John Blumer and Company

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The shipbuilding company John Blumer and Company from Sunderland on the River Wear existed from 1859 to 1927. It was the last shipyard in the North Dock of Sunderland Harbor.

history

John Blumer founded the company in North Sands in 1859. At first only wooden vehicles were built. The first ship was the two-master Avon , another five newbuildings followed in North Sands. After the shipyard had moved as far east as possible to the North Dock in 1864 to make way for an expansion of the William Pile shipyard, which converted its operations to iron shipbuilding, Blumer only built a few composite structures on the new site before joining in in 1869 began building iron steamships.

1864: Blumer's building program comprised mainly tramp ships, colliers, as well as coastal freight and passenger ships. The shipyard was able to count among other things the shipping company P&O and the British Admiralty to its customer base.

In 1900 the shipyard achieved an output of six ships with a total of 18,679 gross tons. Including the largest ship ever built by Blumer, the tramp steamer Drumcruil with a load capacity of 6500 tons. From 1906 the building orders fell due to the slowdown in the economy. In the years 1908/09, only three new buildings left the shipyard. After 1910 the number of orders increased again, which led to the production of 25 tramp ships and necklaces in the period up to the First World War.

At the beginning of the First World War, the shipyard had a workforce of 820 men. In the course of the war, Blumer delivered 14 ships with a volume of 48,456 GRT. Including five barges for the Admiralty and eight standard WAR "C" ships for The Shipping Controller . The construction of another five of these standard ships was only finished after the end of the war.

After 18 civilly ordered ships could be delivered between 1915 and 1922, an empty order book led to the closure of the shipyard after the delivery of the Ixia in July 1922.

In January 1927 the Cydonia , whose hull had been lying unfinished at the shipyard for several years, was completed and delivered at the shipyard. After that, the last shipyard that had produced in the port's north dock was demolished.

literature

  • JW Smith, TS Holden: Where ships are born: Sunderland 1346-1946 . A history of shipbuilding on the River Wear. Thomas Reed and Company Limited, Sunderland 1946.
  • Norman L. Middlemiss: British Shipbuilding Yards . Volume 1: North-East Coast. 1st edition. Shield Publications, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1993, ISBN 1-871128-10-2 .

Web links