Part 1

Transcriber's Note:

Apparent typographical errors have been corrected.

Archaic and inconsistent spelling and hyphenation have been preserved.

TWO CENTURIES

OF

SHIPBUILDING

TWO CENTURIES OF SHIPBUILDING

BY THE

SCOTTS AT GREENOCK.

[_Partly Reprinted from "Engineering."_]

"Take it all in all, a ship of the line is the most honourable thing that man, as a gregarious animal, has ever produced.... Into that he has put as much of his human patience, common sense, forethought, experimental philosophy, self-control, habits of order and obedience, thoroughly wrought hand-work, defiance of brute elements, careless courage, careful patriotism, and calm expectation of the judgment of God, as can well be put into a space of 300 feet long by 80 feet broad."--RUSKIN.

LONDON:

OFFICES OF "ENGINEERING," 35 and 36, BEDFORD STREET, W.C.

1906.

Contents.

PAGE

PERSONALIA xi

THE ERA OF THE SAILING SHIP 1

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEAMSHIP 15

Table I. Epoch-Marking Steamers built by the Scotts, 1819 to 1841 31

Table II. Progress in the Economy of the Marine Engine, 1872 to 1901 41

A CENTURY'S WORK FOR THE NAVY 43

Table III. Progressive Types of Warship Machinery, and their Economy, 1840 to 1905 53

Table IV. Particulars of the Successive Large Naval Guns, 1800 to 1905 56

Table V. Size and Fighting Qualities of British Battleships of Different Periods, 1861 to 1905 59

YACHTING AND YACHTS 63

Table VI. General Particulars of Principal Steam Yachts Built by Scotts' Company 69

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 73

Numbers of British and Foreign, and of Oversea and Channel, Steamers, of over 16 knots speed 75

Table VII. Records of Coal Consumption of Steamship "Narragansett" 79

EFFICIENCY: DESIGN: ADMINISTRATION 88

THE SHIPBUILDING YARD 94

THE ENGINE AND BOILER WORKS 106

List of Illustrations.

PAGE

H.M.S. "Argyll" (Plate I.) _Frontispiece_

PERSONALIA.

Portraits of William Scott (born 1722, died 1769); John Scott (born 1752, died 1837); William Scott, his Brother (born 1765); and Charles Cuningham Scott (born 1794, died 1875) (Plate II.) _Adjoining page_ 1

John Scott, C.B. (born 1830, died 1903); Robert Sinclair Scott (born 1843, died 1905); Charles Cuningham Scott (the present Chairman); Robert Lyons Scott (Plate III.) _Adjoining page_ 1

THE ERA OF THE SAILING SHIP. (PAGES 1 TO 14.)

The Beginnings (Plate IV.) _Facing page_ 2

Greenock and Scotts' Yard in the Eighteenth Century (Plate V.) _Facing page_ 4

A West Indiaman 7

A Typical East Indiaman 9

The "Lord of the Isles" (Plate VI.) _Facing page_ 10

The "Archibald Russell" (Plate VII.) " " 12

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEAMSHIP. (PAGES 15 TO 42.)

Early Steamboats at Greenock, 1820 (Plate VIII.) _Facing page_ 16

The "City of Glasgow" (Plate IX.) " " 20

A Side-Lever Engine of 1831 23

An Engine of 1832 25

Scotts' First P. and O. Liner, the "Tagus" (Plate X.) _Facing page_ 26

Type of Side-Lever Engine of 1840 29

Double-Geared Engine for Early Atlantic Liner 32

A Pioneer in Water-Tube Boilers (The Rowan Boiler) 35

High-Pressure Machinery in the "Thetis" (Plate XI.) _Facing page_ 36

The Machinery of the "Achilles" 38

General Arrangement of the Machinery of the "Achilles" (Plate XII.) _Facing page_ 38

The "Achilles" of 1865, off Gravesend (Plate XIII.) " " 40

A CENTURY'S WORK FOR THE NAVY. (PAGES 43 TO 62.)

Model of H.M.S. "Prince of Wales," 1803 (Plate XIV.) _Facing page_ 43

The Launch of the First Clyde-Built Steam Frigate "Greenock," 1849 (Plate XV.) _Facing page_ 44

Machinery in H.M.SS. "Hecla," and "Hecate" 1839 (Plate XVI.) _Facing page_ 46

Machinery of H.M.S. "Greenock," 1848 48

Machinery of H.M.S. "Canopus," 1900 49

H.M.S. "Thrush," 1889 (Plate XVII.) _Facing page_ 50

Engines of H.M.S. "Thrush," 1889 (Plate XVIII.) 52

H.M. Battleship "Prince of Wales" (Plate XIX.) 58

Propelling Engines of H.M.S. "Argyll" (Plate XX.) 60

YACHTING AND YACHTS. (PAGES 63 TO 72.)

