Henry Steers

Henry Steers (1779 in Dartmouth, England – 1850 in New York, US) was a prominent nineteenth-century American shipbuilder of English descent, and the ancestor of a line of important businessmen in various boatbuilding and maritime construction concerns.

His friend John Thomas had gone to the United States and obtained a position in the Washington Navy yard, and he wrote to Steers to join him there.

Steers and Thomas also furnished plans for the construction of an immense ship house and an inclined plane by means of which they were successful in hauling up the frigate Congress for repairs.

It consisted of rails laid on an inclined plane upon which a cradle was run for the purpose of drawing vessels up and out of the water in order to repair them.

In consideration of their enterprise, the Legislature granted to the railway company a charter for a bank to last "as long as grass grows and water runs".