CHAPTER VI.

DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NOTABLE SHIPYARDS.

Although in the preceding chapter the main directions in which progress with respect to shipyard appliances and methods of work have been outlined, the record necessarily fails to cover many minor matters which are still essential to an appreciative view of modern shipbuilding. This want cannot better be supplied than by giving detailed descriptions of some representative shipyards and engineering works throughout the principal centres. The establishments which will be selected for notice are amongst the largest in the several districts, and on the whole represent almost all that is advanced in the shipbuilding industry, while to most of them a special interest attaches through the many high-class vessels produced from their stocks for the better-known shipping lines. On such grounds it is hoped the intelligent reader will find the choice of yards—where there was no alternative but to choose—justified and fitting. Three Clyde shipyards, two on the Tyne, one on the Wear, and one at Barrow-in-Furness, will be described. The accounts are written from authoritative information specially supplied, aided and verified by personal knowledge of the works dealt with, and are chiefly concerned with the capability and arrangement of the several yards. Other matters of a more technical nature, such as the comparison of methods of work in the several districts,[31] are not dealt with. To some extent this still differs in individual yards, but modern practice is being more assimilated throughout the districts as time goes on. The first establishment dealt with will be:—

MESSRS JOHN ELDER & CO.’S SHIPBUILDING AND MARINE ENGINEERING WORKS, FAIRFIELD, GOVAN, NEAR GLASGOW.

The progress of shipbuilding and marine engineering on the Clyde may be said to include several more or less well-defined periods or stages, and the student of industrial progress must feel bound to connect with these the name of the late John Elder, a distinguished leader in these important industries, and an engineer whose improvements in the marine engine deserve to rank alongside those improvements which James Watt effected in his day. In 1852 Mr Elder joined his friend, Mr Randolph, in an established business, and shortly afterwards made preparations to add marine engineering to the mill-wright and other businesses of the firm. The new firm speedily established itself through a series of improvements, having for their object the reduction of fuel consumption on board steam vessels. In 1860 the firm commenced to build ships, and as shipbuilders and marine engineers they laboured successfully for sixteen years, building during that period 106 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 81,326 tons, and constructing 111 sets of marine engines, showing a nominal power of 20,145 horses. At this time the co-partnery contract expired, and Mr John Elder took over the entire works, carrying them on with great success until his death, which occurred in London in September, 1869, when at the early age of 45 years. After his death the business of the firm was taken up by Mr John F. Ure, Mr J. L. K. Jamieson, and Mr William Pearce, all of whom had previously achieved distinction in shipbuilding and engineering, and the efforts of these gentlemen far exceeded the success of Mr John Elder’s first firm. In 16 years, as above stated, the latter launched 106 vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 81,326 tons, and constructed 111 sets of marine engines of 20,145 nominal horse-power, whereas the new firm launched in nine years 97 vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 192,355 tons, and constructed 90 sets of marine engines of 31,193 nominal horse-power. About six years ago Mr Ure and Mr Jamieson retired from the firm, leaving Mr Pearce sole partner, and during these six years the activity and enterprise formerly characterising the firm have been worthily sustained, and the firm has kept in the very front rank. In maintaining this position, and achieving unprecedented results in the matter of swift steamships, not a little credit is due to Mr A. D. Bryce-Douglas, an engineer of well-attested skill, who wields the sceptre of authority in the engineering section.

The works, which are situated on the south bank of the Clyde at Fairfield, near Govan, occupy an area of about 70 acres, and comprise shipyard, boiler shop, engine works, and tidal basin. The disposition of the various workshops is admirable, and as these are connected with each other by a broad gauge line of rails communicating with all parts of the yard and the terminus of the Govan railway, the conveyance of raw material in the first instance, its location in whatever section of the works it may be specially designed for, and its transmission in the form of finished items of structure or outfit to the vessels of which it is to form part, are all accomplished with ease.

Entering by the south-east gate, the visitor proceeds in the direction of the business offices, his first impression probably being one of wonder at the immense quantities of iron and steel in plates and bars covering every available piece of ground, as well as the great quantity of timber of all dimensions stacked and in racks, maturing for after use. Arriving at the offices of the firm, the visitor is probably first ushered into the draughtsmen’s rooms, which, as well as a large reception-room, contain an extensive collection of models of the vessels that have been constructed by the firm. In these apartments a large staff of draughtsmen are employed in the work of designing new vessels, and making working drawings of ships already contracted for.

Following the routine of practical operations the visitor is conducted to the moulding loft, which is 320 feet long by 50 feet wide. Here the drawings of the vessels are put down full size. The term “laying off” is applied to the operation of transferring to the mould loft-floor those designs and general proportions of a ship which have been drawn on paper, and from which all the preliminary calculations have been made and the form decided. The lines of the ship and exact representations of many of the parts of which it is composed are delineated here to their actual or real dimensions, in order that moulds or skeleton outlines may be made from them for the guidance of the workmen. These lines, when completed and carefully verified, are afterwards transferred to scrieve boards, from which the frames, floors, &c., are bent. In connection with the moulding loft is a pattern shop, in which the various moulds required in “laying off” are made.

Descending to the iron-work machine shop, which measures about 1000 feet long by 150 feet wide, a scene of great activity meets the eye. Proceeding to that section where the bending blocks are situated, the operation of forming the frames of a vessel may be noticed. The bending blocks are massive iron plates weighing several tons, on which the form of the frame is marked from the scrieve boards. All over the blocks are round holes, closely spaced and equidistant, in which iron pins are placed to give the form of the frame to be bent. Long bars of angle-iron, properly heated in adjacent furnaces, are brought by the workmen to the blocks, and there the bars are bent round the pins to the form required. The half frame of a ship is thus fashioned to the proper form in little more time than it takes to describe the process. It is now allowed to cool, and it is then returned to the scrieve boards to be set or adjusted with the reverse frame, which with the floor plate go to make the frame in its finished form. While this is going on, the keel blocks are being laid in the usual manner on the building slip, and the keel, stem, and stern-posts are being forged and drilled. The keel is laid, and the frames are then set up in their places, and are kept in position by shores and ribbon pieces. The stem and stern-posts are then set up, and the work now becomes general all over the vessel. The beams previously made are put up, the bulkheads, stringer plates, and keelsons are added in due succession, and the outside shell is being fitted and riveted. Thus the full and perfect form of the vessel is gradually developed, and exhibits one of the most interesting and useful productions of man’s labour. In the bending shop alluded to are several large Gorman furnaces, 25 smithy fires for heating angle irons, several sets of plate-bending rolls, five stands of vertical drilling machines with several spindles each, a huge punching machine capable of producing ten rivet holes at each operation, squeezers, boring, planing, counter-sinking, plate-bending, plate planing, numerous punching and shearing machines, and other appliances. The motive power of this section is supplied by a powerful set of engines lately erected by the firm.

Immediately to the front of this building are the slips, which extend 1,200 feet along the Clyde, and admit of 12 to 14 vessels being proceeded with at one time. While proceeding among the slips hydraulic riveters may be observed at work on several structural features. The attention given to such machines in the preceding chapter makes further notice here unnecessary.

When a steamship leaves the ways she is towed into the firm’s tidal dock to receive the boilers and machinery. With the assistance of a pair of 80-ton sheer-legs, Messrs Elder & Co. are able to complete this part of the construction of a vessel with wonderful despatch. In connection with this section is a smithy and small mechanics’ shop, which are alongside of the wharf. Space will not permit a description of the smiths’ shop, the paint shop, riggers’ loft, plumbers’ shop, belt-makers’ shop, boat-builders’ shop, block and pattern-makers’ shop, pattern store, general store, &c., about each of which much of interest might be written.

The wood-working department, though stocked with the most approved labour-saving appliances, still affords employment to several hundreds of hands. In the saw mill, which is about 100 feet square, there are several sets of steam saw frames, circular saws, planing machines for operating on deck planks, and other tools, the producing capacity of which is very large. Adjacent to this is the spar shed, where all the spars required on board the vessels are made.

In the joiners’ shops are numerous wood-working machines, which are placed advantageously all through this department, comprising planing, morticing, and moulding machines, circular and fret saws, surface planing and jointing machines, general joiners, lathes, and a variety of other tools from the most noted makers of this class of mechanism. The cabinetmaker’s shop is a spacious one, and here the finer class of interior fittings are seen in all stages of progress. Nothing in this section seems omitted in the way of mechanical appliances to afford the utmost facility for rapid production and excellence of workmanship.

