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Kelley. An injury in 1861 forced him to retire. Some accounts say he later went on to build vessels at other locations. The Merry & Gay yard built at least a dozen schooners at Milan during the years 1855-1857. They were also awarded a contract by the U. S. Treasury Department in 1856 for six revenue cutters - A. V. Brown, Jeremiah S. Black, Howell Cobb, John B. Floyd, Jacob Thompson and Isaac Toney. The cost was almost 60% more than expected and the yard would receive no additional government contracts. Merry & Gay ceased operations shortly thereafter. According to Richard J. Wright, Captain Henry Kelley took over the Milan yard of Merry & Gay. Merry & Gay opened a new yard at Sandusky in 1858 at the foot of Market Street. The cost over-run for the revenue cutters resulted in a lawsuit between the Treasury Department and Merry & Gay. Matters were settled in July of 1858 and the revenue cutters were brought to the Sandusky yard to be painted and sparred. George Fordham was the foreman of the new yard. When Merry and Gay discontinued building there, Fordham took over the yard under his own name, with John E. Monk as the foreman. JOHN FORDHAM (1822-1872) John Fordham was born in Pennsylvania in about 1822. He and his wife, Josephine, had a son, George. When Merry & Gay ceased operations in Sandusky, Fordham took over the yard, building under his own name. John E. Monk was brought in as his foreman. Monk was born in New York in 1836. While residing in Sandusky, he boarded at the Colton House and Scott's American. Two of the earliest vessels built by Fordham & Monk were the bark William F. Pierson in May 1859 and the tug Bonnie Boat in October of the same year. Three years later, Fordham & Monk became partners and moved their shipyard to the foot of Water Street. There they built not less than ten vessels including the stern-wheeler Young Hickory (1864) and side-wheeler Ottawa (1865). Monk went on to establish his own yard at Sandusky in about 1865. Fordham continued to build vessels under his own name until 1869. George Fordham died in 1872. JOHN E. MONK (?-1896) John E. Monk hailed from New York. He was brought in as a foreman at the Sandusky yard of John Fordham in 1856. A few years later, he and Fordham became partners in a shipyard located at the foot of Water Street. Three years later, Monk established his own shipyard at the foot of Perry Street. The side-wheel ferry General Grant and the side-wheelers Clinton, Oliver H. Perry and B. F. Ferris were built at this yard. 171