The great timbers for the ship’s hull were cut in the “wood lots” of Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and other nearby towns of Essex county and hauled through the snowy streets of Salem on sleds drawn by slow-moving oxen, while the people cheered them as they passed. The keel of the frigate was laid on the 13th of April, 1799, and she was launched five months and seventeen days later, on the 30th of September, Master Builder Briggs saving his reputation as a prophet by the narrowest possible margin.
The Essex was a Salem ship from keel to truck. Her cordage was made in three rope walks. Captain Jonathan Haraden, the most famous Salem privateersman of the Revolution, made the rigging for the mainmast at his factory in Brown Street. Joseph Vincent fitted out the foremast and Thomas Briggs the mizzenmast in their rigging lofts at the foot of the Common. When the huge hemp cables were ready to be carried to the frigate, the workmen who had made them conveyed them to the shipyard on their shoulders, the procession led by a fife and drum. Her sails were cut from duck woven for the purpose at Daniel Rust’s factory in Broad Street, and her iron work was forged by the Salem shipsmiths. Six months before she slid into the harbor her white oak timbers were standing in the woodlands of Massachusetts.
The glorious event of her launching inspired the editor of the Salem Gazette to this flight of eulogy:
“And Adams said: ‘Let there be a navy and there was a navy.’ To build a navy was the advice of our venerable sage. How far it had been adhered to is demonstrated by almost every town in the United States that is capable of floating a galley or a gunboat.
“Salem has not been backward in this laudable design. Impressed with a sense of the importance of a navy, the patriotic citizens of this town put out a subscription and thereby obtained an equivalent for building a vessel of force. Among the foremost in this good work were Messrs. Derby and Gray, who set the example by subscribing ten thousand dollars each. But alas, the former is no more—we trust his good deeds follow him.
“Such was the patriotic zeal with which our citizens were inspired, that in the short space of six months they contracted for the materials and equipment of a frigate of thirty-two guns, and had her complete for launching. The chief part of her timber was standing but six months ago, and in a moment as it were, ‘every grove descended’ and put in force the patriotic intentions of those at whose expense she was built.
“Yesterday the Stars and Stripes were unfurled on board the frigate Essex and at 12 o’clock she made a majestic movement into her destined element, there to join her sister craft in repelling foreign aggressions and maintaining the rights and liberties of a ‘Great, Free, Powerful and Independent Nation.’
“The concourse of spectators was immense. The heart-felt satisfaction of the beholders of this magnificent spectacle was evinced by the concording shouts and huzzas of thousands which reiterated from every quarter.
“The unremitting zeal of Mr. Briggs, the architect of this beautiful ship, cannot be too highly applauded. His assiduity in bringing her into a state of such perfection in so short a time entitles him to the grateful thanks of his Country and we fondly hope his labors have not been spent in vain, for we may truly say that he has not ‘given rest to the sole of his foot’ since her keel was first laid. At least he will have the consolation of reflecting on the important service he has rendered his country in this notable undertaking.”
The guns of the frigate had been planted on a nearby hill, and as she took the water they thundered a salute which was echoed by the cannon of armed merchant vessels in the harbor. This famous frigate, literally built by the American people, their prayers and hopes wrought into every timber of her with the labor of their own hands, cost a trifle less than $75,000 when turned over to the Government. The Essex was a large vessel for her time, measuring 850 tons. She was 146 feet in length “over all,” while her keel was 118 feet long. Her beam was 37 feet and her depth of hold 12 feet 3 inches. The height between her gun deck and lower deck was only 5 feet 9 inches. Her mainmast was 85 feet long with a head of 12 feet. Above this was a topmast 55 feet long with a head of 7½ feet, and towering skyward from the topmast her topgallant mast of 40 feet with a head of 15 feet. Her mainyard was 80 feet long.