Chapter VI: Descriptions of Some Notable Shipyards (2)

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Limited, have their works at
Jarrow-on-Tyne, about four miles from the sea. The works embrace
both banks of the river Tyne, cover nearly 100 acres of land, and
employ about 7,000 persons. They were first commenced in 1851
by Mr Charles Mark Palmer, the present M.P. for North Durham,
distinguished for the active part he has taken and continues to
take in merchant shipping legislation. In 1865 the works were made
into a limited company, Mr Palmer becoming chairman. It is a saying
in Jarrow, with reference to these gigantic works, that the raw
ironstone is taken in at the one end and launched from the other
in the form of iron steamships, fitted complete with all their
machinery, to carry on a large share of the world’s commerce.
However much this may appear the exaggerated utterance of native
pride, it must be declared to be a literal truth. The works include
within themselves the entire range of operations, from the raising
and smelting of the ironstone to the complete equipment of iron,
steam and sailing vessels of all sizes. The ore itself, raised at
the rate of 1,000 tons per day, is brought round by sea from the
Company’s own mines at Port Mulgrave, near Whitby, in Yorkshire,
and is lifted from the river wharf at the works up to the railway
level, along an inclined plane worked by a stationary engine. Coke
and coal come into the works from Marley Hill and other collieries
in Durham and Northumberland, by the Pontop and Jarrow Railway. The
coke is discharged into a hopper capable of holding about 1,500
tons, from the bottom of which the blast furnace barrows are filled
through sliding doors, dispensing with manual labour. The four
blast furnaces are 85 feet high, 24 feet diameter at the boshes,
and 10 feet in the hearth. They are capable of producing over 2,000
tons of pig per week, of which more than one-half is used in the
Company’s works. The blast is heated to about 1,500° Fahr. in eight
“Whitewell” hot air fire-brick stoves of the newest pattern, and
there are eighteen kilns for calcining the Cleveland ironstone. The
rolling mill forge comprises eighty puddling furnaces, producing
over 1,000 tons of puddled bars weekly; which, again, are rolled
into plates and angle bars of the largest and smallest sizes used
in the trade. There are two forge engines with 36-inch cylinders,
one of 4 feet and the other of 5 feet stroke, each driving a roll
train and four pairs of 22-inch rolls. There are two plate mills
and ten mill furnaces, producing about 1,200 tons of finished
boiler and ship plates weekly. Each mill has two pairs of 24-in.
rolls, reversed by clutch and crabs; a bar mill with two pairs of
rolls, driven by a 24-inch cylinder, produces 120 tons per week;
a fourth mill, with four pairs of rolls, driven by two 30-inch
cylinders, with 4 feet stroke, produces about 300 tons per week of
plates; also a large angle and bar mill, driven by a single engine,
having 36-inch cylinder and 4 feet stroke, capable of rolling the
very largest angles used in the trade. There is also a sheet mill
in the forge. Attached to the rolling mills are shears, circular
saws, punching, and straightening presses, all of the newest
patterns.

The adjoining department is that of the engine works, which is on
the same gigantic scale, and is capable of finishing about forty
pairs of marine engines with their boilers, annually, besides a
proportionate share of replace boilers and repairs. The department
produces its own iron and brass castings and forgings. In the
boiler shop of this department vertical rolls for rolling long
boiler shell plates were first used, and may be seen in operation.
In the year 1882-83, June to June, thirty-six pairs of
engines, of 7,300 nominal and 39,240 indicated horse-power, were
turned out.

The next department, occupying the east end of the Company’s works,
is that of shipbuilding. The shops of this department are fitted
up with all the newest machines for quick and efficient production
of work. It contains the largest graving dock on the coast, also
a very fine patent slip, fitted with hydraulic hauling gear. The
building slips are suitable for every kind of vessel up to 500 feet
in length, and are capable, with those in the Howdon branch of the
works on the opposite side of the river, of launching 70,000 tons
of shipping annually. There are nine building slips at Jarrow,
and six at Howdon. In the year 1882-83, June to June, 35 vessels
of the aggregate tonnage of 68,000 tons were built and delivered
to their owners. For transporting material throughout the works,
three steam travelling cranes and eleven locomotive engines are
employed. For discharging ore, two fixed and two travelling steam
cranes, also two hydraulic cranes, are in use. At the engine works
are sheer-legs 100 feet high, capable of lifting 100 tons—used for
lifting engines and boilers, and for masting the vessels.

