Lobnitz & Company (established with William Simons & Co.) was a Scottish shipbuilding company located at Renfrew on the River Clyde, west of the Renfrew Ferry crossing and east of the confluence with the River Cart. The Lobnitz family lived at Chapeltoun House in East Ayrshire. The company built dredgers, floating docks, fishing boats, tugboats and workboats.
The company was descended from Coulburn Lobnitz & Company, established in 1874, and the adjacent shipyard of William Simons & Co, established in 1860. Coulborn Lobnitz had in turn evolved from the 1847 firm of James Henderson & Son, at Ship dock, Renfrew, which became Henderson, Coulborn & Co. In 1874, Lobnitz took over the business, which was renamed Lobnitz, Coulborn & Co. Both builders specialised in the construction of dredgers and hopper barges. The two companies amalgamated in 1957 as Simons-Lobnitz Ltd. Faced with declining business the Renfrew yard finally closed in 1964, [1] after some 1300 dredgers as well as barges and tugs had been built at the site. One late example survives: SS Shieldhall was built as a Clyde sludge boat in 1954 with reciprocating steam engines, and now operates as a pleasure cruiser on the Solent. Also still afloat is the William C. Daldy a steam tug operating as a pleasure vessel in Auckland, New Zealand, where she sailed from the Clyde in 1935/6.
In addition, over sixty minor war vessels (sloops, corvettes, minesweepers and boom defence vessels) were constructed by Lobnitz at Renfrew between 1915 and 1945 for the Royal Navy. One of these, HMS Saxifrage, was built in 1918 as a Flower-class sloop, which was the first class of purpose-built anti-submarine warships. She was renamed HMS President in 1921 and served as the London Division Royal Naval Reserve training ship until 1988, before being sold into private ownership. She survives near Blackfriars Bridge on the Victoria Embankment of the River Thames in London, as one of only three remaining World War I British warships.
The company's goodwill and orders were purchased in 1964 by Alexander Stephen and Sons, which merged into Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in 1968. Simons-Lobnitz re-emerged from the collapse of UCS in 1971 and continues to operate as a marine engineering and naval architecture consultancy based in Paisley, now called Lobnitz Marine Holdings.
Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, when that side of the business was separated and became part of the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage & Wagon Company.
The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek at its confluence with the River Thames, at Leamouth Wharf on the west side and at Canning Town on the east side. Its main activity was shipbuilding, but it also diversified into civil engineering, marine engines, cranes, electrical engineering and motor cars.
Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also operated the nearby Govan shipyard since 1999.
The Algerine-class minesweeper was a large group of minesweepers built for the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the Second World War. 110 ships of the class were launched between 1942 and 1944.
John Laird was a British shipbuilder and key figure in the development of the town of Birkenhead. He was the elder brother of Macgregor Laird. He was one of the first to use iron in the construction of ships.
The twenty-eight Anchusa-class sloops were built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I as the final part of the larger "Flower class", which were also referred to as the "Cabbage class", or "Herbaceous Borders".
The Arabis class was the third, and largest, of the five sub-classes of minesweeping sloops completed under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I. They were part of the larger "Flower class" shipbuilding project, which were also referred to as the "Cabbage class", or "Herbaceous Borders". The ships were also used outside their minesweeping duties as patrol vessels, tugs, and personnel and cargo transports.
The Aubrietia-class sloops were a class of twelve sloops built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I as part of the larger Flower class. They were also referred to as the "cabbage class", or "herbaceous borders". The Flowers were the first ships designed as minesweepers.
Henry Robb, Limited, known colloquially as Robbs, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based at Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Robbs was notable for building small-to-medium sized vessels, particularly tugs and dredgers.
Fleming and Ferguson was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1877 and 1969.
Neafie, Levy & Co., commonly known as Neafie & Levy, was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shipbuilding and engineering firm that existed from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Described as America's "first specialist marine engineers", Neafie & Levy was probably the first company in the United States to combine the building of iron ships with the manufacture of steam engines to power them. The company was also the largest supplier of screw propellers to other North American shipbuilding firms in its early years, and at its peak in the early 1870s was Philadelphia's busiest and most heavily capitalized shipbuilder.
Abels Shipbuilders Ltd was a ship and boat builder in Bristol, England. In addition to boat building, the company branched out into architectural sculptures, tidal energy and marine restoration, but closed in 2016.
John H Amos is a paddlewheel tugboat built in Scotland in 1931. The last paddlewheel tug built for private owners, now owned by the Medway Maritime Trust. She is one of only two surviving British-built paddle tugs, the other being Eppleton Hall preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California.
Alexander Hall and Sons was a shipbuilder that operated in Aberdeen from 1797 to 1957. They designed the pointed and sharply raked Aberdeen bow" first used on the Scottish Maid and which became a characteristic of the "extreme clippers". They primarily produced schooner and later clipper ships until the 1870s. They were the largest firm of shipbuilders during the final stages of the age of sail.
The Great Western Railway's ships operated in connection with the company's trains to provide services to Ireland, the Channel Islands and France. Powers were granted by Act of Parliament for the Great Western Railway (GWR) to operate ships in 1871. The following year the company took over the ships operated by Ford and Jackson on the route between Wales and Ireland. Services were operated between Weymouth, the Channel Islands and France on the former Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company routes. Smaller GWR vessels were also used as tenders at Plymouth and on ferry routes on the River Severn and River Dart. The railway also operated tugs and other craft at their docks in Wales and South West England.
John Payne Ltd was a shipbuilder in Bristol, England, who built coastal colliers and cargo ships, and small craft such as tugs, during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Steamboat services started on the Thames in around 1815 and for nearly 25 years were the main use of steam to carry passengers before the emergence of railways in the south of England. During this time at least 80 steamers are recorded in the Thames and the Steamboat Act of 1819 became the first statute to regulate the safety of the new technology for the public. Wooden boats driven by paddle-wheels, they managed during this time to establish themselves as faster and more reliable than the earlier use of sailing and rowing boats for passenger transport within the Thames estuary.
Mayflower is a steam tug built in Bristol in 1861 and now preserved by Bristol Museums Galleries & Archives. She is based in Bristol Harbour at M Shed. She is the oldest Bristol-built ship afloat, and is believed to be the oldest surviving tug in the world.
Bow, McLachlan and Company was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1872 and 1932.
Anthony Inglis, (1813–1884) was a Scottish journeyman blacksmith, engineer and shipbuilder who set-up and managed the well known shipyard A. & J. Inglis in Pointhouse Glasgow together with his brother John Inglis.
Shipyards of the Clyde | |
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