The "Erin," Owned by Sir Thomas Lipton, Bart. (Plate XXI.) _Facing page_ 63

The "Clarence," an Early Racing Cutter (Plate XXII.) " " 64

The "Greta" of 1876; the "Greta" of 1895 (Plate XXIII.) _Facing page_ 66

The "Margarita"; the "Tuscarora" (Plate XXIV.) 68

The Saloons of the "Beryl," Owned by Lord Inverclyde (Plate XXV.) _Facing page_ 70

Typical Yacht Engines (Plate XXVI.) " " 72

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. (PAGES 73 TO 87.)

Dining-Saloon in a Mail Steamer; Drawing-Room in the Steam Yacht "Foros" (Plate XXVII.) _Facing page_ 73

The Donaldson Liner "Cassandra" (Plate XXVIII.) " " 74

The Holt Liner "Achilles" of 1900 (Plate XXIX.) " " 76

The Largest Oil-Carrying Steamer afloat--the "Narragansett" (Plate XXX.) _Facing page_ 78

The Launch of a China Steamer (Plate XXXI.) " " 80

The China Navigation Company's T.SS. "Fengtien" (Plate XXXII.) _Adjoining page_ 81

The British India Company's SS. "Bharata" (Plate XXXIII.) _Facing page_ 82

One of Twenty Thames Steamers Engined by the Scotts (Plate XXXIV.) _Facing page_ 84

Engines and Boilers for Twenty London County Council Steamers (Plate XXXV.) _Adjoining page_ 85

Typical Propelling Machinery (Plate XXXVI.) _Facing page_ 86

EFFICIENCY: DESIGN: ADMINISTRATION. (PAGES 88 TO 93.)

Shipbuilding (Plate XXXVII.) _Facing page_ 88

The Launch of H.M.S. "Argyll" (Plate XXXVIII.) " " 90

Engine Construction (Plate XXXIX.) " " 92

THE SHIPBUILDING YARD. (PAGES 94 TO 105.)

The Moulding Loft (Plate XL.) _Facing page_ 94

Beam Shearing Machine; Bevelling Machine; Hydraulic Joggling Machine (Plate XLI.) _Adjoining page_ 95

In one of the Platers' Sheds (Plate XLII.) _Facing_ " 96

Punching and Shearing (Plate XLIII.) " " 98

The Fitting-out Dock (Plate XLIV.) " " 100

The Graving Dock (Plate XLV.) _Adjoining_ " 101

The Saw Mill (Plate XLVI.) _Facing_ " 102

Two Views in the Joiners' Shops (Plate XLVII.) _Adjoining_ " 103

Electric Generators in the Power Station; Hydraulic Pumps and Air-Compressors in the Power Station (Plate XLVIII.) _Facing page_ 104

THE ENGINE AND BOILER WORKS. (PAGES 106 TO 116.)

View in Main Machine Shop (Plate XLIX.) _Facing page_ 106

Vertical Planing Machine; Multiple Spindle Drilling Machine (Plate L.) _Facing page_ 108

Surfacing and Boring Lathe (Plate LI.) _Adjoining_ " 109

Brass-Finishing Shop (Plate LII.) _Facing_ " 110

Tool, Gauge, Template and Jig Department (Plate LIII.) " " 112

In the Boiler Shop (Plate LIV.) " " 114

Hydraulic Plate-Bending Machine 114

Personalia.

JOHN SCOTT (I) founded the firm in 1711, and engaged in the building of herring busses and small craft. There is, unfortunately, no engraving of him extant, so that our series of portraits on Plates II. and III. adjoining page 1, is to this extent incomplete.

WILLIAM SCOTT, his son, born 1722, died 1769, succeeded him, and, with his brother, extended the business alike as regards the extent of the works, and the types of vessels built. His first square-rigged ship--of 1765--was the first vessel built on the Clyde for owners out of Scotland.

JOHN SCOTT (II), born 1752, died 1837, son of William, greatly developed the works and built the dry dock and basin now included, with the original Yard, in the establishment of Messrs. Caird and Co., Limited. Under his _régime_ many ocean-going sailing ships were constructed, ship-work for the Navy was undertaken, the manufacture of steam machinery commenced in 1825, and Admiralty orders undertaken for engines for dockyard--as well as Greenock-built frigates. He built the Custom House Quay in 1791, bought Halkshill, the family seat, in 1815, was a partner in the Greenock Bank, and otherwise promoted the industries of the town.