The output of tonnage by Palmers’ Company for 1882 and that for
1883 were severally about double the amount turned out by any other
one firm in existence for these years. The following statement
of the yearly amount of tonnage turned out by the firm since the
commencement of iron shipbuilding on the Tyne in 1852, will be
interesting, as showing the gradual strides by which the firm have
risen from 920 tons thirty years ago to the wonderful return of
61,113 tons in 1883:—

+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| Year. Ton.| Year. Ton.| Year. Ton.| Year. Ton.|
+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| 1852, 920 | 1860, 4,653 | 1868, 15,842 | 1876, 8,635 |
| 1853, 3,539 | 1861, 4,751 | 1869, 11,900 | 1877, 16,235 |
| 1854, 7,469 | 1862, 21,493 | 1870, 26,129 | 1878, 23,470 |
| 1855, 5,169 | 1863, 17,096 | 1871, 19,267 | 1879, 36,080 |
| 1856, 7,531 | 1864, 22,896 | 1872, 12,810 | 1880, 38,117 |
| 1857, 6,816 | 1865, 31,111 | 1873, 21,017 | 1881, 50,192 |
| 1858, 7,625 | 1866, 18,973 | 1874, 25,057 | 1882, 60,379 |
| 1859, 11,804 | 1867, 16,555 | 1875, 15,819 | 1883, 61,113 |
+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

The first screw-steamer built by the firm, namely, the “John
Bowes,” well known as the pioneer of water ballast steam colliers,
is still in existence, has recently had her engines renewed for the
third time, and is now busily employed in her customary service,
carrying coals from Newcastle to London.

The general manager of the gigantic works is Mr John Price,
formerly one of the surveyors and a leading spirit in the
Underwriter’s Registry for Iron Vessels. The following are the
other responsible officials:—Assistant general manager and manager
of rolling mills, Mr F. W. Stoker; secretary, Mr Hew Steele;
shipyard manager, Mr A. Adamson; engine works manager, Mr J. P.
Hall; blast furnaces manager, Mr P. A. Berkeley; blast furnaces
assistant manager, Mr H. T. Allison; mining engineer, Mr A. S.
Palmer.

SIR WM. ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL & CO.’S SHIPBUILDING WORKS,
LOW WALKER AND ELSWICK-ON-TYNE.

The Low Walker yard of this firm was commenced upwards of thirty
years ago by Messrs C. Mitchell & Co., who up to 1883 (when they
amalgamated with Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co., the notable firm of
engineers and artillerists), had built as many as 450 vessels, or
an average of 15 vessels per annum, the average tonnage produced
during the last ten years being 23,000 tons. The yard is situated
about four miles down the Tyne from Newcastle. It consists of
about fifteen acres of ground, and has nine launching berths, but
their arrangement is such that at times there have been as many as
fourteen vessels on the stocks. The establishment is laid out in a
most modern manner. The space occupied by the building slips has a
uniform gradient, and, being perfectly flat laterally, gives the
greatest facility in the movement of bogies. The yard is served by
two complete systems of railways, respectively on the 4 feet 8-in.
and 2 feet 3-in. gauge. The former is in connection with a siding
from the North Eastern Railway, whereby materials and goods can
be brought from all parts of the kingdom, and two locomotives are
constantly employed working the trucks into the yard, one of them
being of very special construction, on Brown’s patent principle,
manufactured by Messrs R. & W. Hawthorn, Newcastle. This locomotive
is combined with a steam crane, the jib of which acts as a lever
with fulcrum, thus dispensing with chains, and which readily swings
right round, depositing the plates on edge into racks arranged on
either side of the railway, from which they can be taken with great
facility by the workmen at the appropriate time.

