A native of North Yarmouth, Maine, after retiring from the seas he became a noted shipwright, owner of one of the four main shipyards of Yarmouth harbor during the town's peak shipbuilding years of 1850–1875.

[2] After a successful career as a sea captain, he became a shipwright after returning to shore full-time.

He formed the shipbuilding company Blanchard Brothers, with his sons Paul, Sylvanus Cushing and Perez,[4] which was in operation between 1857 and 1893.

[5] Under master builder Joseph A. Seabury,[6] among the ships his company built was Admiral, Commodore, S. C. Blanchard (captained by Frank L. Oakes, husband of his granddaughter Frances), Pacific, Star and Detroit.

The home passed to one of his sons, and is today known as the Captain Sylvanus Cushing House.