The marine engineering department of the business is conducted in an imposing pile of buildings about 300 feet square. This immense shop is 50 feet high, and is divided into four bays, or compartments, by three spacious galleries of two floors, each 30 feet wide, and extending the entire length of the building. These galleries serve the double purpose of supporting powerful travelling cranes (two of which are capable of lifting loads of 40 tons, and the other two lesser weights), and providing convenient retreats where boilermaking, copperwork, and other operations are conducted. It is doubtful if a similar collection of ponderous tools is to be found anywhere else in Great Britain. Notable among the heavy tools seen here in operation is one of enormous proportions for planing and trimming armour plates, being capable of smoothing a surface 20 feet by 6 feet. There are three self-acting screw-cutting lathes, two slotting machines of great power, a universal radial drilling machine, with a radius of 18 feet, capable of boring a hole 4 inches in diameter, through a 9 inch plate in half-an-hour; a turning lathe having a 10-ft. spindle with a diameter of 20-ins.; a planing machine which cuts either horizontally or vertically, and has a traverse of 15 feet by 12 feet; two vertical boring machines, each with a travel of 5 feet; a turning lathe 8½ feet in diameter, with a 34 feet shaft; and a terrible and mysterious-looking machine, with a metallic disc 18 feet in diameter, armed with powerful steel cutters fixed round its circumference, which takes a shaving of 2½ inches off the mass of iron upon which it is operating. This machine was the invention of the late Mr Elder’s father, and is one of the most wonderful tools in existence. Adjoining this engine shop is the forge, which, with its 50 fires, 16 steam hammers, and all the necessary appurtenances to produce forgings with despatch, is an exceedingly busy section of the works. It is 300 feet long and 100 feet wide; and being lofty, excellent ventilation is obtained.

There are three smithies of large dimensions—one being retained for heavy work, and the others for light work. In connection with the engine shop is a pattern shop which, like all the other wood-working departments of the premises, is fully provided with tools having the most modern improvements. The brass foundry is well appointed, and is arranged in two sections—one for light, and the other for heavy work. Manganese bronze propellers, of which the firm make a speciality, are made here in great numbers; the monthly output of this department amounts to 45 tons, all of which is used up in the yard, with the exception of a number of propellers which the firm supply to other shipbuilders.

The capabilities of the Fairfield establishment, it may readily be believed, are of the highest order. Scarcely anything need be said in substantiation of this, as the past few years have witnessed the continuous production from its stocks of very many steamships of the highest class, whose names have already become “household words.” Of these it may be sufficient to instance the _Arizona_, the _Alaska_, the _Austral_, the _Stirling Castle_, and the _Oregon_. Apart from these, and perhaps no less worthy examples of Fairfield work, vessels of war have been turned out to a goodly extent, as well as vessels for a great variety of trades, but it is for the fast mail and passenger steamships that the establishment is chiefly famed. Its reputation in this respect bids fair to be augmented by the production of the two powerful Cunard steamers already referred to in this work, and which are now nearing completion.

The following tabulated form shows the amount of tonnage built, and the horse-power of engines fitted, by Messrs Elder & Co. during the past fourteen years:—

+--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+ | Years. | Tonnage. | H.P. || Years. | Tonnage. | H.P. | | | Gross. |Indicated.|| | Gross. |Indicated.| +--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+ | 1870 | 22,795 | 18,139 || 1877 | 7,704 | 9,550 | | 1871 | 31,889 | 29,000 || 1878 | 18,247 | 11,750 | | 1872 | 24,510 | 22,450 || 1879 | 16,895 | 15,510 | | 1873 | 24,829 | 18,300 || 1880 | 32,775 | 38,024 | | 1874 | 31,016 | 16,110 || 1881 | 26,575 | 43,728 | | 1875 | 17,818 | 12,040 || 1882 | 31,686 | 41,192 | | 1876 | 13,533 | 16,550 || 1883 | 40,115 | 56,995 | +--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+

During ordinarily busy periods the number of operatives employed by Messrs Elder & Co. reaches six thousand. The united earnings of this great army of workmen amount to over £33,000 per month. As a further indication of the stupendousness of the works, it may be mentioned that on board a single vessel—the _Umbria_—as many as 1,200 workmen have been employed at one time. The supervision of affairs in this great establishment is, as may readily be understood, a matter necessitating numerous “heads,” “sub-heads,” and departments. The general manager in the shipyard is Mr J. W. Shepherd, a naval architect of well-approved ability.

The second of the three Clyde establishments selected for notice, and one in many ways specially noteworthy is:—

MESSRS WILLIAM DENNY & BROTHERS’ LEVEN SHIPYARD, DUMBARTON.

The firm of William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, began the business of iron shipbuilding in the year 1844, in a small yard situated on the east bank of the river Leven. To this they subsequently added the “Woodyard” on the opposite side of the river, which had been occupied for a considerable period by William Denny the elder, builder of the “Marjory,” “Rob Roy,” and many other notable craft, during the infancy of steam navigation. The composition of the firm at the outset comprised William, Alexander, and Peter, sons of the builder of the “Marjory,” but it was augmented after a time by the assumption of two other brothers, James and Archibald. The co-partnery some time after again underwent change when the two brothers Alexander and Archibald seceded, and formed small yards of their own. In 1854 the firm sustained an almost irreparable loss in the death of William, the original promoter of the concern, to whose energy and surpassing skill most of the success then attained was due. His decease was deeply lamented, not only as an irreparable family bereavement, but as a public loss. When he first devoted his energies to the formation of an iron shipbuilding concern, it was at a time of great industrial gloom in the community. With its successful establishment began a brighter era in the industrial and social history of the burgh—one which has never once been seriously interrupted, and seems only now to be approaching the “high noon” of its prosperity. Sometime subsequent to the decease of William, the co-partnery was further reduced through the death of James. For a considerable time thereafter the business was carried on by Peter alone, until in 1868 he was joined by his eldest son William, and 1871 by Mr Walter Brock—co-partner in the firm of Denny & Coy.: a distinct marine engineering business established by Peter Denny and others in 1851. Within the past three years farther accessions to the firm have been made in Mr James Denny, son of James of the original firm, and in Messrs Peter Denny, John M. Denny, and Archibald Denny, sons of Peter, and younger brothers of William, who for some time has been managing partner of the shipbuilding firm, as Mr Brock is of the engine works.

In 1867 the firm transferred their establishment to the present site on the east bank of the river Leven near its confluence with the Clyde, and under the shadow of the Castle-rock, which figures largely, alike in the scenic renown and the historic annals of Scotland. Through a most elaborate series of extensions and improvements carried out within the past two-and-a-half years, the works have been enlarged to more than double their previous dimensions, and correspondingly increased in working capability. They occupy a total area of forty-three acres, over five acres of which are taken up with wet dock accommodation, and as much as seven-and-a-half acres with workshops, sheds, and roofed spaces of various kinds. The yard has a most advantageous and extensive frontage to the Leven, which, under the provisions of a recently obtained Harbour Act, is being greatly improved as regards width and deepening. The principal launching berths, eight in number, are ranged about the centre portion of the yard’s length, and their projections into the river Leven, favoured by a bend at this part, are almost in the direct line of its course. Through the recent improvements, these berths are capable of receiving vessels of dimensions and tonnage such as the present race for big ships has not even approached. The arrangement permits of eight vessels being built of lengths ranging gradually from a maximum of 750 feet downwards. Besides these principal berths, there are spaces near the south end of the yard, where light-draught paddle-steamers and the smaller class of screw vessels are constructed and launched, or taken to pieces and shipped abroad. All the work of construction, fitting out, and putting machinery on board ship, is accomplished within the yard gates. Contributing to this result are two tidal docks, one newly formed, of over four acres in extent, and another of over an acre. The bottom of the new dock is 26 feet below the level of the yard and wharfage, affording at high tide 20 feet of water. In connection with the dock, powerful sheer-legs are being erected by Messrs Day & Summers, of Southampton, capable of lifting the enormous weight of one hundred tons. Alongside of the smaller dock are a pair of sheer-legs, capable of lifting 50 tons, with two subsidiary cranes of 10 tons each. For all purposes, either of construction or outfit of the largest vessel, these and the other enlarged resources place the firm in a position of entire independence with regard to extraneous accommodation or appliances. The engines and boilers for Messrs Denny Brothers’ vessels are invariably supplied by Messrs Denny & Company, whose large works, greatly extended within recent years, are situated further up the Leven. Along the eastern boundary of the Leven Shipyard, for over 1000 feet of its length, the joiners’ shops, blacksmiths’ shops, machine sheds, outfit stores, &c., are ranged. The joiners’ shops are most admirable for the completeness of their appointment. They occupy the ground floor and first flat of a three-storey building, 250 feet by 65 feet, forming part of the range spoken of. The machines contained in these apartments are of the newest and most approved description of both British and American make, and embrace moulding, planing, mortising, tenoning, dove-tailing, nibbling, scraping, and sand-papering machines; circular, band, and cross-cut saws; also machines for decorative carving and incising, &c., the whole being driven by a special engine of considerable power, located near the building. A large sawmill and shed, containing various wood-working machines, are situate close to the Leven, near the south end of the yard, and all the wood employed in the yard is here cut from the rough. The blacksmiths’ and angle smiths’ shops and the machine sheds are correspondingly well furnished with the most modern appliances. The former of these contain over fifty fires, and ten steam hammers, as well as verticals, lathes, &c., conveniently situated. The latter are splendidly equipped, containing several large plate rolls, planing machines, beam-bending machines, and an assortment of multiple drills and counter-sinking machines of the most modern type; also a large number of punching and shearing machines, including two man-hole punches capable of piercing 30 by 20-in. holes in plates ¾-inch thick. The plate and frame furnace, bending block, and scrive board accommodation throughout the yard, is of extent commensurate with the other features above described, all of which being of recent formation, are of the most approved and modern description.