The yard is divided in two by a building 250 feet long by 50 feet
wide, placed at right angles to the river, and which contains plate
furnaces, bolt-maker’s shop, plumber’s shop, rivet store, tool
stores, large bending rolls, straightening machine, and man-hole
punch, on the ground floor; and on the upper storey rigging loft,
sail loft, pattern stores, &c. Along the head of the building
berths in one half of the yard there is a line of machine shops
400 feet long by 70 feet wide, in one end of which are installed
frame furnaces, bending blocks, &c., as also a number of powerful
punching machines, planing machines, special machines for angle
cutting, and there has recently been added a powerful radial drill,
having four moveable arms arranged to drill holes in any part of
plate 16 feet by 4 feet without moving it. At the back of this
machine shop, and parallel with it, is a smith’s shop 180 feet
long by 50 feet wide, fitted up complete with steam hammers, &c.
For the other half of the yard there is a large building 200 feet
long, and of an average width of about 150 feet, which contains
furnace, with bending blocks, &c., several heavy punching machines,
planing machines, drilling and other machines; one portion about 80
feet by 60 feet being used as a fitting shop, containing powerful
lathes, radial, and other drilling machines on the ground floor,
and on the upper floor a lighter class of shaping, drilling, and
other machines. In this building are also constructed two drying
stoves, wherein the exhaust steam from the engine is used for
drying timber. At the upper end of this machine shop is another
blacksmiths’ shop 130 feet long by 50 feet wide, containing steam
hammer and drilling machines for special work. A separate building,
80 feet long by 50 feet, is used for the bending and welding of
beams, and is so placed that the beams can be lifted direct from
barges alongside quay, and laid in position, ready for use.

The smiths’, fitters’, and other similar shops are all conveniently
situated; and as the vessels lie alongside the quay to be finished
off after launching, the minimum of expense in this respect is
incurred. There are numerous steam cranes of 10 tons and under on
the quays for landing such portion of the material as comes by
water, and also to lift articles on board the vessels fitting out.

The sawmills, joiners’ shops, mould loft, &c., are situated at
the lower end of the yard, and the appliances for handling and
converting timber are most complete. The wood-cutting machinery
is very extensive, and embraces most of the newest labour-saving
machines. The establishment in full work employs 2,500 men, and has
turned out as much as 30,000 tons gross register of shipping in
a year, including almost every type of vessel for mercantile and
war purposes, which latter branch of work will now have a further
development since the amalgamation with the eminent gun-making firm
of Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co. For this purpose a new yard has been
laid out at Elswick, adjoining the Ordnance Works, which will be of
the most complete character.

The site of this new yard comprises about 20 acres, and at first
only half-a-dozen building berths will be laid out, but as the
frontage is about 2,000 feet, the number of these can be augmented
as required. The buildings already erected or in progress embrace
a brick built shop, 265 feet long by 60 feet wide, standing at the
western portion of the ground, and at right angles to the river.
This building is in three storeys, the lower portion being intended
for general stores, tool and rivet stores, fitting shop, &c.; the
second floor will be entirely used as a joiners’ shop, and fitted
up in the most complete manner with wood-working machinery of every
description. The upper floor will be used as a draughting loft and
model-room. Parallel to this building, and a little distance from
it, will be a blacksmith’s shop, 150 feet by 50 feet. Adjoining the
larger building above described, and at right angles to it, is the
office block, 120 feet by 45 feet. Along the head of the launching
berths stands a tool shed 420 feet long by 40 feet wide, containing
the ordinary punching, planing, drilling, and other shipbuilding
machines, all of the newest and most powerful type. Near the centre
of the site is a large shed 220 feet long, consisting of four
bays, each 50 feet wide, the whole carried on cast-iron columns,
which will comprise the plate and angle furnaces, bending blocks,
beam shop, angle smiths’ shop, plate rolls, large and small, also
keel plate bending machine, &c. The yard is served by a complete
system of railways, having a siding from the North Eastern Railway
Company’s system. Material can therefore be brought from all parts
of the kingdom and deposited in any part of the premises.