His brother, WILLIAM SCOTT (II), born 1756, migrated to Barnstaple, where he carried on an extensive shipbuilding industry, obtaining engines for the most of his steamships from the Greenock Works.

CHARLES CUNINGHAM SCOTT, born 1794, died 1875, son of John Scott (II), along with his elder brother, John Scott (III), born 1785, died 1874, carried on the business as "John Scott and Sons," developing still further the progressive policy of his father, who had been responsible for the works for about half a century. The Cartsdyke Yard was commenced in 1850 by Charles Cuningham Scott, and his son John, under the style of "Scott and Co.," and this firm is the one which has maintained the continuity of the Scotts' association with shipbuilding.

JOHN SCOTT (IV), born 1830, died 1903,[1] and ROBERT SINCLAIR SCOTT, born 1843, died 1905, sons of Charles Cuningham Scott, were responsible for the progress for nearly forty years, and the former was created a Companion of the Bath (C.B.) in 1887. During their _régime_ the firm took a large part in the introduction of the steamship for over-sea voyages; in the development of high steam pressures and of the multiple-expansion engine, which greatly improved the economy of the steam engine; and in naval work, with its incidental advancement. They completely reconstructed the Cartsdyke Works, and greatly improved what is now known as the Cartsburn Dockyard, modernising the equipment. The co-partnery was, for family reasons, registered in 1900 under the Limited Liability Company Law.

CHARLES CUNINGHAM SCOTT, son of John Scott, C.B., is now the head of the concern and Chairman of the Company (Scotts' Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited), and with him on the directorate are his brother ROBERT LYONS SCOTT, C. Mumme, and James Brown.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] This date is incorrectly given as 1904 at the end of the third paragraph on page 66.

The Era of the Sailing Ship.

The maintenance of an industry for two hundred years by one family, in the direct line of succession and in one locality, is almost unique in the history of western manufactures. Such a record proves that the successive generations have displayed diligence, prudence, and enterprise; otherwise it would not have been possible for them to have held continuously a foremost place in the face of incessant competition consequent upon the general advance in science, the introduction of superior constructional materials, and the invention of new machinery. It indicates also the maintenance of a high standard of workmanship as well as integrity and business capacity; because time is the most important factor in proving efficiency and in establishing credit for durability of work, without which no reputation can be retained for such a long period.

The Scotts began the building of ships in Greenock in 1711. To-day, their descendants of the sixth generation worthily maintain the high traditions which have accumulated during the intervening two hundred years. It is impossible to form an adequate conception of the service rendered by this one firm to the science of marine construction and to Britain, the leading maritime nation of the world. We should require to review in detail the successive steps: firstly, in the perfection of the sailing ship, from the sloops and brigantines of the eighteenth century, to such beautiful clippers as Scotts' _Lord of the Isles_, which in 1856 made the record voyage from China, and did much to wrest from the Americans the "blue ribbon" of the ocean; and, secondly, in the development of the steamship from its inception early in the nineteenth century to the leviathans of to-day. In successive epochs in the history of naval architecture the Scotts have played a creditable part, and to some of the more important improvements initiated or advanced by the firm reference will be made in our brief survey of the work done during the past two centuries. Unfortunately, some years ago, most of the old-time records were destroyed by a fire at the shipyard, so that our review of the early work is largely from contemporary publications, and is unavoidably incomplete.

The beginnings were small, for Scotland had not yet attained to industrial importance, and had little oversea commerce. The first trans-Atlantic voyage made by a Clyde ship was in 1686, when a Greenock-built vessel was employed on a special mission to carry twenty-two persons transported to Carolina for attending conventicles and "being disaffected to Government."[2] American ships were most numerous on the western seas, and the East India Company had a monopoly of the eastern seas, so far as Britain was concerned, and preferred to build their ships in India, although many were constructed on the south coast of England. This monopoly checked progress. There was little or no incentive to improvement in merchant ships, and the naval authorities were too busy fighting Continental nations to risk extensive experimental work. We have it on the authority of Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, K.C.B.,[3] that neither Government nor private builders made much progress in improving methods of construction. The first letters patent granted for improvements relating to ships bear the date January 17th, 1618, but the result of a thorough investigation of all patents between 1618 and 1810 discloses no improvement worth recording, except in the manufacture of sheathing and the construction of pumps.

