J W Miller & Sons Ltd was a boatbuilder in St Monans, Fife, Scotland for over 200 years. They produced a variety of fishing boats, yachts and motor launches. The firm built 110 Fifie yachts and was known worldwide for the quality and craftsmanship of their vessels. The yard is now closed.
The firm of James N. Miller & Sons was established in 1747, by John Miller, wheelwright and joiner of Over Kellie.[1] Up to 1888, the firm built fishing boats for St Monans, Pittenweem and Anstruther. As well as being boat builders, the firm were the local joiners and undertakers, making the coffins themselves.
James Thomson Niven Miller opened a second yard in Anstruther, where he was able to build larger Fifie fishing boats, and steam trawlers and drifters, fitted with compound steam engines. He diversified into building cargo boats, launches, fishery inspection vessels and yachts. Later, he was a pioneer for the marine internal combustion engine, installing a diesel two-stroke engine in a 62ft Fifie fishing boat. In 1908 he fitted a four-cylinder Kelvin paraffin engine in a 40ft yacht and became an agent for Kelvin engines, an agency which lasted for the lifetime of the business.[2]
Miller's played their part in the two world wars, building motor launches for the Royal Navy for use in the Near East during World War I. Between the wars, while still producing fishing boats, yacht building came into its own. From 1920 to 1939, 66 yachts were built, many to Miller's own design. Others were designed by naval architects including G L Watson and W G McBryde. A total of 59 vessels, motor torpedo boats and motor launches were built during and immediately after World War II. Post-war, a number of new fishing fleets and several large luxury yachts were built.[2] In 1957, James's grandson, Jimmy, designed the Fifie yachts, on fishing boat lines. The first, a 31 footer Royle Fifer, was taken to the 1958 Boat Show at Olympia and was sold on preview day. Up to 1969, 110 Fifer yachts were built, the largest being 45 feet, with several making Round the World trips.
Miller's remained a family business, passing through several generations. The firm was known worldwide for the quality and craftsmanship of their vessels. In 1934, brothers Tom and Willie took over the business. Their father, James, continued to run the ship chandlers - grocery store until his death in 1944. Willie designed and patented a motor driven capstan that was named 'Fifer'.[2] It was assembled in an enlarged engineer's shop, previously used to build smaller boats. Tom's son, Jimmy, served time in the boatyard, studied naval architecture, and designed many of the fishing boats built. Willie's son, Jim, like his father before him, went to Bergius in Glasgow to serve time as an engineer. However, he made his name as the Scottish and classical singer, Niven Miller and did not pursue a career in the boatyard. After Tom's death, Jimmy took his father's place in the business, with his youngest sister, Jessie working in the office. The business continued to flourish.
With the introduction of steam and motor power, fishing gear became more complex. An advertising pamphlet from 1967 has a list of the gear that Miller's made, including net winches, trawl winches and rope coilers.[3] Willie retired to New Zealand, leaving Jimmy and Jessie to carry on, but with no sons, it was the end of the Miller line. In 1972, Jimmy constructed a steel-hulled fishing boat for George Moodie of Port Seton. James McBurney of McTay Marine built the hull and Millers fitted the engine and steering gear and completed fitting out at St Monans. This was followed by the Ocean Herald for John McBain of Pittenweem, Ocean Triumph a 76 footer, for Ian Murray of Anstruther and another 76 footer for Robert Clark of North Berwick.[2]
In 1976, the company was taken over by McTay Marine, a member of the Mowlem group. Jimmy and Jessie continued to manage it for a while, but after Jimmy retired, things began to change. McTay switched to the construction of steel-hulled fishing boats. The yard has closed and lies derelict, more than 200 years of family history had come to an end.[when?][2]
Boats built
The first yacht was steam driven with a clipper bow and an overhanging stern.
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a yacht, as opposed to a boat, such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.
Fife is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.
Pittenweem is a fishing village and civil parish in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,747.
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St Monans, sometimes spelt St Monance, is a village and parish in the East Neuk of Fife and is named after the legendary Saint Monan.
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The Scottish east coast fishery has been in existence for more than a thousand years, spanning the Viking Age right up to the present day.
The Fife Coastal Path is a Scottish long distance footpath that runs from Kincardine to Newburgh along the coastline of Fife. The path was created in 2002, originally running from North Queensferry to Tayport. It was extended in 2011 with a new section running from Kincardine to North Queensferry, then again in 2012 from Tayport to Newburgh. The path, which usually takes between one week and 10 days to walk in full, now runs for 187 kilometres (116 mi). The Fife Coastal Path is managed and maintained by Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, a registered environmental charity, and is designated as one of Scotland's Great Trails by NatureScot. About 500,000 people use the path every year, of whom about 35,000 walk the entire route.
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
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Cryer & Sons or Cryer Boatworks was a wooden shipbuilding company in Oakland, California. To support the World War 2 demand for ships Cryer & Sons Company shipyard switched over to military construction and built: US Navy APC coastal transports. Cryer & Sons was started in 1907 by William Cryer, an migrant from England, in San Francisco. William Cryer first boatyard was started 1890s. Cryer & Sons boatyard first boat opened in 1907 was located at 11th Avenue, Oakland. In 1912 he move the boatyard to 1890 Dennison Street Street, Oakland at the corner of Embarcadero. The boatyard was owned and run by William Cryer's son William James Cryer, and later by his grandsons William J, Cryer III and Robert R. Cryer. Cryer & Sons built and repaired wooden powerboats and began working on steel-hulled boats in the 1960s. Many of the boats built used engines from Atlas Gas Engine Company or Standard Gas Engine Company. There is a historical marker at 2301 Embarcadero, Oakland in Union Point Park, just south of the Coast Guard Island bridge near the waterfront remains. The current site has been vacant since 1989. The main building was heavily damaged in a fire on the morning of November 13, 2020. The Cryer & Sons is and has been a site of contamination, some of the contaminated soil has been removed. Some of the land reclaimed has been used for the northern park of Union Point Park. This work has been done with the owners of the land, Measure DD, the city and the Port of Oakland. The City of Oakland had hoped to update the main Cryer & Sons building to use as a community center, but fire damage has ended that hope.
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