The system of railways throughout the shipyard is of an unusually complete description. Connection is made with the main line of the North British Railway, and enters the yard on its north side, where a store-yard of about two acres affords ample storage accommodation for material in steel and iron. Leaving this and traversing the building yard throughout, the lines of railway are designed to permit of material being conveyed without retrocession to the vessel of which they are to form part, but with the stoppages necessary for their being put through the various courses of manipulation. In addition, the yard is traversed in directions and to situations inaccessible to the main lines of rails, by the narrow gauge portable system, patented by M. Decauville, which is of great service.

A special department in the establishment of Messrs Denny, and an entirely novel feature in a private shipyard, is the experimental tank, already referred to in the Chapter on scientific progress. This notable section of Messrs Denny’s works may be described as consisting of a basin 300 feet long, 22 feet wide, and containing 9 feet of water over the principal portion of its length. Around this basin are the shops and appliances for the work which has to be done—constructive, experimental, and analytical. This work on the constructive side consists of making paraffine models, which represent on an appropriate scale the ships to which the experiments have reference; the paraffine is melted, cast in a rough mould to the approximate shape, and afterwards faired off by a specially-constructed and very ingenious cutting machine. When finished the model is passed on to the second stage—the experimental. A stationary engine draws a carriage along a railway suspended above the water space, the carriage is accompanied by the model, with an attachment which allows the model to move freely, and at the same time to depend entirely for its propelling force upon a spring carried by the carriage. The extensions of this spring are measured and recorded automatically, so too are the speeds, the record being made by electric pens in the form of diagrams, on a revolving cylinder which is part of the apparatus of the carriage. The analytical work consists of obtaining from the diagrams the items of speed and propelling force, the relation between which, at all speeds for which the experiments have been made, is thus obtained. The facilities which are offered by the tank for investigating to the utmost the laws of hydrodynamics in so far as they affect, practically, the resistance of ships, is thus obvious. On the facade of the tank, fronting the public street, Messrs Denny have placed an admirably-sculptured medallion portrait of the late Mr William Froude, of Torquay, the noted experimentalist. Underneath is the following inscription:—“This facade of the Leven Shipyard Experimental Tank is erected in memory of the late William Froude, F.R.S., L.L.D., the greatest of experimenters and investigators of hydrodynamics. Born 29th November, 1811. Died 14th May, 1879.”

Telephonic communication having previously been established with advantage between Leven Shipyard and the Engine Works of Messrs Denny & Co., towards the close of 1883 a telephone exchange system was established in the shipyard, by which means twenty-six separate places are in communication with one another. These are the residences of the principal members of the firm, the manager’s house, the Levenbank Foundry, the Dennystown Forge, four stations at the Engine Works, and seventeen stations within the shipyard, representing in all from six to seven miles of line wire. The electric light has already been partially introduced into the shipyard, but steps have been taken by the firm for further extending it to the various offices, the experimental tank, the joiners’ shop, and the upholstery and decorators’ rooms, as well as providing arc lamps of great power to light up the area of the yard itself.

Besides the introduction of the electric light into their yard, Messrs Denny have formed an electrical department in connection with their works, which will not only be employed in arranging and maintaining the yard installation, but will also undertake the fitting of the electric light installations on board vessels built in the yard. To supervise and manage this important department—which, it may be remarked, is entirely novel as a branch of shipyard work—the firm have engaged the services of a skilled electrician, under whom a staff of operative electricians are employed.

On account of the increased employment it brings to their townspeople, and also doubtless on grounds of increased economy and efficiency, Messrs Denny seek to overtake, as much as possible, the entire work connected with a ship’s construction and outfit in their own establishment. Towards the close of 1881 they began the introduction of a department for the designing, decoration, and furnishing of the saloons of their vessels. This department is now of established importance in the yard, and embraces four more or less distinct branches. Firstly, the architectural and decorative designs of the various saloons are determined upon by what may be called the architectural branch, under the immediate supervision of a professionally-trained architect. The work of practically carrying out these designs is at present entrusted to three sections of workers. (1) The decorative department, proper, which overtakes the painting of the various ornamental panels, dados, friezes, &c., of the saloons, and the staining of the coloured glass used in saloon windows, skylights, doors, &c. (2) The carving department, in which the carved work fitted on the bow and stern of vessels, also the numerous small pieces of carved work introduced into the architectural arrangement of the saloons, are overtaken. (3) The upholstery department, in which all the work connected with upholstering the saloons and state-rooms—usually, in other yards, made the subject of sub-contract—is overtaken from first to last. In this branch female labour is employed to a considerable extent, while much of the decorative painting referred to above is also done by females. Under the guidance of a lady artist, the employés in this branch have evinced much aptitude and taste for the work.

Successive enlargements and increased appliances have now rendered the Leven Shipyard capable of turning out from 40,000 to 60,000 tons of shipping per annum. The work hitherto achieved has been almost exclusively that of steamship building, but inside of that general limitation it has been of a varied and comprehensive description. Steamships for many of the largest ocean and coast-trading companies, gun-boats and transport ships for foreign Governments, and light-draught paddle-steamers for the rivers Volga, Danube, Ganges, and Irrawaddy, have all been furnished from the stocks of Leven Shipyard. The accompanying list, which is of work done during the period of the firm’s existence, viz., since 1844, affords at once an adequate conception of the large amount of important work done for the better-known shipping companies:—

No. of Vessels. Tonnage. British India Steam Navigation Co., 50 107,060 Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., 15 39,171 Austrian Lloyd’s Steam Navigation Co., 16 27,191 J. & A. Allan, Glasgow, Allan Line, 11 24,530 J. & G. Burns, Glasgow, 20 21,101 Union Steamship Co., New Zealand, 19 19,700 A. Lopez & Co., Cadiz, 7 19,178 British and Burmese Steam Navigation Co., 12 18,837 River’s Steam Navigation Co., 18 10,678 Union Steamship Co., Southampton, 2 6,227 Irrawaddy Flotilla Co., 14 6,006

Adding to this record the work finished since the close of 1883 and presently on hand, the total for the British India Company is increased to 115,960 tons; that for the Union Company of New Zealand to 21,260, and en addition is made to the list in the two large steamers _Arawa_ and _Tainui_, for the Shaw, Savill, & Albion Company, which together make about 10,000 tons. The following exhibits in tabular form the number and tonnage of vessels built by the firm from their beginning the business of iron shipbuilding in 1845 up to and including 1883:—

