the company, the Ashland and Ocean, were two of the earliest iron steamboats to be constructed in the United States. They were delivered to George Aspinwall of Philadelphia in 1844. That same year the company built the Bangor, which is credited with being the first seagoing iron propeller steamship built in the United States. In 1897, the company designed the first steam pilot boat in the New York harbor, the New York. By the early 1850s the company began to rely less on wood ship or railcar building for its income. Machine shops, office buildings, wharves, carpenter sheds, boiler shops, blacksmith shops and cranes were added in the first five years of the decade. As the firm's reputation grew, more orders for steamboats came in from across the country. Charles Morgan, a New York shipping magnate, purchased his first ship from Harlan in 1856. Morgan would eventually become one of the largest customers for Harlan & Hollingsworth, ordering over 31 vessels by 1878. Business growth This chart give an indication of the economic progress of the company from 1836 to 1860: (Society of Naval Architects, 1943) Civil War Harlan and Hollingsworth was, by the time of the American Civil War, the dominant iron shipbuilder in Wilmington, and the most prolific iron shipbuilder in the United States. By 1860 the company had built 75 iron hulls, mostly steamships along with a handful of barges. (Brown, 1951) During the Civil War the company won contracts for the construction of three monitors for the government (Patapsco, Saugus, and Napa). The Navy, however, ordered many last-minute design changes to these vessels resulting in delays while the changes were incorporated into the construction. The extra expenses incurred reduced profits, and as a result the company became reluctant to bid on government contracts. In 1863, Jacob Sharp left their employ to form Jackson & Sharp, another car-building firm, with Job Jackson. Postwar In 1866 Elijah Hollingsworth died in a shipyard accident. His death greatly affected Samuel Harlan, so that shortly thereafter the partnership was dissolved and the enterprise incorporated as The Harlan & Hollingsworth Company. Harlan & Hollingsworth thrived despite competition from Jackson & Sharp and other Wilmington yards, in part because of their diversified production of railroad car building and shipbuilding. However, the Panic of 1873 and the death of Charles Morgan (their largest customer) induced the company to undertake government contracts again. These included