Dear Diana, In The History of Newburyport Massachusetts 1764 - 1905, wriiten by John J. Currier , originally published in two volumes, Vol/ I in 1906 and Vol/ II in 1909, this a a facsimile edited by D'Arcy Van Bokkelen, New Hampshire Publishing Co, Southworth 1977; Chapter XII Shipyards, Ship Owners and Shipbuilders, pp449 - p 450. Abel Merrill leased of the selectmen in Newburyport, in 1765, a building yard at the foot of Queen, now Market Street, where he built several vessels. [ March 19, 1765 ] Voted that the selectmen be ordered to let out to Mr. Abel Merrilll so much of the twelve rod highway at or near the upper end of Queen's Wharf, or the upper long wharf, so called, as they think can be spared. p 453. Ra;ph Cross, who owned a shipyard near the lower long wharf, died Jan. 4, 1788. His grandson, William Cross, bought, April 16, 1789, a lot of land near the foot of Merrill's Lane, now Merrill Street...........which he subsequently occupied as a shipyard.................He also built , in 1813, in company with Orlando B. Merrill ( edit note corr. sp of f.n. ), the sloop of war WASP at a yard near Moggaridges Point in the town of Newbury. I have read several differnt places that Orlando B. Merrill was responsible for the invention of the " Lift Model " concept of building ship model hulls. This can be described as the carving of a half hull model, built up in stacked layers of wood of a scaled dimension ( example ; 1/2 " equals 4 feet, or 1/8th imch scale ). The layers would de determined from the ' lines ' taken ' drawn plans at regular dimensions ( say, every four feet from the waterline, above and below. These are then stacked and secured vertically with dowels to keep them in line with one another. Then, the stepped edges of the laters are faired to a smooth hull shape. This was also the method used when there were no lines or drawings made, until after the hull had been shaped by an expert eye and hand who was creating a hull shape based on his wealth of know;ledge of the ' art ', or better yet, craft of shipbuilding. I cannot, however, say that this is the absolute truth without more scholarly research. There may well be some truth in the statements, however. Up until that time, large vessels were often built in the " Hawks Nest " manner, constructing elaborate, fully modeled, ribbed and planked scaled replicas, very minutely and often elaborately detailed works of art as well as craft. I am sure that you might be able to learn more about the Morill family from the reference dept of the Newburyport Public Library. Their historical society is not very responsive to inquiries, my experience. Newburyport is about an hour drive north of Boston. It was quite common for shipbuilders to move from the South Shore, from the cradle of American Shipbuilding her on the North River ( Hanover, Pembroke, Marshfield, Scituate ) North to Boston, Medford, furtther north to Salem and Newburyport, but also as far north as Camden, Maine. They would not, of course, have commuted, say, from Charlestown to Newburyport. They would have removed to where they found work. Hope this is of some value to you in your search. I would be interested in anything you learn about the Merrill shipbuilding family, if you don't mind. Good luck, Joe Chetwynd, Pembroke, MA