+------+--------+--------++------+--------+--------+ |Year. | No. of |Tonnage.||Year. | No. of |Tonnage.| | |Vessels.| || |Vessels.| | +------+--------+--------++------+--------+--------+ | 1845 | 3 | 365 || 1865 | 6 | 4,543 | | 1846 | 3 | 252 || 1866 | 8 | 10,867 | | 1847 | 6 | 1,007 || 1867 | 4 | 9,154 | | 1848 | 3 | 618 || 1868 | 8 | 9,855 | | 1849 | 6 | 2,173 || 1869 | 12 | 13,227 | | 1850 | 5 | 1,577 || 1870 | 4 | 8,852 | | 1851 | 5 | 1,460 || 1871 | 7 | 14,922 | | 1852 | 5 | 6,622 || 1872 | 6 | 14,056 | | 1853 | 7 | 5,163 || 1873 | 7 | 18,415 | | 1854 | 5 | 4,380 || 1874 | 9 | 18,475 | | 1855 | 6 | 5,443 || 1875 | 9 | 17,191 | | 1856 | 7 | 7,436 || 1876 | 5 | 4,394 | | 1857 | 5 | 2,822 || 1877 | 10 | 10,533 | | 1858 | 3 | 5,293 || 1878 | 18 | 22,054 | | 1859 | 5 | 5,903 || 1879 | 13 | 16,138 | | 1860 | 2 | 1,897 || 1880 | 12 | 18,114 | | 1861 | 4 | 8,463 || 1881 | 8 | 17,455 | | 1862 | 5 | 4,271 || 1882 | 13 | 22,010 | | 1863 | 9 | 9,745 || 1883 | 10 | 22,240 | | 1864 | 13 | 11,239 || | | | +------+--------+--------++------+--------+--------+

The firm, it may be stated, is now engaged in the construction of their 300th vessel. Notwithstanding the work of re-arrangement and enlargement which has been under progress for two years or more, the work turned out during that period has been in no way behind as compared with other periods—a fact which eloquently testifies to the administrative ability of those in authority, and to the skill and energy of Mr John Ward, the general manager of Messrs Denny’s large works.

In August, 1880, the firm issued a notice to their workmen stating that, having observed during the previous two years many improvements in methods of work and appliances introduced by them into the yard, they very readily recognised the advantage accruing to their business from these efforts of their workmen’s skill, and were desirous that they should not pass unrewarded. The notice further stated that to carry out this desire an Awards Committee had been appointed, which would consider any claims made by the workmen, and grant an award in proportion to the worth of the improvement made, the amount in no case to be more than £10, or less than £2. The committee then appointed, and which still holds office, was composed of well-known local gentlemen, in every way competent to adjudicate. Fully a year later the firm announced that in the case of an invention thought worthy of a greater award than £10, they had empowered the Committee to grant such an award, or were willing, in addition to giving an award of £10, to take out at their own expense provisional protection at the Patent Office on behalf of the inventor, so that he might either dispose of his invention or complete the patent, provided always they had free use of the thing patented in their own establishment. From the reports which have yearly been issued by the committee, it is apparent that considerable success has attended the scheme. The number of claims made since its institution has been as follows:—In 1880, 12; in 1881, 32; in 1882, 27; in 1883, 20; in 1884 (till July only), 91; total, 182. Awards have been granted as follows:—In 1880, 5; in 1881, 22; in 1882, 21; in 1883, 18; in 1884 (till July only), 27; total, 93. It is worthy of note that about one-half of the awards have been gained by workmen in the joiner’s department. Some of their machines have been modified or altered so as to do twice the quantity of work previously possible, some to do a new class of work, and others to do the same work with greater ease and safety. Four inventions have gained the maximum award of £10, viz., (1) an improvement made on ships’ water-closet and urinal; (2) the invention of a machine to cut mouldings imitative of wicker work; (3) an improved arrangement for disengaging steam and hand-steering gear on board ship; (4) an improved method of laying the Decauville railway across the main line. In connection with this latter invention, the patentee of the Decauville railway system, supplemented the committee’s grant to the extent of £10. In a note to last year’s report, the firm state that they have decided to increase the maximum grant from £10 to £12, and the minimum from £2 to £3; and that in the case of two men being engaged at the same invention, should it be found worthy of an award, each will receive at least the minimum award of £3. A still more recent announcement states that “whenever any workman has received as many as _five_ awards from the committee, reckoning from the time the scheme came in force, he shall be paid a premium of £20, when he has received as many as _ten_ awards he shall be paid a further premium of £25—the premiums always increasing by £5 for every additional five awards received.” Already, it may be stated, four separate workmen have received _five_ awards, and become the recipients of the £20 premium.

With regard to the employment of females in Messrs Denny’s yard, it may be interesting to state further that the total number generally employed throughout the works amounts to between 80 and 100. In addition to the numbers employed in the decorative and upholstery departments, already noticed, a large contingent are engaged in the polishing rooms, and a further number in the drawing offices as tracers. The employment of females as tracers in shipyard drawing offices, it may be stated, is of recent date. The system had previously been in operation at the locomotive works of Messrs Dübs & Co., and Messrs Neilson & Co., of Glasgow. Having proved a success there, it has been gradually adopted by shipbuilding and engineering firms on the Clyde, and more recently on the Tyne. The staff in Leven Shipyard consists of 20 members, four of whom are employed in the experimental tank department. All the girls are selected by written competitive examination, the subjects of examination being arithmetic, writing to dictation, and block-letter printing. At first it was intended the girls should simply be trained as tracers, but they displayed such aptitude that to tracing was added the inking-in of finished drawings and the reduction of plans from a greater to a less scale. This they do with a very fair degree of accuracy and neatness. The experienced members of the staff are now employed making displacement calculations, including plotting the results to scale, centre of buoyancy, and metacentre calculations; calculations of ships’ surface, working up and plotting of speed trial results, stability calculations. Most of these calculations are made out on prepared printed schedules, and the whole of the work is superintended by a member of the male staff. In the work of calculation the girls, it may be stated, make large use of such instruments as the slide rule, Amsler’s planimeter and integrator. To secure clearness and uniformity in the work of writing titles, data, scantling, &c., on the various drawings and tracings, it was found advisable to train the females in the art of lettering these features in a uniform style of lettering in place of writing them. In this work they display considerable proficiency and expertness, the results being uniformly legible and well arranged.

Before passing from the subject of female employment in Messrs Denny’s establishment, attention should be drawn to one fact, of which assurances have been given by those well informed in the matter. In no instance has the employment of females led to the displacement of men as yard operatives. Those departments into which females have recently been introduced are now numerically as large as before the innovation. In some cases, indeed, the numbers are greater than before; new avenues of labour, and greater elaboration of the old, being the grounds of need for the accessions.

The other establishment selected for notice from the Clyde district is:—

MESSRS J. & G. THOMSON’S SHIPBUILDING AND ENGINEERING WORKS, CLYDEBANK.

The business of this firm was founded in 1846, by Messrs James & George Thomson, father and uncle respectively of the present members of the firm. Originally the firm were engineers, but in 1851, shipbuilding operations were commenced, the yard being then situated in the upper reaches of the Clyde. Twenty years later the increase of the firm’s business and the demand for better accommodation for shipping made it necessary for the firm to take new ground. The present site at Clydebank was therefore chosen for their shipyard, and since its formation many wonderful transformations have been effected. It is fully twelve years since ground was first broken. At that time there was neither house nor railway accommodation, and the difficulties were not easily surmountable, and it must have been determined courage and energy that in such a short time not only formed such a large establishment, but created a town, and introduced a railway. From Clydebank yard, it may be needless to state, many of the most famous vessels of the Cunard, Peninsular, and Oriental and Union Lines have been launched. From its stocks have emanated such well-known vessels as the _Bothnia_, _Gallia_, _Thames_, _Moor_, _Hammonia_, and the great Cunard liner, _Servia_, while within a very recent period another vessel—the _America_—seemingly destined to eclipse the fame of all these other notable craft, has been built and sent to sea.

Until about two years ago, the engineering section of Messrs Thomson’s business was conducted at Clydebank Foundry, Finnieston, Glasgow. It was then resolved, however, to centralise the works, and thus save the great expense of fitting out vessels away from the yard, as well as secure the increased facilities offered in the management and controlling of large bodies of workmen. This important undertaking has now been accomplished, and the establishment, as now arranged, is equal in extent and working capability to any other private shipbuilding concern. The entire premises occupy about thirty-five acres of land, and comprise building yard, tidal basin, yard workshops, and engine and boiler works. When in full operation the establishment gives employment to over 4,000 workmen. The yard possesses eight building slips, laid out for the largest class of vessels, and owing to their situation—facing the river Cart, which here joins the Clyde—excellent facilities for the launching of vessels are afforded.