The Scotts, like a few other shipbuilders on the Clyde, were concerned for the greater part of the eighteenth century in the building of fishing and coasting boats. There belonged to Greenock, in 1728, as many as nine hundred of such fishing boats, locally built, each carrying from twenty to twenty-four nets and manned by a crew of four men. For many years the business of the firm consisted almost entirely in the building of herring busses and small craft employed in the fishing trade, the first establishment being at the mouth of the West Burn, on land leased from the Shaw family. The shipbuilding industry was carried on intermittently, and the Scotts were the first to give it stability and continuity. In 1752, the Greenland whale fisheries were engaged in, and this led to a development in the size of craft. The first square-rigged vessel built in the port was a brig, named _Greenock_, constructed in 1760, for the West Indian trade. In 1765, William Scott, who had succeeded the original founder--his father, John Scott--built a large square-rigged ship for some merchants of the town of Hull, the timber for which came from the Ducal woods at Hamilton. This ship is notable as being probably the first ship built on the Clyde for owners out of Scotland.[4] To take a fairly representative year (1776), eighteen vessels, ranging up to 77 tons, and of a total of 1073 tons burden, were constructed in Greenock, and of the number six were built by the Scotts.[5] Although the work could be more cheaply done on the Clyde than at London or Bristol, there was for a long time a strong prejudice against English owners ordering vessels from the north, and against Scotch vessels taking any part in the oversea trade.

The Jacobite risings had also affected the industry, but the War of Independence in America had far-reaching beneficial results. It is true that prior to this the rich fields of the English colonial possessions, as well as the English markets, had been opened to the commerce of Scotland, and that the merchants of Glasgow had developed extensive commercial operations with the West Indies and British North America; but, although there was thus a considerable oversea trade between the Clyde and the Western hemisphere, all the large vessels trading to the Clyde were built in America.[6] The shipbuilding industry in the States was thus a very extensive one; and, in 1769, there were launched, in the North American Colonies, three hundred and eighty-nine vessels of 20,000 tons burden, which was far in excess of the annual British output.[7] This was largely owing to the limitless supply of timber in America, and to the import duties on constructional material imposed in this country to suit the English growers of oak, the price of which advanced in the eighteenth century from £2 15s. to £7 7s. per load.[8]

The _Brunswick_, of 600 tons, carpenters' measurement, to carry 1000 tons real burden, built by the Scotts in 1791 for the Nova Scotia trade; and the _Caledonia_, of 650 tons, built by the Scotts in 1794, for the carriage of timber for the Navy yards--each the largest ship in Scotland of its respective year--signalised the beginning of a period of greater activity, especially in respect of large ocean ships. Some years before--1767--the Scotts had feued ground for a building yard on the shore east of the West Burn. They added a graving dock of considerable size, and the inaugural proceedings included a dinner held on the floor of the dock.

Other developments contributed to the prosperity of the port of Greenock, the chief of the establishment being John Scott of the third generation, who was born in 1752, and died in 1837. His brother, William Scott, also the second of that name, migrated to Bristol, where he carried on an extensive trade as a shipbuilder. The latter was the father of James M. Scott, who is still remembered by some old inhabitants as the founder, about 1847, of penny banks in Greenock and of the Artisans' Club. John Scott, after his brother's departure, carried on the business under the name of John Scott and Sons, and did great service not only for the town, but also for the advancement of the business. In three successive years, 1787, 1788, and 1789, he bought three large plots from the ninth Lord Cathcart, for the extension of the works.[9] These then extended almost from the West Quay to the West Burn. He also, in 1791, constructed the old steamboat or custom-house quay,[10] and played a large part in developing the banking facilities of the town. He bought, in 1815, Halkshill, near Largs, which has continued the residence of the family. In view of the association of the firm with the town, it may be worth interpolating here a statement of the growth of the population of Greenock, with the sources from which the figures have been taken.

Year. Population. Source. 1700 1,328 Campbell's History, page 23. 1801 17,458 Weir's History, page 120. 1901 68,142 Census Returns, vol. i., page 212.

Shipbuilding work, however, was still in craft which to-day would be considered insignificant. The increase of the mercantile fleet of England throughout the eighteenth century was only fivefold in respect of numbers, and sixfold in tonnage; the average size shows an augmentation from 80 tons to only 100 tons, and there was no improvement in labour-economising appliances for the working of the ship, as the ratio of men to tonnage was at the beginning of the century practically one to every 10 tons, and at the close one to 13 tons.[11]

In the nineteenth century, the tonnage increased eightfold, but in view of the adoption of steam the actual carrying capacity was augmented nearly thirtyfold; the average size of ship increased to 760 tons. Practically, every ship in the eighteenth century carried guns, the average being two per vessel. It was not until 1853 that there was omitted from the mail contracts the clause which provided that each mail vessel must be built to carry guns of the largest calibre in use.