Photograph

Thompson family, including Catherine Thompson, standing near a boat in progress.

This image has members of a family who owned the Thompson Boat Yard. Catherine Thompson seen standing on the left is holding a book showing the plans for boat construction.

Oral history interviews with the boat builders from the Annapolis Yacht Yard shared stories of a team of women who came into the yacht yard at 11 pm, after the men had left, and worked until 7 am - the graveyard shift. Each interview tells of different jobs that the women performed, including riveting, painting, and welding. Some accounts had men and women working through the night.

Several oral histories indicated a night shift at the Annapolis Yacht Yard, including Thea Alman's, wife of the owner of the yacht yard, Erick Alman. Howard Janz, Alman's brother-in-law, confirmed to there being a riveting crew at nighttime, yet no official record has been found in the Annapolis Maritime Museum archives.