Proceeding to describe the works more in detail, as in the case of a personal visit, the first feature that may be noticed is a handsome block of buildings which stands some distance from the main entrance to the shipyard. These buildings comprise the clerical, managerial, and naval architects’ offices; also a spacious apartment in which are located splendidly-executed models, and sections of the hulls, of the vessels which have been built by the firm. Passing through the yard large quantities of the raw material of the modern shipbuilder are observed on railway waggons, and in sheds—including iron and steel plates, bar, T, H, Z, angle, flat, channel, tubular, and other forms of wrought-iron. This material is brought into the yard by railway, which forms a siding of the North British system about a quarter of a mile distant.

The iron and steel plates are first manipulated in a large shed open at the sides and ends, and measuring some 500 feet by 150. Here are situated a large number of powerful machine-tools—bending and straightening machines, punching and shearing machines, drilling machines, hydraulic riveting machines and the like. Some are of the largest sizes made, one punching machine being a 33-inch gap tool. Several other machine-tools in this large shed have special features worthy of notice, and one in particular, a flat keel plate bending machine, must be referred to with some detail. The machine in question was made by the Messrs Thomson themselves, and constitutes perhaps the latest application of machinery to shipbuilding purposes. It is supplied by hydraulic power from the accumulator that works the riveting plant—which is on the Tweddell system—and is composed of a number of arms resting on a horizontal bar. The arms are raised or lowered to suit the different shapes required, by means of a hydraulic ram placed at each end and pressing upon the horizontal bars.

Leaving the machine-tool shed, which, by the way, is amply provided, as indeed are the works generally, with travelling and fixed lifting appliances, and while _en route_ for the smiths’ shop, are observed several isolated punching and shearing and other machine-tools for special purposes, and driven by self-contained engines or hydraulic power. The smiths’ shop is a well-arranged workshop, 600 feet long by 60 feet wide, and contains 108 smiths’ fires, besides three furnaces at each end for heating frames and plates, for bending and other manipulative purposes. This department is well supplied with the mechanical contrivances of the forge, including steam hammers of various capacities graduating from 12 cwt. up to over one ton. There are 16 small jobbing hammers in this shop; a massive 70-cwt. hammer of Messrs Thomson’s own make, is used in the production of stern-posts, rudders, and heavy forgings. The smiths’ shop is built upon excellent and somewhat unusual principles, the roof being so constructed as to readily admit of the egress of the smoke from the fires, thus securing good ventilation.

An engineering and machine shop, well equipped with lathes, drills, and other appliances, limited to the operations connected with the production of water-tight doors, steering gears, and the like, is next passed. In close proximity is the riggers loft, where a large staff of workmen, with the aid of mechanical contrivances, manipulate the rigging for the vessels nearing completion in the dock. The firm’s well-appointed saw mills are provided with a full complement of sawing machinery, much of it of a special and very cleverly contrived character. One machine, for instance, is capable of cross-cutting and ripping a log into the required sizes right away, without the usual intermediate manipulation. The arrangements for conveying the timber into position, and for removing it when cut, are very complete, and eminently calculated to ensure rapidity of production. In convenient proximity to the saw mills are the “saw-doctor’s” quarters. The old-fashioned practice of sharpening the teeth of the saws by hand-filing is discarded here in favour of a more rapid and effective method of obtaining the requisite amount of sharpness and “set.” Emery-wheels are employed and accomplish the process with a great saving of time and labour.

Amongst the other departments with regard to which no details need be given, yet all of which are admirably appointed, are the brass foundry and finishing shops, where the brass castings and fittings are prepared. The joiners’, carpenters’, and cabinetmakers’ shops are an important and extensive branch of the Clydebank premises. The building in which they are located measures 220 feet in length, by 156 feet in width. Here the ordinary ship-joinery work is undertaken, and the tasteful and magnificent furnishings, used in the luxurious equipment of the vessels built in the yard, are produced in great numbers. The joiners’ and cabinetmakers’ shops are provided with a vast number of ingenious sawing, wood-working, as well as the more ordinary joinery appliances, manufactured for the greater part by Messrs J. M‘Dowall & Sons, Johnstone, near Glasgow, and Fay & Son, the well-known American house. It is noteworthy that the belting for driving the multiplicity of machines located in this department is all conducted below the floor: in this way a welcome freedom from obstruction, and comparative immunity from danger, is effected.

A word may be added with regard to the engines and boilers used by the firm for driving their machinery. During the day the most of the machinery is driven from these main engines, the chief of which is a 200 horse-power motor, by Messrs Tangye, of Birmingham; and at night the principal machine tools and several of the workshops derive their requisite motive power from the small self-contained engines, which are attached, or are in close proximity, to them.

The engineering and boilermaking section of the works occupies in all a space of about 12,000 square yards. The boiler shop is a large and lofty galleried workshop, occupying an area of 4,000 square yards. It is splendidly equipped with all the most modern appliances for accurate and heavy work. Attention may specially be drawn to an enormous hydraulic riveter, erected by Messrs Brown Brothers, of Edinburgh. This riveter, which is just undergoing completion, is designed with a 6½ feet gap, and can close with ease rivets up to 1¾ inch diameter. It is rendered necessary owing to the tendency to greatly increase pressure since the introduction of the triple expansion engine. An engine of 100 H.P., having a steam accumulator, gives the necessary power for working this, and advantage has been taken of the extra power to actuate a system of hydraulic hoists, winches and capstans, which are being substituted for the coal-devouring and often dangerous donkey boilers and steam winches, usually in use for this purpose. The hoists will also be applied to the larger latches in order to save manual labour.

When ready to be placed on board ship, the boilers are run down to the dock by means of a tramway, in the foundations of which as many as 600 tons of slag have been packed. The boilers are then lifted on board and lowered to their proper place by means of massive shear-legs, constructed by Taylor, of Birkenhead, which are capable of lifting the enormous weight of 120 tons, and which have a foundation composed of some 700 tons of cement.

The new engine works comprise erecting, turning, and tool shops, smithy, brass foundry, and depot for laying castings and other goods, also large stores. The whole cover an area of about 8,000 square yards, making, with the 4000 square yards occupied by the boiler shop, a total area of 12,000 square yards. Machinery by the well-known makers, Messrs Shanks, Heatherington, Harvey, and others, of the most modern and powerful description, has been laid down, also overhead travelling cranes, by Taylor, to lift 30 and 40 tons respectively. Railways have been introduced throughout the shops, and a 6-ton crane locomotive lifts and deposits castings where required. In fact, everything that the most modern engineering skill could suggest has been introduced in order to fit the place for turning out not only the largest class of marine engines, but also for the saving of manual labour, and it is expected that 50,000 I.H.P. can be turned out per annum. The entire premises, it should be stated, are illuminated by the electric light, partly on the “Brush” and partly on the “Swan” systems. The vessels on the slips and in the dock are also illuminated by electric light applied in a portable form.

Since having commenced shipbuilding operations, Messrs J. & G. Thomson have placed as many as 200 vessels in the water, representing an aggregate of 300,000 tons, and a gross capital value of about £7,500,000. The position, therefore, that Clydebank yard takes amongst the shipbuilding establishments of the United Kingdom is certainly in the very front rank. The general manager of the extensive works is Mr J. P. Wilson, a gentleman of extended experience, who has before held similar posts, but none more onerous and exacting. Amongst other of the responsible officials at Clydebank of whom mention should be made Mr J. H. Biles, the firm’s naval designer, occupies an important position and shares in the credit attaching to successful work.

The three yards selected from the Clyde district have now been described, and their distinctive features enlarged upon. In passing to the notices of the yards from other districts, it may be stated that efforts will be made to avoid repetition in details that are essentially similar. The notices will be of a still more general character than those preceding, the only portions where anything like fullness may occur being those concerned with features which are not embraced in any of the Clyde yards. The most stupendous and comprehensive of the works to be noticed are those of:—

PALMERS SHIPBUILDING AND IRON COMPANY, LIMITED, JARROW-ON-TYNE.

