wrote it down on paper. My father told me at the time that there actually was a schooner named"Joel Van Sant". It was the custom during that period of time for shipbuilders and owners to name their ships for members of the family or friends of the family.

Boat House Knoll (See map) was possibly the location of the Manahawkin shipyard. Willever Bennett, a friend of Joe Oliphant, relates that his father, when he was a young man, used to sail on ships that were built at this location. Ships built on the knoll could be launched only when storm tides were high. After the launching, the ships were pulled to open water by horses.

Bay Avenue was built right over the old shipyard site. Bennett's father said that the shipyard was situated on an old Indian burial mound. When the road was constructed, several Indian skeletons were exhumed. Also, when the road was graded, tar and oakum was found in the diggings, indicating the former location of boat building activities.

Bennett remembers a story about an old man who worked at the shipyard caulking seams. It seems he caulked his long whiskers in with the oakum. Joe Oliphant says, "When I was a young man, my father harvested salt hay, and I was told that his thirty foot scow was built on that site."

Joel Van Sant I

Born Nov. 22, 1811 in Wrangleboro, N.J.

Died Nov. 5, 1895 in Lower Bank, N.J.

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