William Scott Shipbuilders

William Scott & Son
Private
Industry Shipbuilding, Shipowner
Fate Closed
Successor Yard taken over by William Patterson
Founded 1823 or 1824
Defunct 1831
Headquarters River Avon, UK
Key people
William Scott (founder),
William Patterson,
Christopher Scott,
Sir Robert Seppings,
James Mullen Scott (son),
John Scott, Sr.

William Scott Shipbuilders was a short lived shipbuilder in Bristol, England in the 19th century and an early producer of steamships.[1] The yard was important in the development of Bristol Shipbuilding with Scott's assistant, William Patterson, going on to produce the SS Great Britain.

History

Origins & Shipowning

The founder, William Scott (b. 1756), was part of a well known Scottish shipbuilding family from Greenock,[2] and moved to Barnstaple, England, in the late-18th century to engage in the timber trade. With Christopher Scott (probably his brother) he purchased his first vessel in around 1810, the barque William for the New Brunswick to Baltic route.[3] They later acquired a number of vessels including the sloop Pomona of 32 t for use as a packet on the Greenock-Bristol run.

Shipbuilding

Hilhouse vacated the shipyard and dry-dock at Wapping on the south side of the River Avon in 1824, and Scott seized the opportunity to enter shipbuilding with his son, James Mullen Scott, as William Scott & Son. William Patterson joined the firm as Scott's assistant[4] and together they built the steam packet Lord Beresford for the Channel Islands run. The engine was fitted out by Price Bros. of Neath. Scott may also have built the steamship Bristol in 1823[5] for the Swansea to Bristol service, making that the first vessel built by the firm. Both were constructed to the plans of Sir Robert Seppings, Surveyor of the Navy.

Several sail and steam vessels followed, including the first steamship entirely constructed in Bristol, the packet Wye in 1826 and several West Indiamen. Despite steady output from the yard and activity in the timber trade, William Scott was called in by the creditors in 1830, and the final vessel, the steamer Nautilus was completed in 1831. William Patterson took over the yard at Wapping later that year and ran it until the late 1850s.

William Scott built ships

Major ships built by William Scott & Son:

Bristol Shipyards with the location of William Scott & Son at East Wapping highlighted.

References

  1. Farr, Graeme (1977). Shipbuilding in the Port of Bristol National Maritime Museum Maritime Monographs and Reports. p6
  2. Inverclyde Council (2009). Two Centuries of Shipbuilding by the Scotts at Greenock Offices of Engineering (originally printed 1906). p3
  3. Farr, Graeme (1977). Shipbuilding in the Port of Bristol National Maritime Museum Maritime Monographs and Reports. p7
  4. RPEC Engineers Walk: William Scott (1795 - 1869) Naval Architect. Retrieved on 2012-10-20.
  5. Farr, Graeme (1971). Bristol Shipbuilding in the Nineteenth Century Bristol Branch of the Historical Association, The University Bristol. p11
  6. Swansea Docks: Pocketts’ Bristol Channel Steam Packet Company. Retrieved on 2012-10-21.
  7. Farr, Graeme E. (1950). Records of Bristol ships, 1800-1838 (vessels over 150 tons) Bristol Record Society. p150
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