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Limited, have their works at Jarrow-on-Tyne, about four miles from the sea. The works embrace both banks of the river Tyne, cover nearly 100 acres of land, and employ about 7,000 persons. They were first commenced in 1851 by Mr Charles Mark Palmer, the present M.P. for North Durham, distinguished for the active part he has taken and continues to take in merchant shipping legislation. In 1865 the works were made into a limited company, Mr Palmer becoming chairman. It is a saying in Jarrow, with reference to these gigantic works, that the raw ironstone is taken in at the one end and launched from the other in the form of iron steamships, fitted complete with all their machinery, to carry on a large share of the world’s commerce. However much this may appear the exaggerated utterance of native pride, it must be declared to be a literal truth. The works include within themselves the entire range of operations, from the raising and smelting of the ironstone to the complete equipment of iron, steam and sailing vessels of all sizes. The ore itself, raised at the rate of 1,000 tons per day, is brought round by sea from the Company’s own mines at Port Mulgrave, near Whitby, in Yorkshire, and is lifted from the river wharf at the works up to the railway level, along an inclined plane worked by a stationary engine. Coke and coal come into the works from Marley Hill and other collieries in Durham and Northumberland, by the Pontop and Jarrow Railway. The coke is discharged into a hopper capable of holding about 1,500 tons, from the bottom of which the blast furnace barrows are filled through sliding doors, dispensing with manual labour. The four blast furnaces are 85 feet high, 24 feet diameter at the boshes, and 10 feet in the hearth. They are capable of producing over 2,000 tons of pig per week, of which more than one-half is used in the Company’s works. The blast is heated to about 1,500° Fahr. in eight “Whitewell” hot air fire-brick stoves of the newest pattern, and there are eighteen kilns for calcining the Cleveland ironstone. The rolling mill forge comprises eighty puddling furnaces, producing over 1,000 tons of puddled bars weekly; which, again, are rolled into plates and angle bars of the largest and smallest sizes used in the trade. There are two forge engines with 36-inch cylinders, one of 4 feet and the other of 5 feet stroke, each driving a roll train and four pairs of 22-inch rolls. There are two plate mills and ten mill furnaces, producing about 1,200 tons of finished boiler and ship plates weekly. Each mill has two pairs of 24-in. rolls, reversed by clutch and crabs; a bar mill with two pairs of rolls, driven by a 24-inch cylinder, produces 120 tons per week; a fourth mill, with four pairs of rolls, driven by two 30-inch cylinders, with 4 feet stroke, produces about 300 tons per week of plates; also a large angle and bar mill, driven by a single engine, having 36-inch cylinder and 4 feet stroke, capable of rolling the very largest angles used in the trade. There is also a sheet mill in the forge. Attached to the rolling mills are shears, circular saws, punching, and straightening presses, all of the newest patterns.

The adjoining department is that of the engine works, which is on the same gigantic scale, and is capable of finishing about forty pairs of marine engines with their boilers, annually, besides a proportionate share of replace boilers and repairs. The department produces its own iron and brass castings and forgings. In the boiler shop of this department vertical rolls for rolling long boiler shell plates were first used, and may be seen in operation. In the year 1882-83, June to June, thirty-six pairs of engines, of 7,300 nominal and 39,240 indicated horse-power, were turned out.

The next department, occupying the east end of the Company’s works, is that of shipbuilding. The shops of this department are fitted up with all the newest machines for quick and efficient production of work. It contains the largest graving dock on the coast, also a very fine patent slip, fitted with hydraulic hauling gear. The building slips are suitable for every kind of vessel up to 500 feet in length, and are capable, with those in the Howdon branch of the works on the opposite side of the river, of launching 70,000 tons of shipping annually. There are nine building slips at Jarrow, and six at Howdon. In the year 1882-83, June to June, 35 vessels of the aggregate tonnage of 68,000 tons were built and delivered to their owners. For transporting material throughout the works, three steam travelling cranes and eleven locomotive engines are employed. For discharging ore, two fixed and two travelling steam cranes, also two hydraulic cranes, are in use. At the engine works are sheer-legs 100 feet high, capable of lifting 100 tons—used for lifting engines and boilers, and for masting the vessels.

The output of tonnage by Palmers’ Company for 1882 and that for 1883 were severally about double the amount turned out by any other one firm in existence for these years. The following statement of the yearly amount of tonnage turned out by the firm since the commencement of iron shipbuilding on the Tyne in 1852, will be interesting, as showing the gradual strides by which the firm have risen from 920 tons thirty years ago to the wonderful return of 61,113 tons in 1883:—

+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+ | Year. Ton.| Year. Ton.| Year. Ton.| Year. Ton.| +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+ | 1852, 920 | 1860, 4,653 | 1868, 15,842 | 1876, 8,635 | | 1853, 3,539 | 1861, 4,751 | 1869, 11,900 | 1877, 16,235 | | 1854, 7,469 | 1862, 21,493 | 1870, 26,129 | 1878, 23,470 | | 1855, 5,169 | 1863, 17,096 | 1871, 19,267 | 1879, 36,080 | | 1856, 7,531 | 1864, 22,896 | 1872, 12,810 | 1880, 38,117 | | 1857, 6,816 | 1865, 31,111 | 1873, 21,017 | 1881, 50,192 | | 1858, 7,625 | 1866, 18,973 | 1874, 25,057 | 1882, 60,379 | | 1859, 11,804 | 1867, 16,555 | 1875, 15,819 | 1883, 61,113 | +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

The first screw-steamer built by the firm, namely, the “John Bowes,” well known as the pioneer of water ballast steam colliers, is still in existence, has recently had her engines renewed for the third time, and is now busily employed in her customary service, carrying coals from Newcastle to London.

The general manager of the gigantic works is Mr John Price, formerly one of the surveyors and a leading spirit in the Underwriter’s Registry for Iron Vessels. The following are the other responsible officials:—Assistant general manager and manager of rolling mills, Mr F. W. Stoker; secretary, Mr Hew Steele; shipyard manager, Mr A. Adamson; engine works manager, Mr J. P. Hall; blast furnaces manager, Mr P. A. Berkeley; blast furnaces assistant manager, Mr H. T. Allison; mining engineer, Mr A. S. Palmer.

SIR WM. ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL & CO.’S SHIPBUILDING WORKS, LOW WALKER AND ELSWICK-ON-TYNE.

The Low Walker yard of this firm was commenced upwards of thirty years ago by Messrs C. Mitchell & Co., who up to 1883 (when they amalgamated with Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co., the notable firm of engineers and artillerists), had built as many as 450 vessels, or an average of 15 vessels per annum, the average tonnage produced during the last ten years being 23,000 tons. The yard is situated about four miles down the Tyne from Newcastle. It consists of about fifteen acres of ground, and has nine launching berths, but their arrangement is such that at times there have been as many as fourteen vessels on the stocks. The establishment is laid out in a most modern manner. The space occupied by the building slips has a uniform gradient, and, being perfectly flat laterally, gives the greatest facility in the movement of bogies. The yard is served by two complete systems of railways, respectively on the 4 feet 8-in. and 2 feet 3-in. gauge. The former is in connection with a siding from the North Eastern Railway, whereby materials and goods can be brought from all parts of the kingdom, and two locomotives are constantly employed working the trucks into the yard, one of them being of very special construction, on Brown’s patent principle, manufactured by Messrs R. & W. Hawthorn, Newcastle. This locomotive is combined with a steam crane, the jib of which acts as a lever with fulcrum, thus dispensing with chains, and which readily swings right round, depositing the plates on edge into racks arranged on either side of the railway, from which they can be taken with great facility by the workmen at the appropriate time.

The yard is divided in two by a building 250 feet long by 50 feet wide, placed at right angles to the river, and which contains plate furnaces, bolt-maker’s shop, plumber’s shop, rivet store, tool stores, large bending rolls, straightening machine, and man-hole punch, on the ground floor; and on the upper storey rigging loft, sail loft, pattern stores, &c. Along the head of the building berths in one half of the yard there is a line of machine shops 400 feet long by 70 feet wide, in one end of which are installed frame furnaces, bending blocks, &c., as also a number of powerful punching machines, planing machines, special machines for angle cutting, and there has recently been added a powerful radial drill, having four moveable arms arranged to drill holes in any part of plate 16 feet by 4 feet without moving it. At the back of this machine shop, and parallel with it, is a smith’s shop 180 feet long by 50 feet wide, fitted up complete with steam hammers, &c. For the other half of the yard there is a large building 200 feet long, and of an average width of about 150 feet, which contains furnace, with bending blocks, &c., several heavy punching machines, planing machines, drilling and other machines; one portion about 80 feet by 60 feet being used as a fitting shop, containing powerful lathes, radial, and other drilling machines on the ground floor, and on the upper floor a lighter class of shaping, drilling, and other machines. In this building are also constructed two drying stoves, wherein the exhaust steam from the engine is used for drying timber. At the upper end of this machine shop is another blacksmiths’ shop 130 feet long by 50 feet wide, containing steam hammer and drilling machines for special work. A separate building, 80 feet long by 50 feet, is used for the bending and welding of beams, and is so placed that the beams can be lifted direct from barges alongside quay, and laid in position, ready for use.

