WNY mechanics and laborers like most of the workers in the early republic worked long hours. As per diem employees they had no job security and were paid only for time worked. Like other manual workers, they worked "dark to dark" six days per week being the general rule; or about twelve hours in summer and nine hours or so in winter. Especially in the early years, WNY shipbuilding and repair was seasonal with significant reductions in staffing levels during December, January and February. Also, the period of 1799-1820 coincides with the end of the "little ice age". One reason Michael Shiner's Diary is so replete with descriptions of weather is that if the Potomac River or its tributaries froze or there was deep snow, most work for Shiner and his WNY colleagues simply stopped. As mentioned above, winter and especially a very cold winter, usually led to mass layoffs as only the most essential crews would be kept working. Boat building often took place in a covered ship house while the Dry Dock work was exposed to the elements.

      In addition, the wages of those fortunate enough to be kept on were often a constant factor in scheduling work for less money, and meant that constant factor in scheduling work for less money, and meant that fewer naval ships were repaired and invariably, fewer mechanics and laborers were on the Yard payrolls. Weather conditions, and especially any cutbacks in annual naval appropriations, made the workforce particularly vulnerable to economic downturn and prolonged unemployment, which rapidly led men to destitution. Most Yard workers had little savings on which to fall back and imprisonment for debt within the District of Columbia continued as a daily reality and was experienced by hundreds each year. Many WNY workers including Tunis Craven, Commodore Thomas Tingey's son-in-law, spent time in the D.C. debtor's prison.
See article on debt and District of Columbia Debtors Prison

      This WNY department account book was probably required to fulfill mandates for information generated by Board of Navy Commissioners 1815 -1842. The Board had a an authorization to evaluate all the United States Navy Yards, and constantly asked the Commandment of the Washington Navy Yard, Commodore Thomas Tingey to furnish periodic reports on civilian manpower usage. Shortly after its creation, the Board had begun to move toward designating WNY as a manufacturing center for certain types of naval supplies and ordnance. By the 1820's, the Yard officers and master mechanics had begun to track shop work and production. These records while by no means the detailed worker productivity reports that Frederick W. Taylor's envisioned in his Scientific Management, represent one of the earliest Department of the Navy efforts to systematize and centralize the reporting of ship yard production. Today, anyone who reads Commandant Thomas Tingey's letters to the Secretary of the Navy , can see that the Board's creation and its oversight role for federal ship yards must have made the old Commandant's position somewhat complicated as the requirements for information evolved placing evermore demands and restrictions on the old Commodore's independence and discretion.

      One important fact that gave great urgency for the WNY to produce small boats during the 1820's, was the increasing amount of piracy. Piracy developed out of the rapid growth of American commerce in Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Gulf waters after the War of 1812 and spurred wide-spread raids on shipping. The pirate activities by the early 1820's had become so open, bold, and flagrant, that the public cried for action. During this decade there were nearly 3,000 corsair attacks alone on American and European merchant ships. During these years, millions of dollars in cargo and shipping was lost, American crews and passengers were often held captive, and in some cases, tortured or killed. Finally, the staggering financial loss spurred the nation to action. In 1822, the United States Navy formed the West India Squadron under Commodore James Biddle to meet the pirates in their own waters head on. It is also important to note that Naval units began a campaign to suppress the slave traffic pursuant to the 1819 act of Congress. Among the naval actions requiring small boat warfare during the 1820's were the following:

1822 -- Cuba. United States naval forces suppressing piracy landed on the northwest coast of Cuba and
           burned a pirate station.
1823 -- Cuba. Brief landings in pursuit of pirates occurred April 8 near Escondido; April 16 near Cayo Blanco;
           July 11 at Siquapa Bay; July 21 at Cape Cruz; and October 23 at Camrioca.
1824 -- Cuba. In October the USS Porpoise landed bluejackets near Matanzas in pursuit of pirates. This
           was during the cruise authorized in 1822.
1824 -- Puerto Rico (Spanish territory). Commodore David Porter with a landing party attacked the town
           of Fajardo which had sheltered pirates and insulted American naval officers. He landed with 200 men in
           November and forced an apology. Commodore David Porter was later court-martialed for
           overstepping his powers.
1825 ---Cuba. In March cooperating American and British forces landed at Sagua La Grande to capture pirates.
1827 --- Greece. In October and November landing parties hunted pirates on the islands of Argenteire, Miconi,
           and Androse.

Transcription Method
      This transcription was made from digital images of the WNY department account book pages dated February 2, and July 1, 1823. In transcribing these pages, I have striven to adhere as closely as possible to the original in spelling, capitalization, punctuation and abbreviation including the retention of dashes, ampersands and overstrikes. For the Dry-dock Department page of July 1, 1823 I have in the interest of brevity, transcribed only the department accounts from: 1 to 10 July 1823, plus the provided July wage rates, wage totals and transcribed the remarks for that month.The Washington Navy Yard assigned its employees as required hence employees who worked in the Boat Builders Department in February were moved to the Dry Dock Department in July 1823. I have attempted to arrange the transcribed material in a similar layout to that found on the original pages. The remarks column is most likely written by the department master mechanic or a clerk.

Appreciation:
      My thanks to Mr. Glenn Helm, Director of the Navy Library, for first alerting me to the newly discovered 1823 -1832 account book and for his extraordinary efforts over the years in making the wonderful resources of the Navy Library available to everyone.