A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Custamento ducendl praedictam navem Londiniam xl, 

 per idem breve, et Roberto de Stockton qui duxit 

 eandem Navem xiijj. iiijV. pro servitio (?) suo, per 

 breve ejusdem.'* 



But if Stockton were of sufficient importance to 

 be the building-place of the vessel it had sunk 

 into complete insignificance as a port by the 

 reign of Elizabeth, for the report of the Eliza- 

 bethan commissioners treats it in a somewhat 

 slighting manner. 



There is also a creek called Tees Mouth, three miles 

 from Hartlepool, but no town nor habitation until 

 Stockton ID miles distant where ships may come near 

 the shore and boats may come on land.'' 



But in the seventeenth century Stockton was 

 more flourishing; a report drawn up in 1638 

 says of the Tees that the effect of the tide was 

 felt as far as Yarm, and that ships 'of 60 tons come 

 into the river many at a time that bring corn 

 from Dantzic' '* So important had the Baltic 

 trade at Stockton become by 1 67 1 that the 

 Eastland merchants thought it necessary to ap- 

 point a surveyor there.'^ There is a local tradi- 

 tion that the revival of shipbuilding in the middle 

 of the eighteenth century was due to a Mr. Chap- 

 plelow, a government agent, who coming to get 

 timber for the royal dockyards, stayed there 

 to work up the inferior wood available in great 

 quantities, but too small to be worth transporta- 

 tion to London. The Headlams, who migrated 

 to Gateshead as early as 1750, were the first 

 shipbuilders, but the names of the Humphreys, 

 Haws, Mellanbys, and Markhams are all con- 

 nected with wooden shipbuilding at Stockton 

 during the later eighteenth century. Mr. Haw 

 built sixty-one vessels between 1782 and 1800.^^ 



In 1779 the Bellona, a fine frigate, was built 

 for the government ; it was unfortunately wrecked 

 in the Texel.^' 



It is difficult to associate the small town of 

 Yarm, miles from the mouth of the river, with a 

 shipbuilding industry, but there is no doubt that 

 the increased prosperity of Stockton was due to 

 the decay of Yarm as a port. At the end of the 



'^ Madox, Hist, of the Exch. i, 714. 

 '' S.P. Dom. Eliz. loc. cit. 

 '' Ibid. Chas. I, 1638, vol. 409, No. 189. 

 'Mbid. Chas. II, 8 M.ir. 1671, Entry Book 25, 

 fol. 194. 



'^ H. Heaviside, Ann. of Stockton, 58. 

 "J. Brewster, Hist, of Stockton, 155. 



eighteenth century there were two shipyards at 

 Stockton where vessels of 800 tons could be 

 built.^' The unnavigable nature of the Tees 

 militated against its development as a shipbuild- 

 ing centre; between 1838 and 1857 no less 

 than eighteen vessels had been totally wrecked 

 and sixteen stranded at the Tees mouth. '^ 



The first iron shipbuilding yard was on the 

 Yorkshire side of the river, but Messrs. Pearce, 

 Lockwood & Co. started building iron steamers 

 in 1854 on the Durham side. They met with 

 immediate success, and by 186 1 were building 

 for the Indian government. The Talpore was 

 built for conveying troops on the lower Indus, 

 was fitted with 800 berths, and could, in case 

 of urgent necessity, accommodate 3,000 troops. 

 The following year they received another order 

 for a large vessel for the same government. 

 In 1888 the yard was taken over by Mr. Ropner, 

 a West Hartlepool shipowner of German origin, 

 in partnership with his son, Mr. Robert Ropner. 

 The firm devotes itself specially to producing 

 vessels with a great cargo-carrying capacity. In 

 1895 Mr. R. Ropner patented a new model, the 

 trunk steamer, which soon achieved great popu- 

 larity. In 1892, and again in 1894, the works 

 were at a standstill for a considerable time on 

 account of disastrous strikes of thirteen and four- 

 teen weeks. In 1900, by their output of 42,263 

 gross tons, they secured the sixth pLice among 

 the shipbuilding firms of Great Britain. In 1905 

 they built nine vessels of nearly 4,000 tons. 

 When in full work they employ about 1,5:0 

 hands. 



Unlike many of the Durham firms, Messrs. 

 Ropner & Son do not build their own engines, 

 but are supplied by Messrs. Blair & Co., whose 

 works immediately adjoin the shipyards. This 

 engineering firm is on the site of some old works 

 started by Messrs. Fossick and Hackworth in 

 1839 ; here the first pair of marine engines were 

 built in 1853 ; later Mr. G.J. Blair became first 

 assistant, then manager, then owner of the works. 



The total production of new shipping from 

 the several shipyards on the River Tees for the 

 year 1905 was forty vessels, representing 138,577 

 tons,''" but only nine of these vessels, with a 

 tonnage of 33,560, can be claimed for the county 

 of Durham. 



" British Universal Dir. 1792. 

 '' J. S. Jeans, 'Notes on 'Northern Indust. 48. 

 *° Ports of the River Tees, compiled by the Secretary 

 to the Tees Conservancy Commissioners. 



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