History
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 62 ft Fifie fishing boat. In 1908 he fitted a four-cylinder Kelvin paraffin engine in a 40 ft 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 closed in 1992 after the launch of the second of two small ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne. The shed remained derelict until demolished in late 2009, having been damaged by a storm the year before. [2]
A yacht is a sail- or motor-propelled watercraft 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.
Anstruther is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and 9 mi (14 km) south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a stream, the Dreel Burn. With a population of 3,500, it is the largest community on the Firth of Forth's north-shore coastline known as the East Neuk. To the east, it merges with the village of Cellardyke.
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.
Merritt Boat & Engine Works, sometimes abbreviated as Merritt's, is a yacht builder and boat yard headquartered in Pompano Beach, Florida. Together with Rybovich, Merritt is respected as one of the most historically significant Florida custom sport fishing boat builders.
The Fifie is a design of sailing boat developed on the east coast of Scotland. It was a traditional fishing boat used by Scottish fishermen from the 1850s until well into the 20th century. These boats were mainly used to fish for herring using drift nets, and along with other designs of boat were known as herring drifters.
The Scottish Fisheries Museum is a museum in Anstruther, Fife, that records the history of the Scottish fishing industry and its people from earliest times to the present day.
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.
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
The Electric Launch Company, later renamed Elco Motor Yachts ("Elco"), is an American boat building and electric motor company that has operated from 1893 to 1949 and from 1987 to the present.
Alexander Robertson & Sons was a boatyard in Sandbank, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, from 1876 to 1980. The yard was located on the shore of the Holy Loch, not far from the Royal Clyde Yacht Club (RCYC) at Hunters Quay, in the building that is now the Royal Marine Hotel, which was the epicentre of early Clyde yachting. Alexander Robertson started repairing boats in a small workshop at Sandbank in 1876, and went on to become one of the foremost wooden boatbuilders on Scotland's River Clyde. The "golden years" of Robertson's yard were in the early 1900s, when it started building some of the first IYRU 12mR & 15mR racing yachts. Robertson's was well known for the quality of its workmanship and was chosen to build the first 15-metre yacht designed by William Fife III. More than 55 boats were built by Robertson's in preparation for the First World War and the yard remained busy even during the Great Depression in the 1930s as many wealthy businessmen developed a passion for yacht racing on the Clyde. During World War II the yard was devoted to Admiralty work, producing a wide range of large high-speed Fairmile Marine Motor Boats. After the war, the yard built the successful one-class Loch Longs and two 12-metre challengers for the America's Cup: Sceptre (1958) and Sovereign (1964). Due to difficult business conditions, the Robertson family sold the yard in 1965, and it was turned over to glass-reinforced plastic production work until it closed in 1980. During its 104-year history, Robertson's Yard built 482 numbered boats, many of which are still sailing today.
McTay Marine was a shipbuilder in Bromborough, Merseyside from 1974 to 2016.
George Lawley & Son was a shipbuilding firm operating in Massachusetts from 1866 to 1945. It began in Scituate, then moved to Boston. After founder George Lawley (1823–1915) retired in 1890, his son, grandson and great-grandson upheld the business, which continued until 1945. Of the hundreds of ships built by the Lawleys, highlights include the yachts Puritan and Mayflower, respective winners of the 1885 and 1886 America's Cup.
Excelsior is an authentically restored fishing smack of the Lowestoft fishing fleet and a member of the National Historic Fleet. She was built by John Chambers of Lowestoft in 1921 and worked until 1936 before being converted into a motor coaster.
Robert Logan Senior (1837–1919) was a boat builder and the founder of the Logan boat building and boat designing dynasty.
Hodgdon Yachts is a builder of yachts and specialized military vessels, based in East Boothbay, Maine. It is a family-run business that was founded in 1816—the oldest continuously operating family boatbuilder in the United States, antedating the Burger Boat Company in Wisconsin. Hodgdon Yachts is noted for building superyachts, both sail and power, using advanced composite materials and construction techniques. It's also noted for its ability to incorporate those advanced materials into traditional designs that employ modern electronic and mechanical marine systems. The company has several divisions—yachts, custom tenders, yacht interiors, yacht services and military composites with offices in Boothbay, Maine, Newport, Rhode Island and Monaco.
J and C Carmichael was founded in 1810 at Ward Foundry, Session Street, Dundee, Scotland. The partners were James Carmichael (1776–1853) and his younger brother Charles Carmichael (1782–1843).
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, a 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.
Camper and Nicholson was a yacht design and manufacturing company based in Gosport, England, for over two hundred years, constructing many significant vessels, such as Gipsy Moth IV and Prince Philip's yacht Bloodhound. Its customers included Thomas Sopwith, William Kissam Vanderbilt II and George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough. Its yachts competed in The America's Cup, The Fastnet Race, the Olympics, the Ocean Race and many other yacht races. It also built a number of small warships, notably during the two World Wars, and some as late as the 1950s.
