INDUSTRIES 



Messrs. Doxford, of Sunderland, in 1905 

 secured the blue ribbon for the largest output of 

 tonnage in the world ; they built twenty ships 

 with an average tonnage of 4,332 tons. The 

 firm was started in 1840 by Mr. William Dox- 

 ford, father of the three senior members of the 

 present firm, who began as a wooden-shipbuilder 

 at Coxgreen ; he left Coxgreen in 1857, and 

 started iron shipbuilding at Pallion near the site 

 of the present works. In 1878 an engine-build- 

 ing department was added ; in 1891 the firm 

 became a limited liability company. The rapid 

 development of the firm is unparalleled, and is 

 chiefly owing to their having introduced the 

 turret steamer in 1892. The main idea of the 

 turret steamer is a combination of strength with 

 lightness, a maximum carrying capacity with a 

 minimum net register. With the exception of 

 the space devoted to machinery and water ballast, 

 the entire hull is used for cargo, and the holds are 

 free of all obstruction. The hold beams during 

 the last year (1905) have in some cases been en- 

 tirely dispensed with, and vessels of this type are 

 increasing in popularity. In 1895 a new method 

 of rolling ships' plates with joggled edges was 

 adopted. The great advantage of the innovation 

 was to reduce the weight of the vessel by abolishing 

 packing, which was no longer necessary as the 

 joggled edges of the plates fitted into each other. 

 In 1892-3 the output was about 2,000 tons ; in 

 1902 it was 43,780 tons. In 1905 the firm 

 turned out the three largest single-deck turret 

 steamers afloat," when the output was 8 7,000 tons. 

 For the Clan Line alone Doxfords have launched 

 thirty turret-decked steamers, of from 6,000 tons 

 to 8,000 tons capacity ; and they have also built 

 for the P. and O. and the British India, and for 

 America, Spain, Italy, Holland, Norway, Sweden, 

 and Denmark. The most novel feature of the 

 building slips is the arrangement of overhead gear ; 

 above each vessel, resting on columns and beams, 

 are tracks along which the hoisting trollies travel. 

 These tracks overlap the vessel both on the shore 

 and river ends, greatly facilitating and accelerating 

 the bringing of the necessary material to the place 

 where it is wanted. The startling fact that the 

 establishment launches a vessel a fortnight is 

 partly due to the extraordinary rapidity with 

 which the slips can be cleared and the materials 

 for the erection of the new vessel got into place. 



Another old and important firm on the Wear 

 is Messrs. J. L. Thompson & Sons near the 

 mouth of the river, founded in 1846. For the 

 first twenty-four years of their history the firm 

 were occupied solely with wooden vessels ; in 

 1 87 1 the first iron steam vessel was built; in 

 1898 their gross tonnage launched amounted to 

 40,815 tons; from 1885 to 1902 they fifteen 

 times headed the annual output of tonnage on the 

 Wear ; for three successive years they held the 

 " The Ouiloa, Querimba, and Queda, each 1 2,000 

 tons dead weight. 



fourth position in the annual output for the 

 United Kingdom, and in 1905 were the eighth 

 on the list with thirteen vessels and 48,009 grosS' 

 tonnage. 



Messrs. Short Brothers, Pallion, begun in 1849 

 by Mr. George Short, is now carried on as a 

 limited liability company; in 1905 they built 

 nine vessels with a gross tonnage of 27,805 tons. 



Messrs. Osbourne, Graham & Co. started busi- 

 ness in I 872 at North Hylton ; the second steamer 

 launched in 1877, the ChiUingham CaUle, of 

 1,613 tons, attracted great attention, for at that 

 date it was considered to be of enormous size. 

 The first vessel lighted by electricity built on the 

 Wear was the work of this firm. 



John Priestman & Son was established in 

 1882 at South wick by Mr. John Priestman. In 

 1894 he patented his self-trimming trunk vessel. 

 The Southwick yard has turned out some large 

 vessels especially adapted for the cattle trade. 



Another old-established shipbuilding yard at 

 Southwick is that of Messrs. Robert Thompson 

 & Son. 



William Pickersgill & Sons, John Bulmer & 

 Co., S. P. Austin & Son, turned out six vessels 

 during 1905, the average size of the first firm's 

 vessels being nearly 4,000 tons, of the last, 

 1,215 tons. John Crown & Sons with three 

 vessels, total tonnage 3,377 tons, the Sun- 

 derland Shipbuilding Co. with eight vessels 

 averaging nearly 2,000 tons, and Bartram & Sons, 

 bring up the total number of Wear-side ship- 

 builders to thirteen, the total tonnage of the 

 Wear to 306,759 tons in 1905. 



On the Durham side of the Tyne, Jarrow, 

 South Shields, and Hebburn are the shipbuilding 

 centres. 



The Jarrow works were founded in 185 i by 

 Charles and George Palmer ; where the town of 

 Jarrow, with its 70,000 inhabitants, now stands, 

 there was then but one house. They are the 

 only shipbuilding works in the world where it is 

 possible to watch all the processes through which 

 an amorphous heap of iron-stone passes before it 

 emerges as a seaworthy vessel. The shipyard 

 covers an area of about 100 acres, and is on the 

 site of an old yard where wooden frigates had 

 been built early in the century for the British 

 government. It has a river frontage of nearly 

 three-quarters of a mile. Within this area there 

 is a shipyard, graving dock and slipway, engine 

 and boiler works, steel-works and blast furnaces. 

 There are five blast furnaces, and in the steel- 

 works there are eight smelting furnaces and cog- 

 ging, sectional, sheet, and plate mills. The 

 works are completely self-sufficing, having their 

 own forge and rivet works, fitters', plumbers', 

 joiners', and cabinet-makers' shops. The engine 

 works are capable of turning out thirty-four sets 

 of engines and boilers in one year. When the 

 shipyards are at their busiest, about eight thou- 

 sand men are employed. There are about eight 



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