<P> Tools used included the mallets and iron s . Mallets were usually 16 inches from end to end with the handle bar usually being about 16 inches . The material that was hammered in between each of the planks was typically oakum, a kind of hemp fiber . There were oftentimes 2 - 3 layers of this oakum fiber placed in between the planks . Putty would be put on afterwards to finish off the waterproofing . Tar, which also came from the thousands of trees available, was oftentimes spread over the top of these planks and they were covered with copper plating . Copper was used because without it the ship's hull would often get infected with worms . The copper was fastened to the ship with bronze nails . The ships were oftentimes painted yellow, to help make the ship appear faster and newer . </P> <P> The early wooden vessels worked for business angling and remote exchange likewise offered ascend to an assortment of subordinate exchanges and commercial enterprises in the zone, including sail making, chandleries, rope strolls and marine railroads . Shipyards in Essex and Suffolk regions are credited with the development of the conventional American dory and constructed those that included the prestigious Gloucester, Massachusetts angling armada, freed the settlements from British guideline, reinforced the vendor and maritime armadas that made the United States a force to be reckoned with and assumed essential parts in World War I and World War II . Numerous vessels incorporated into this schedule were either developed in Massachusetts or are illustrative of the sorts of vessels manufactured and repaired in Massachusetts shipyards . </P> <P> In the American colonies shipbuilding had an immense impact on the economy . The colonies had a comparative advantage in shipbuilding with their vast natural resources, skilled craftsmen and capital infused from the British empire . The colonies' ability to build ships with their large timber stock flooded the economy with capital from Britain it had not previously seen . Boston, Massachusetts became the central point for the boom of shipbuilding because it was the main distribution point for most of the shipping tonnage . The shipbuilding industry needed plenty of skilled labor to support it and with America's large forest industry many craftsmen already had skills working with wood . These skills transitioned to the shipbuilding industry . </P> <P> The introduction of British credit and complicated account balancing during King William's War, in the 1690s, changed how Boston merchants financed the shipbuilding industry . As British credit flowed into the community, Boston merchants began creating long - term credit arrangements with waterfront tradesmen and other skilled laborers . Local labor and exchanges of goods could be sustained across scores of people linked with myriad small amounts of credit and debit without cash . But the shipbuilding industry generated the labor and capital necessary for merchants to create far larger and more intricate financial networks that solidified their position of power within both the local and the Atlantic economy . The extension of credit to a large portion of society helped spur the shipbuilding boom period from 1700 - 1717 . </P>

Shipbuilding was done in what area of the colonies