Charles Mitchell and Company
Charles Mitchell and Company was a shipyard in Newcastle . The company existed from 1852 until it merged with heavy industry company William Armstrong in 1882.
history
The company's founder, Charles Mitchell, was born in Aberdeen on May 20, 1820 . He completed his apprenticeship at the Simpson and Company shipyard before starting a job at the Newcastle shipyard John HS Coutts in September 1842. He worked there until 1844 and then first moved to London to later spend a few years traveling.
In 1852 Charles Mitchell returned to Newcastle, where he built his own shipbuilding site next to the Coutts shipyard in Low Walker. The first ship built there was the coastal freighter Havilah , destined for the Australian trade , which was launched in February 1852. Another notable ship from Mitchell was the Hesperus , which was built on behalf of Germany . After its completion in 1854, it was taken over by the Admiralty and set in motion with a load of railroad tracks for the Crimean War . Two years later, the only triple launch in one day was a never-repeated event on the River Tyne. In 1858 the shipyard manufactured kits for two screw steamers, which were assembled on the Volga under the supervision of Mitchell's brother-in-law Charles S. Swan . In 1864 Mitchell's second brother-in-law, Henry F. Swan, was sent to St. Petersburg to oversee the construction of five small warships. At that time, the shipyard received numerous construction contracts from Russia.
In 1867 the shipyard built the first British gunboat , the Staunch , which was followed by 27 comparable Ant- class boats at Mitchell by 1881 .
For laying 5,000 miles submarine cable which ordered Hooper Telegraph Company in 1873 to cable-laying at Mitchell Hooper . The ship, which was built in just 100 days, had a water displacement of 4935 GRT, making it the second largest cable lay in the world when it was built. Another well-known cable lay, the Faraday , was built in 1874 by William Froude at this shipyard based on a design by the Siemens brothers . The ship was christened by Wilhelm Siemens' wife .
The floating dock , built in 1877 for the Dutch government with a load capacity of 1000 tons, was a completely different field of activity . After its completion, it was towed to Java. The 16 tramp ships for various British shipping companies represented the majority of this year's order book .
After 450 ships had been built, Mitchell merged with William Armstrong in 1882 , whose joint company operated as Armstrong, Mitchell and Company until 1897 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ page about the ship on www.atlantic-cable.com (English)
