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Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Topic: Company

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Short description: British shipbuilding company (1852–1933)
Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
TypePublic
IndustryShipbuilding
FateCollapsed 1933
SuccessorArmstrong Whitworth
Founded1852
HeadquartersJarrow, United Kingdom

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as "Palmers", was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, County Durham, in north-eastern England, and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne.

History

Early history and growth

A Reed water tube boiler built by Palmers, as used in their torpedo boat destroyers
A triple expansion steam engine built in Palmers' engine works, as used in their torpedo boat destroyers

The company was established in 1852 by Charles Mark Palmer as Palmer Brothers & Co. in Jarrow.[1] Later that year it launched the John Bowes, the first iron screw collier.[1][2] By 1900 the business was known as Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company.[3][Fn 1] At that time, besides building ships, it manufactured and processed its own steel and other metals, and its products included Reed water tube boilers and marine steam engines.[6][Fn 2] By 1902 Palmers' base at Jarrow occupied about 100 acres (41 hectares) and included 0.75 miles (1.2 kilometres) of the southern bank of the River Tyne, and employed about 10,000 men and boys.[8] In 1910 Sir Charles Palmer's interest in the business was acquired by Lord Furness who, as Chairman, expanded the business by acquiring a lease over a new graving dock at Hebburn from Robert Stephenson and Company.[9] In 1919 Palmers laid down the SS Gairsoppa, which was sunk by a German U-boat in 1941, causing the loss of 84 lives and 200 long tons (203 tonnes) of silver.[10][11]

Depression and collapse

The Great Depression, which began in 1929, all but destroyed the shipbuilding industry, which would not rebound until the Second World War. In 1931, Palmers posted a loss of £88,867 (equivalent to £6,083,000 in 2019). The company received a moratorium from its creditors in order to extend repayment. In January 1933, the majority of the company's unsecured creditors met in London and agreed to extend the moratorium a further six months.[12]

However, Palmers' was unable to survive and collapsed by the end of the year. The company's blast furnaces and steel works—which covered 37 acres—were put up for auction.[13] The Jarrow yard was sold to National Shipbuilders Securities, which closed it down in order to sell it, causing much unemployment and leading to the Jarrow March.[14] After the shipyard closed, following support from the industrialist, Sir John Jarvis, the site was used the engine shop as a steel foundry for another 18 months.[15]

The company retained the yard at Hebburn and was subsequently acquired by Armstrong Whitworth, becoming Palmers Hebburn Company.[16] In 1973, Vickers-Armstrongs, successor to Armstrong Whitworth, sold the Palmers Dock at Hebburn to Swan Hunter and developed it as the Hebburn Shipbuilding Dock.[17] This facility was acquired in turn from the receivers of Swan Hunter by Tyne Tees Dockyard in 1994, which sold it to Cammell Laird in 1995. When the latter entered receivership in 2001, the dock was acquired by A&P Group.[18][19] The yard remains in use as a ship repair and refurbishment facility.[20]

Ships built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Ships built by Palmers included:

Naval

Battlecruisers

Battleships

HMS Defence, a battleship of 1861, as she looked after 1866
Battleship HMS Defence of 1861, as she appeared from 1866
refer to caption
Battleship HMS Resolution of 1915, as seen in the 1930s

Cruisers

the cruiser HMS Orlando of 1886
Cruiser HMS Orlando of 1886, as seen in the 1890s

Destroyers

HMS Spiteful, launched in 1899: it became the first warship to be powered only using fuel oil in 1904.
Torpedo boat destroyer HMS Spiteful, built by Palmers and launched in 1899, became the first warship to be powered only using fuel oil in 1904.
HMS Diana in 1933
Destroyer HMS Diana of 1932, as seen in 1933

Monitors

HMS Marshal Ney in 1915
Monitor HMS Marshal Ney in 1915

River gunboats

river gunboat HMS Spey of 1876
River gunboat HMS Spey of 1876

Merchant and leisure

SS John Bowes of 1852
SS John Bowes of 1852, the first iron screw collier
SS Meriones of 1922
SS Meriones of 1922

Cable ships

Cargo ships

  • Anne Thomas Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1882)
  • Anthony Radcliffe Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1893)
  • Automedon Red Ensign Alfred Holt and Company (1922)
  • Clarrisa Radcliffe Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1889)
  • Douglas Hill Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1890)
  • Gairsoppa Red Ensign British-India Steam Navigation Company (1919)
  • Gwenllian Thomas Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1882)
  • Iolo Morganwg Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1882)
  • John Bowes Red Ensign Charles Palmer (1852)[21]
  • Kate Thomas Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1884)
  • Lady Palmer Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1889)
  • Mary Thomas Red Ensign Evan Thomas Radcliffe (1889)
  • Meriones Red Ensign China Mutual Steam Navigation Company (1922)
  • Slavic Prince (Prince Line Ltd, Newcastle) (1918)

