Sag Harbor Yacht Yard was first established in 1797 as Rysam's Boat Yard.  The owner's first job was to build the 200 ton brigantine, "Merchant".  The yard went on to build many more ships for the trades.  As the Whaling industry came into its own, Capt. Rysam was right there building and outfitting his own whalers as well as those of other Sag Harbor captains and companies.  These whalers took advantage of the whaling grounds off of Brazil.

 

The Yard continued to play an important part of the maritime industry of the day.  It built the cutter USS Spark (1813).  A 103', 310 ton brig, that eventually found its way to the Mediterranean to fight the Barbary Pirates.  Afterward, it sailed back to the Caribbean to supress the pirates there, where she was successful in capturing a number of pirate ships and their crews.

 

The Yard continued on through the 1800's building coastal cruisers and maintaining the same.  As WWI and WWII came about the yard was pressed into service for the Navy, outfitting minesweepers and helping in the development of torpedoes.