The smiths’, fitters’, and other similar shops are all conveniently situated; and as the vessels lie alongside the quay to be finished off after launching, the minimum of expense in this respect is incurred. There are numerous steam cranes of 10 tons and under on the quays for landing such portion of the material as comes by water, and also to lift articles on board the vessels fitting out.

The sawmills, joiners’ shops, mould loft, &c., are situated at the lower end of the yard, and the appliances for handling and converting timber are most complete. The wood-cutting machinery is very extensive, and embraces most of the newest labour-saving machines. The establishment in full work employs 2,500 men, and has turned out as much as 30,000 tons gross register of shipping in a year, including almost every type of vessel for mercantile and war purposes, which latter branch of work will now have a further development since the amalgamation with the eminent gun-making firm of Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co. For this purpose a new yard has been laid out at Elswick, adjoining the Ordnance Works, which will be of the most complete character.

The site of this new yard comprises about 20 acres, and at first only half-a-dozen building berths will be laid out, but as the frontage is about 2,000 feet, the number of these can be augmented as required. The buildings already erected or in progress embrace a brick built shop, 265 feet long by 60 feet wide, standing at the western portion of the ground, and at right angles to the river. This building is in three storeys, the lower portion being intended for general stores, tool and rivet stores, fitting shop, &c.; the second floor will be entirely used as a joiners’ shop, and fitted up in the most complete manner with wood-working machinery of every description. The upper floor will be used as a draughting loft and model-room. Parallel to this building, and a little distance from it, will be a blacksmith’s shop, 150 feet by 50 feet. Adjoining the larger building above described, and at right angles to it, is the office block, 120 feet by 45 feet. Along the head of the launching berths stands a tool shed 420 feet long by 40 feet wide, containing the ordinary punching, planing, drilling, and other shipbuilding machines, all of the newest and most powerful type. Near the centre of the site is a large shed 220 feet long, consisting of four bays, each 50 feet wide, the whole carried on cast-iron columns, which will comprise the plate and angle furnaces, bending blocks, beam shop, angle smiths’ shop, plate rolls, large and small, also keel plate bending machine, &c. The yard is served by a complete system of railways, having a siding from the North Eastern Railway Company’s system. Material can therefore be brought from all parts of the kingdom and deposited in any part of the premises.

It is almost unnecessary further to give the particulars of this establishment, suffice it to say that it is being laid out on the experience gained up to date in existing shipyards, and will therefore embrace the newest and most important tools in all branches of work. The intention is that it shall be capable of turning out every description of vessel up to the largest iron-clad, and the construction of war vessels of all kinds will be made a speciality, seeing that the Company can send them to sea completely armed and equipped ready for service. Looking to the magnitude of the establishment, it can be regarded as nothing less than an arsenal, which in time of war would be invaluable to the country. The present and prospective importance of this development of the combined firms’ business may be inferred simply from the fact of the services of so high an authority as Mr W. H. White, late Chief Constructor of the Navy, having been secured as naval adviser and manager.

DEPTFORD SHIPBUILDING YARD AND REPAIRING DOCKS, SUNDERLAND.

These works, established so far back as 1793, but greatly transformed and extended to suit modern requirements, are owned and presided over by Mr James Laing, son of Mr Philip Laing, their founder. The yard consists of two general sections, situated one on each side of the main road leading to the river Wear. One of these, commonly termed the “Woodyard,” is where wood shipbuilding was conducted in the early days, but which now of course, in common with the other section, is used exclusively for iron shipbuilding. The entire works, including offices, docks, brass foundry, and other premises, cover an area of about thirty acres.

The yard embraces the various shops and sheds usually pertaining to building operations in iron, such as iron-working sheds, smiths’ shop, joiners’ shop, upholsterers’ shop, bookmakers’ shop, &c., all well equipped with machine-tools and appliances, needful in producing vessels for the most important shipping companies. The two general sections of the yard are each worked by one compound surface condensing engine, all machines being driven by belting from main lines of shafting, no independent engines being fitted. Scrive-boards, frame furnace, bending blocks, garboard bender, and other machinery are fitted in each section. Gorman’s gas furnaces are used for heating the material, and these, though rather troublesome when first fitted, about twelve years ago, after some alterations in the details, now give complete satisfaction, and surpass in efficiency ordinary coal furnaces. The joiners’ shop is situated in the wood-yard, and the smith’s shop in the other section. In the smith’s shop a separate engine is provided to drive the blast, so that if it is desired the wood-yard can be kept completely going without having the main engine in the other section at work.

The berths of Deptford yard, have been occupied since the commencement of iron shipbuilding there, over thirty years ago, with vessels for home and foreign shipowners, amongst others for such well known companies as the Peninsular and Oriental Company, the Union Company, the Royal Mail Company, the West India and Pacific Company, the Royal Netherlands Company, and the Hamburg and South American Company. In 1882 the _Mexican_, of 4670 tons gross measurement, the largest passenger vessel ever built on the North-East Coast, and one of the finest of the Union Company’s fleet of South African mail steamers, was launched from the stocks of Deptford yard. Including the _Mexican_, the following is the list of vessels launched by Mr Laing in the year named:—

Name. Material. Owners. Gross Tons. S.S. Friary Iron, British, 2307 S.S. Mount Tabor do., do., 2302 S.S. Mexican do., do., 4669 S.S. Rhosina do., do., 2707 S.S. Govina do., do., 2221 S.S. Lero do., do., 2224 S.S. Dolcoath do., do., 1824 S.S. Ville de Strasbourg do., Foreign, 2372 S.S. Ville de Metz do., do., 2375 ------ Total 23,004

At present Mr Laing is building his 301st iron vessel, which represents the 460th vessel produced within the Deptford yard since its commencement in 1793. The work presently on hand chiefly consists of average size steam vessels, combining cargo-carrying powers with high-class accommodation for passengers, several being lighted throughout by electricity, and one being constructed of steel, and having engines on the triple expansion principle.

Connected with the shipbuilding yard there are two graving docks of 300 feet and 400 feet in length, one on each side of the river. One of these is situated at the west side of the iron yard parallel to the building berths, and therefore conveniently placed for all kinds of alterations and repairs to vessels. This dock is kept dry by means of pumps which act as circulating pumps for the condensers of the yard engines. The pumps used for emptying this dock, as well as the one on the other side of the river, after a vessel has come in, are of the “Pulsometer” type of large size. The capacity of these docks is such that in one year alone the amount of shipping operated upon, either in the way of repairs, alterations, or simple docking, has reached nearly 60,000 tons. A large number of vessels have undergone the important process of lengthening in these docks—a special and very important branch of shipwork in which Mr Laing has been conspicuously successful. The largest undertaking of this kind was the lengthening of the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s screw-steamer _Poonah_ in 1874 from a length of 315 feet to that of 395, or an increase of 80 feet. The work was satisfactorily completed, and the results of the vessel’s after-behaviour at sea were communicated, along with an account of the work of lengthening, to the Institution of Naval Architects by Mr Edwin De Russett, of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, in 1877.

Adjacent to the shipyard are extensive brass and copper works, employing about 300 hands, which, besides supplying all the brass and plumber work required for vessels in the shipyard, undertake similar work for other shipbuilders, also work for the Navy, such as cast gun-metal rams and stern-posts for men-of-war, and brackets for outer-bearings in twin-screws. All sorts of steam and other fittings—Manchester goods—are also here manufactured and dispersed to all parts of the world. Within the same premises are situated the requisite machinery for effecting repairs to the engines and boilers of vessels overhauled in the docks.

At present a large range of new Commercial and Drawing Offices are being erected near the principal entrance to the yard. A new joiner’s shop and sawmill will shortly be erected, and other alterations in the internal economy of the shipyard are contemplated. The new range of offices referred to, have a frontage of about 300 feet, and comprise strong room for the preservation of the firm’s books, drawings, &c.; model-room, 40 feet in length; foremen’s room, 40 feet by 30 feet; general office, 42 feet by 41 feet; private offices for Mr Laing & Sons; drawing office, 45 feet by 40 feet; moulding loft, 78 feet by 40 feet; model-making room, &c. An additional and somewhat noteworthy feature in the new buildings will be a large dining hall for the use of those workmen who have their meals brought to them at the yard. Also, a commodious gymnasium for the benefit of the youth in the employ. These are, in addition to the large “British Workman” already in existence, built by Mr Laing for the use of his employés, and for others who care to subscribe. This institution, comprising dining room, game rooms, smoking room and library, is managed by a committee of the employés, and is self-supporting, a contribution of only one half-penny per week being the qualification for membership, admitting subscriber to all the benefits of the institution.

