Defoe Shipbuilding Company as a Presidential Yacht. It was called the "Barbara Anne" by President Eisenhower after his granddaughter, the "Honey Fitz" by President Kennedy in honor of his maternal grandfather John Francis Fitzgerald, and the "Tricia" by President Nixon after his daughter. In 1941, the name of the company was changed to Defoe Shipbuilding Company. During World War II, all production went to the war effort. From 1939 to 1945, the company built 154 ships, including four s, 13 destroyer escorts, 11 destroyer transports (converted destroyer escorts), patrol craft, and numerous landing craft of various types. The brand-new Defoe family yacht even
Henry Fitz Civil War it was stolen for scrap brass. The Haverford College in Pennsylvania purchased an eight-inch (203 mm) refractor telescope from Fitz in 1852. The West Point Academy purchased from Fitz in 1856 a refractor telescope costing $5,000. After his death his wife recalls Fitz making doublet lenses, with the flint element ground from the bottom of a tumbler and the crown element made from plate glass. The original workshop of Fitz’s is now in storage at the U.S. National Museum of American History. Fitz’s telescope business was successful, so in 1863 he was in the process of building a