Merritt Chapman And Scott Leader In Marine Salvage

Merritt Chapman & Scott was a marine salvage and construction firm of America. The company was formed by Israel Merritt in the 1860s. The companys operations were expanded around the globe. The company was taken over in the 1950s, by the corporate raider Louis E. Wolfson. The company stopped operating in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Merritt-Chapman & Scott was primarily called Merritt Salvage in 1860, when it started its operations. During that time the marine operations were very dangerous and risky. There was unreliability of equipments and doom caused by wreckers. There was no commercial diving mechanism and the salvage operations were of great necessity. Thus, Israel Merritt formed the company to operate in this nascent industry. The company was named as The Black Horse of the Sea, as it adopted a house flag with a black horse in full gallop on a white base.
The company grew and expanded continuously and merged with other firms to expand their scope of operations. The company also got involved in marine construction and acquired a large number of boats and steam derricks. By the late 1800s the Merritt-Chapman & Scott acquired great experience in maritime investigation and superior knowledge in determining causes for wrecks and explosions. The firm had earned considerable reputation for expertise in maritime salvage. The New York papers reported the firms findings as definitive on the subject. The firm successfully determined the causes for the explosion of the USS Maine in the harbor of Havana, Cuba in 1898. An investigation probed that the explosion was external and this incident became the main cause of Spanish American War.
During the World War I in 1917, the Merritt-Chapman & Scott sold its ships to the Navy and purchased them back after the end of war. During the 1920s the company was primarily involved in the Diving operations and had built high reputation of its skilled artisans. In the 1930s the company expanded further and acquired many companies. The company entered into construction projects, which used their expertise in underwater; pile driving, concrete setting, foundation construction and diving.
Merritt-Chapman & Scotts projects were the prestigious Waldo-Hancock Bridge in 1931, Bucksport, Maine; the Marquette Ore Docks in 1931, the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway Hunting Creek Bridge in 1932. They even sunk an old destroyer (USS Moody) for the MGM film Hell Below in 1983. The firm was acquired by Louis E. Wolfson in the year 1951.
Louis was a corporate raider. The takeover posed several problems. A large number of stockholders suits were filed against the take over. Without faltering the company continued to be involved in a large number of projects during 1950s. The most important project of this era was a contract to build the foundation, which led to the construction of Mackinac Bridge across the Mackinac Strait. During 1960s Merritt-Chapman & Scott faced hard times but continued working. Wolfson made many mistakes in order to expand fast and as a result, sold some subsidiaries to cover losses. The operations of the company stopped during the late 1960s. Some of its operations were taken over by Murphy Pacific. Merritt Chapman