THE WORKS OF THE BARROW SHIPBUILDING COMPANY (LIMITED).

The Barrow Shipbuilding Company, Limited, was promoted in 1876 by several gentlemen in Barrow connected with the Furness Railway, the Docks, and Steel Works, chief among whom was Mr Ramsden (now Sir James Ramsden) then managing director of the Furness Railway, Mayor of Barrow, and leading spirit in its development generally. The Duke of Devonshire, the largest proprietor in the district and in the other public works mentioned, became the largest shareholder and the chairman of the new shipbuilding company, which was then formally constituted, with Mr Robert Duncan, shipbuilder of Port-Glasgow, as managing director. Mr Duncan designed the whole arrangement of the works as they now stand, and continued to act as managing director till 1875, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Sir James Ramsden, with Mr James Humphreys as manager, which position the latter held till 1880, when he was succeeded by Mr William John, of Lloyd’s Register, to whose talent as a naval architect some tribute has been elsewhere passed in this work.

The total area of the plot of land on which these works stand is 58 acres, with two water frontages, each 1050 feet long, one towards Walney Channel, into which the ships are launched, the other towards the docks where the ships are fitted out. The Walney Channel is sufficiently wide to allow of the launching of the largest vessels without risk, and the site is altogether an exceptionably favourable one. The shipbuilding is carried on in that part of the yard adjoining the Walney Channel, being divided from the engine works by a road, under which is a sub-way, which affords the required communication between the two departments.

Entering the shipbuilding department by the main gate-way in this dividing road the visitor finds himself in a large square, formed by substantial buildings; to the left hand on entering, are the offices, and to the right some of the smaller shops. The opposite side of the square is occupied by the machine shed and smiths’ shops, whilst on the right-hand side of the square are the frame-bending shed, and on the left the joiners’ shop and the sawmill. Passing through the offices upstairs, the visitor enters a very fine drawing office and model-room, 100 feet by 50 feet, in which an efficient staff of designers are engaged. On the ground floor are the counting-house, officials’ rooms, &c., and beyond these the stores for the supply of everything required in building and outfitting ships and machinery. From the stores, or by the outside square, the moulding loft, 250 feet by 50 feet, is reached, of which the joiners’ shop is a continuation. This department is 300 feet long by 60 feet wide, and is fitted with every modern appliance in the way of tools to facilitate work. At the back of this shop is an immense room, 600 ft. by 60 ft., occupied by a sawmill, and used also for spar-making, boat-building, and rigging. Above these rooms, in continuation of the drawing office and model-room, from which it may be entered, is the cabinet-making department, which necessarily requires a large amount of space in an establishment where passenger and emigrant ships of the largest types are equipped ready for sea. The iron-working machine shed, 360 ft. by 100 ft., and the frame-bending shed, 300 ft. by 180 ft., follow in order, occupying the whole of one, and most of the other side of the square above described. Both of these sections are fully equipped with the machinery necessary for the rapid manipulation of material. The smiths’ shop, 200 ft. by 120 ft., contains one hundred fires and seven steam hammers, the former being blown by a Schiele fan. Attached to the smiths’ shop are shops for fitting smith-work and for galvanizing. All these shops and sheds occupy less than one-third of the ground devoted to the shipbuilding department.

Beyond the machine shop are the slip-ways, twelve in number, where vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 40,000 tons have frequently been seen at one time in various stages of construction. On these slip-ways have been built the well-known mail steamer _City of Rome_ and the steamship _Normandie_, the largest vessel of the French mail service. Here also were built for the Anchor Line the _Anchoria_, the _Devonia_, the _Circassia_, and the _Furnessia_; for the Ducal Line, the _Duke of Devonshire_, the _Duke of Buccleuch_, the _Duke of Lancaster_, the _Duke of Buckingham_, and the _Duke of Westminster_. From these slip-ways also emanated the _Ganges_ and the _Sutlej_ for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company as well as the _Eden_ and the _Esk_ for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. For the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, the _Ben my Chree_, the _Fenella_, and the _Peveril_. For the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belge Américaine, the s.s. _Belgenland_ and _Rhyhland_. For the Castle Line, the s.s. _Pembroke Castle_, and for the Société Générale de Transports Maritimes à Vapeur of Marseilles, the s.s. _Navarre_ and _Bearn_. Here were also produced the _Kow Shing_ for the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, and the _Takapuna_ for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, besides many other vessels well known to the mercantile world. For the Admiralty this yard has turned out seven gun-boats, namely, the _Foxhound_, the _Forward_, the _Grappler_, the _Wrangler_, the _Wasp_, the _Banterer_, and the _Espoir_, as well as four torpedo mooring ships.

Leaving the shipbuilding department, the visitor passes through the afore-mentioned sub-way to the engine works, which occupies an area of ground equal to that of the shipyard proper. To the left may be noticed the coppersmith’s shop, the brass foundry, and the engineer’s smithy. The Foundry has seven ordinary pot furnaces, and one large reverberatory air furnace for castings of the heaviest class. The smithy is well fitted up with hammers suitable for the work. On the opposite side of the ground are two buildings, the one to the left containing the iron foundry and boiler shop. The foundry, 250 ft. by 150 ft., provided with overhead travellers, is capable of turning out the largest castings required for the monster marine engines of the present day. The boiler shop is the same size, and possesses the most modern contrivances for the skilful and economical execution of work, and it contains a complete equipment of hydraulic riveting machines, both fixed and portable, the largest having a gap of 10 feet and a pressure of 90-lbs.

In the space between the boiler shop and the machine shop there are situated a well-arranged furnace for heating, and the vertical rolls for bending the large plates forming the shells of the marine boilers. In the furnace just mentioned the plates are heated while standing on their edge, and as the top of the furnace is level with the ground, they are readily lifted out by a portable crane and deposited on the bed-plate adjoining the vertical rolls. In this vacant space is also situated the water tower for the accumulator for the 100-ton crane, constructed by Sir Wm. G. Armstrong and erected at the side of the Devonshire Dock, where the machinery is placed on board and fixed for new ships.

The engine shop, although 420 ft. long by 100 ft. wide, is scarcely large enough for the pressure of work oftentimes concentrated there. This shop is unsurpassed in the completeness of its fittings and the perfection of its tools. It, like most of the other shops in the establishment, is fitted up with the electric light.

* * * * *

The foregoing descriptive notes of individual yards may fittingly be supplemented by the following table, which shows the number and relative positions of firms throughout all the districts whose total output of tonnage during the year 1883 exceeded 20,000 tons:—

+------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+ | Firm’s Name. | District. | Number of | Gross | | | | Vessels. | Tonnage.| +------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+ | 1. Palmer Shipbuilding Co. | Tyne | 36 | 61,113 | | 2. John Elder & Co. | Clyde | 13 | 40,115 | | 3. Wm. Gray & Co. | Hartlepool | 21 | 37,597 | | 4. Oswald, Mordaunt & Co. | Southampton | 15 | 33,981 | | 5. Raylton, Dixon & Co. | Tees | 17 | 31,017 | | 6. Harland & Wolff | Belfast | 13 | 30,714 | | 7. Russell & Co. | Clyde | 28 | 30,610 | | 8. Jos. L. Thomson & Sons | Wear | 16 | 30,520 | | 9. Short Bros. | Wear | 14 | 25,531 | | 10. R. Napier & Sons | Clyde | 6 | 23,877 | | 11. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co.| Tyne | 17 | 23,584 | | 12. A. Stephen & Sons | Clyde | 11 | 23,020 | | 13. James Laing | Wear | 9 | 22,877 | | 14. Pearse & Co. | Tees | 9 | 22,671 | | 15. Wm. Denny & Bros. | Clyde | 10 | 22,240 | | 16. Richardson, Duck & Co. | Tees | 12 | 21,413 | | 17. Edward Withy & Co. | Hartlepool | 12 | 21,197 | | 18. Swan & Hunter | Tyne | 15 | 20,080 | +------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+