Oil tankers

  • British Ardour Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1928)
  • British Aviator Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1924)
  • British Captain Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1923)
  • British Chemist Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1925)
  • British Chivalry Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1929)
  • British Corporal Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1922)
  • British Freedom Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1928)
  • British General Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1922)
  • British Honour Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1928)
  • British Industry Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1927)
  • British Inventor Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1926)[22]
  • British Justice Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1928)
  • British Light Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1917)
  • British Loyalty Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1928)
  • British Mariner Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1922)
  • British Officer Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1922)
  • British Premier Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1922)
  • British Science Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1931)
  • British Sergeant Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1922)
  • British Splendour Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1931)
  • British Strength Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1931)
  • British Yeoman Red Ensign British Tanker Company (1923)

Passenger ships

Steam yachts

  • Xantha Red Ensign Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey (1867)

Tugs

  • PT Northumberland Red Ensign G. Wascoe, Shields, 1852 Yard number 1[24][25]

Cargo vessels

  • S.S. Socotra, 1897

See also

  • List of shipbuilders and shipyards

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Some 19th-century and later sources refer to the company as "Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company", with an apostrophe, but in Some Account of the Works of Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company Limited, which was compiled by the business's company secretary Malcom Dillon and published in 1900, the name is given throughout as "Palmers ...", without the apostrophe.[4][5][3]
  2. ↑ "A speciality of [Palmers' engine works] is the manufacture of the 'Reed' water-tube boiler, the invention of Mr J. W. Reed, manager of the engine works department, which has been adopted with well-known results in ... high-speed [torpedo boat destroyers] ..., and also in vessels constructed for the Admiralty on the Clyde. It may be observed that nearly 25 miles [40 km] of tubes are used in the manufacture of the boilers and machinery of each 30-knot destroyer."[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Building for the world". The Journal. 22 May 2007. http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/newcastle-campaigns/st-oswalds-hospice/2007/05/22/building-for-the-world-61634-19266366/. 
  2. ↑ Dillon 1900, pp. 16–7.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dillon 1900.
  4. ↑ Gibbs 1896, p. 8.
  5. ↑ Anon. 1899, p. 475.
  6. ↑ Dillon 1900, pp. 28–50.
  7. ↑ Dillon 1900, pp. 33–4.
  8. ↑ Anon. 1902, pp. 613, 616.
  9. ↑ "Christopher Furness, Obituary". The Times. 11 November 1912. http://www.dmm.org.uk/archives/a_obit16.htm. 
  10. ↑ "Shipwreck of SS Gairsoppa reveals £150m silver haul". BBC News. 26 September 2011. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15061868. 
  11. ↑ C. Michael Hogan (Lead Author); Peter Saundry (Topic Editor) (21 May 2012). Cleveland, Cutler J. ed. "SS Gairsoppa recovery". Encyclopedia of Earth (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). http://www.eoearth.org/article/SS_Gairsoppa_recovery?topic=49523. Retrieved 10 February 2017. 
  12. ↑ "Palmers' Moratorium". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette. 14 January 1933. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000640/19330114/126/0004. 
  13. ↑ "Steel Works to be Sold at Auction". The Times: p. 11. 10 July 1934. 
  14. ↑ Charles Palmer
  15. ↑ "Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company". Grace's Guide. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Palmers_Shipbuilding_and_Iron_Co. 
  16. ↑ Crockett, Margaret; Foster, Janet (October 2005). "Report on the Access to Shipbuilding Collections in North East England (ARK) Project". Tyne & Wear Archives. http://www.tyneandweararchives.org.uk/pdf/arkrep.pdf. 
  17. ↑ "Swan Hunter History: Naval ships". swanhunter.com. 2010. http://www.swanhunter.com/history_p6.html. 
  18. ↑ "Shipbuilder: Palmers Hebburn Co Ltd, Hebburn (1934 – 1973)". Tyne Built Ships. n.d.. http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/PalmerDD.html. 
  19. ↑ "UK north east yards extend dock capacity". Motor Ship. 1995. http://www.readabstracts.com/Transportation-industry/Western-yards-go-it-alone-Conversions-and-coatings-keep-yards-busy.html. 
  20. ↑ "New owner for A&P Tyne shipyard". The Journal. 2 March 2011. http://www.thejournal.co.uk/business/business-news/new-owner-ap-tyne-shipyard-4435816. 
  21. ↑ "Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Co - Graces Guide". https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Palmers_Shipbuilding_and_Iron_Co. 
  22. ↑ "Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Co - Graces Guide". https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Palmers_Shipbuilding_and_Iron_Co. 
  23. ↑ SS Nevada
  24. ↑ "Palmer Tyne shipbuilder Jarrow Willington Quay". http://www.tynetugs.co.uk/Palmer.html. 
  25. ↑ "Tyne tug Northumberland 1852". http://www.tynetugs.co.uk/northumberland1852.html. 

Bibliography

External links



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