The Moroccan navy yard at Rabat in 1815 according to James Riley

Thanks to the account of a survivor of an American shipwreck we get some information dealing with the naval shipbuilding at Morocco.

P. 243: “Rhabat is very well peopled : the whole number of its inhabitants is computed by Mr. Abouderham to exceed sixty thousand. Many of the Moors here are rich, and live in great luxury, keeping large seraglios of women, and having beautiful gardens. Vast quantities of haicks, and other woollen and cotton cloths, are here fabricated, and great quantities of sole and Morocco leather, and coarse earthen ware, such as pots, bowls, jars, &c. are also manufactured in this city. It carries on a brisk inland trade, and the Moorish inhabitants seem to be more civilized than in any other town 1 passed through. Here is the principal navy-yard of the emperor, where his ships are built; for the Moors have none for commerce. Here was one new frigate lying by the walls, partly fitted ; she appeared to be about five hundred tons burden ; was pierced for 32 guns, and the Moors said she would be ready to go round to Laresch, where their ships of war are fitted out, in two or three months : to get them over the bar at the mouth of the river, they are obliged to go out perfectly light; to buoy them up as much as possible, and lay them sideways on the bar, at high tide, and in mild weather, where they are steadied by means of cables and anchors, until the yielding sand is washed away, and they are forced over by the power of the ebb tide, which runs like a mill-race.”

Source

James Riley. An authentic narrative of the loss of the American brig Commerce: wrecked on the western coast of Africa, in the month of August, 1815. Hartford, 1836.