Barclay, Curle and Company
The shipyard Barclay Curle & Co. Ltd. , shortly Barclay, Curle in District Whiteinch Glasgow, insisted the company was in its heyday of the largest shipyards on from 1884 to 1968. River Clyde . Today the SeaWind Group offers ship repairs and other maritime services under the name SeaWind Barclay Curle in Birkenhead and Appledore (District Torridge , North Devon) .
history
Founding years
The shipyard's roots lie with Robert Barclay, who founded the Clydeholm shipyard as the first company in Whiteinch near Glasgow in 1818. Barclay died in 1861 and the following year the company set up a second, approximately 1800 m 2 site in Stobcross. By the 1870s, 22 sailing ships had already been built in Stobcross, while the construction of the first steamship was started in Clydeholm. In 1884 the company was converted to Barclay, Curle and Company Limited . The building program of the 1880s was characterized by the conversion to steel shipbuilding and the expansion of the types of ships built. In addition to steam ships and barges, the first steam yachts were also built. The Circe , built in 1888, received the first triple expansion machine built by Barclay, Curle with Morton's valve control. In the same year the shipyard presented itself at the world exhibition in Glasgow .
From 1900
From 1900 in particular, ever larger ships were built. Shipping companies from all over the world ordered large passenger and cargo liners from Barclay, Curle. From 1912 Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson acquired the shipyards in Clydeholm and incorporated them into his shipyard group. In addition, Swan Hunter also acquired the Elderslie shipyard with its dry dock, as well as Barclay's dry docks in Govan . In the years up to the outbreak of World War I, the British India Line became one of the shipyard's main customers with 17 ships ordered. Barclay, Curle worked on the development of a medium-sized twin-screw passenger and troop steamer during these years.
Wars and crisis
During World War I, Barclay, Curle & Co. built 57 large ships, 30 convoy escort sloops , five "P" -class submarines , four insect-class river gunboats, and six tankers at their Clydeholm and West Scotstoun shipyards . Over 1000 ships came for repairs.
After the war, Barclay, Curle built eight "G" -class meat reefer ships to make up for war losses. British India again became one of the main customers in the 1920s. Numerous other shipping companies also ordered liner freighters again. In 1922, the Jordanvale shipyard, which is located downstream, was acquired and modernized to build tramp ships and coastal freighters.
The shipyard began building tanks in the 1930s. From 1932 on, the shipyards were rationalized against the backdrop of the global economic crisis . The shipyards in West Scotstoun and Govan became repair yards, while shipbuilding took place in Clydeholm and Jordanvale. In this way, the shipyards survived the years of the Depression, while only small passenger and cargo motor ships, tankers and tramp ships, as well as troop carriers left the shipyards.
The 1940s filled the order book again with construction orders for general cargo ships, as well as luxury passenger and liner ships. The construction list of the 1950s represented a high phase in the shipyard's history with a large number of complex new buildings for worldwide customers. In addition, numerous tankers, fish factory ships, bulk carriers and necklaces also left the shipyard's slipways. In 1961, the company's 3,028 employees manufacture not only ships and marine machinery, but also office furniture and shop fittings.
The last few years
In 1967 Swan Hunter Shipbuilders decided to end shipbuilding at the Clydeholm shipyard, but kept it in operation until 1968. North Britain Engine Works, which is part of the Swan Hunter Group, continued to build marine machinery before it was bought by the Swiss marine engine manufacturer Sulzer AG . The repair yard in West Scotstoun continued to operate and, like the majority of all shipbuilding companies in Great Britain, was nationalized under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 and switched to the production of naval weapon systems ( Sea Dart and Sea Wolf missiles) in the late 1970s . In the mid-1980s, the site became a general industrial area and is partly fallow. Today the company is part of the Seawind Group. Today the company operates ship repair and maritime service companies in Birkenhead and Appledore under the brands Seawind Barclay, Curle and Seawind Marine .
Web links
- Seawind Group website (English)