Sir James Laing and Sons

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The shipbuilding company Sir James Laing and Sons , often Laings for short , from Sunderland existed from 1793 to 1985.

history

Early years

The company was founded in 1793 by the brothers Philip and John Laing. John's son David joined the company shortly thereafter. The first ship to be built on the Harbor Sands site was the Horta , which was delivered in 1794 . David died in 1796. After the shipyard had changed locations several times in the following years, John left the partnership in 1818, whereupon Phillip founded his own shipyard in Deptford. Their first product was Anne , created in the same year .

Deptford Yard until 1900

Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd share dated May 12, 1899

In 1844 James Laing took over the Deptford shipyard, whose first ship under his supervision, the Agincourt , was launched on January 19th. The Agincourt was also the first of over 30 ships that Duncan Dunbar had built at Laings over the next 20 years. Five years after James took over, his son Phillip joined the shipyard's business. The ship Amity , built by James Laing in 1853, was the first iron steamship from a shipyard on Wear. After that, Laings built a number of iron steamers that were used to supply supplies during the Crimean War , and James Laing Junior joined the shipyard in 1862.

In addition to shipbuilding, the Laing family also operated their own ships. The two-master with auxiliary steam engine Hiogo , launched on December 19, 1865 , stranded on its maiden voyage. In addition, the Laing Steamship Company Ltd owned eight tramp ships between 1886 and 1905 and the Turret built by William Doxford & Sons . In 1866 the shipyard stopped building exclusively wooden ships, but continued with the construction of composite structures until 1875 . In 1871, Hugh Laing, the son of James Laing Sr., joined the family business and later became one of the yard's directors. After the shipyard built two cargo and passenger ships for the renowned shipping company P&O in 1873 , numerous orders for liner carriers from other well-known shipping companies followed. Another two years later, Laings built what is probably the most prominent ship in its shipyard's history. The composite full-rigged ship Torrens , launched in 1875 , became known through its second mate Joseph Conrad , who served on it from 1891 to 1893.

In 1884, the shipyard won a first prize at an exhibition for passenger and mail ships for the scheduled passenger ship Victoria, which was built on behalf of the shipping company Companhia Mexican de Navegacao . Hugh Laing had 1,892 instrumental in the construction of the first oil tanker the shipyard, which for Marcus Samuel , founder of Shell , built Turbo . At the world exhibition in Antwerp in 1894, the shipyard remarkably showed a model of one of their ships from 1850. In 1897 James Laing was knighted , the following year the shipyard was converted into a private company and the company was renamed Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd. renamed. Their first ship was the liner Anatolia . In 1900 Laings produced ships with a volume of 40,307 tons, which put them in the first place of the shipyards on the river.

1900 to the end of the Second World War

After the death of Sir James Laing, who was important for the development of the shipyard and shipbuilding on the Wear, in 1901, his sons Philip and Hugh Laing succeeded him. When Philip also died in 1907, the company found itself in an increasingly difficult financial situation, to which Sir James Marr was appointed to the shipyard's board in 1909. Even so, not a single ship was launched at Laings in 1909.

In the war years 1914 to 1918, the shipyard again achieved the highest production figures of all shipyards on Wear. A total of 18 ships with 109,924 space tons and six smaller military vehicles left the shipyard in the First World War. The newbuildings included a number of tankers and twelve standard WAR-type freighters . Seven "WAR" ships were also tankers, but four of these were unfinished at the end of the war. On June 15, 1917, Laings was visited by King George V and Queen Mary. At that time, the shipyard in Deptford had five newbuildings and a dry dock on the inner curve of the river.

The 1920s were characterized by tank construction, of which over 20 were built in this decade. In addition, a few liner and tramp ships were built in Deptford. After the completion of the Longwood tanker , operations at the shipyard almost came to a standstill. Only the shipyard's apprentices remained busy with the slow completion of the freighter Dore . After the government introduced a Scrap & Build Scheme in 1935, a type of scrap and new build scheme , the shipyard received the first two new tramp ship orders. From 1937, Laings was able to add further orders for similar trampers to the order book. After that, the two tankers Eidanger and Alar formed the basis for series of Norwegian standard tankers that were built in the following war both at Laing and at the Furness shipyard in Haverton Hill.

During the years of World War II through 1946, Deptford Shipyard produced 41 ships, 32 of which were tankers. In addition, eight other tramp ships and civil orders were created.

Post-war years

On April 30, 1946, Princess Elizabeth visited the shipyard on the occasion of the launch of the tanker British Princess . Laings Tankschiffbau had acquired a good reputation in the previous years and was to produce 36 new tankers between 1946 and 1966. In 1954 Laing's merged with the Joseph L. Thompson and Sons shipyard and Sunderland Forge. Together they all operated under the name Sunderland Shipbuilding Dry Docks & Engineering Company Ltd.

From 1955 to 1961, the shipyard built ten ore ships with capacities between 15,500 and 19,500 dwt. In 1961, the shipbuilder employed 1,543 people. In the same year William Doxford & Sons shipyard also joined the group, which in the following years was called Doxford and Sunderland Shipbuilding and Engineering Group .

Doxford and Sunderland Group

On April 1, 1966, Laing was incorporated as Deptford shipyard in the Doxford and Sunderland Group. The shipyards in Deptford and North Sands mainly built Panamax ships for the next decade . In Deptford alone, 17 bulk carriers of this size as well as four liner cargo ships and three tankers were built in these years. On July 1, 1977, the shipyard group was incorporated into the state-owned British Shipbuilders Corporation. Then five more Panamax bulk ships were built and from 1979 the Deptford shipyard and two other shipyards participated in the creation of twelve liner freighters.

In 1981 a B30 bulk carrier was delivered to an Indian shipping company, followed in 1983 by two B35 ships for the Greek account. After a B45 bulk carrier was built for a customer in Hong Kong in 1984, two more B45 ships for a shipping company from Mexico followed in 1985, after which the shipyard closed its doors. The second ship, the Mitla , launched on May 3rd, marked the end of 192 years of shipbuilding in Deptford.

today

The former Deptford Yard shipyard has been used by crane manufacturer Liebherr since the late 1990s .

literature

  • Smith, J. W; Holden, TS: Where Ships are Born. Sunderland 1346-1946 . A History of Shipbuilding on the River Wear. Thomas Reed, Sunderland 1946.

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