It is almost unnecessary further to give the particulars of
this establishment, suffice it to say that it is being laid out
on the experience gained up to date in existing shipyards, and
will therefore embrace the newest and most important tools in
all branches of work. The intention is that it shall be capable
of turning out every description of vessel up to the largest
iron-clad, and the construction of war vessels of all kinds will
be made a speciality, seeing that the Company can send them to sea
completely armed and equipped ready for service. Looking to the
magnitude of the establishment, it can be regarded as nothing less
than an arsenal, which in time of war would be invaluable to the
country. The present and prospective importance of this development
of the combined firms’ business may be inferred simply from the
fact of the services of so high an authority as Mr W. H. White,
late Chief Constructor of the Navy, having been secured as naval
adviser and manager.

DEPTFORD SHIPBUILDING YARD AND REPAIRING DOCKS, SUNDERLAND.

These works, established so far back as 1793, but greatly
transformed and extended to suit modern requirements, are owned
and presided over by Mr James Laing, son of Mr Philip Laing, their
founder. The yard consists of two general sections, situated one
on each side of the main road leading to the river Wear. One of
these, commonly termed the “Woodyard,” is where wood shipbuilding
was conducted in the early days, but which now of course, in common
with the other section, is used exclusively for iron shipbuilding.
The entire works, including offices, docks, brass foundry, and
other premises, cover an area of about thirty acres.

The yard embraces the various shops and sheds usually pertaining to
building operations in iron, such as iron-working sheds, smiths’
shop, joiners’ shop, upholsterers’ shop, bookmakers’ shop, &c.,
all well equipped with machine-tools and appliances, needful in
producing vessels for the most important shipping companies. The
two general sections of the yard are each worked by one compound
surface condensing engine, all machines being driven by belting
from main lines of shafting, no independent engines being fitted.
Scrive-boards, frame furnace, bending blocks, garboard bender,
and other machinery are fitted in each section. Gorman’s gas
furnaces are used for heating the material, and these, though
rather troublesome when first fitted, about twelve years ago, after
some alterations in the details, now give complete satisfaction,
and surpass in efficiency ordinary coal furnaces. The joiners’
shop is situated in the wood-yard, and the smith’s shop in the
other section. In the smith’s shop a separate engine is provided
to drive the blast, so that if it is desired the wood-yard can be
kept completely going without having the main engine in the other
section at work.

The berths of Deptford yard, have been occupied since the
commencement of iron shipbuilding there, over thirty years ago,
with vessels for home and foreign shipowners, amongst others for
such well known companies as the Peninsular and Oriental Company,
the Union Company, the Royal Mail Company, the West India and
Pacific Company, the Royal Netherlands Company, and the Hamburg
and South American Company. In 1882 the _Mexican_, of 4670 tons
gross measurement, the largest passenger vessel ever built on the
North-East Coast, and one of the finest of the Union Company’s
fleet of South African mail steamers, was launched from the stocks
of Deptford yard. Including the _Mexican_, the following is the
list of vessels launched by Mr Laing in the year named:—

Name. Material. Owners. Gross Tons.
S.S. Friary Iron, British, 2307
S.S. Mount Tabor do., do., 2302
S.S. Mexican do., do., 4669
S.S. Rhosina do., do., 2707
S.S. Govina do., do., 2221
S.S. Lero do., do., 2224
S.S. Dolcoath do., do., 1824
S.S. Ville de Strasbourg do., Foreign, 2372
S.S. Ville de Metz do., do., 2375
------
Total 23,004

At present Mr Laing is building his 301st iron vessel, which
represents the 460th vessel produced within the Deptford yard
since its commencement in 1793. The work presently on hand chiefly
consists of average size steam vessels, combining cargo-carrying
powers with high-class accommodation for passengers, several being
lighted throughout by electricity, and one being constructed of
steel, and having engines on the triple expansion principle.

Connected with the shipbuilding yard there are two graving docks
of 300 feet and 400 feet in length, one on each side of the river.
One of these is situated at the west side of the iron yard parallel
to the building berths, and therefore conveniently placed for
all kinds of alterations and repairs to vessels. This dock is
kept dry by means of pumps which act as circulating pumps for the
condensers of the yard engines. The pumps used for emptying
this dock, as well as the one on the other side of the river, after
a vessel has come in, are of the “Pulsometer” type of large size.
The capacity of these docks is such that in one year alone the
amount of shipping operated upon, either in the way of repairs,
alterations, or simple docking, has reached nearly 60,000 tons. A
large number of vessels have undergone the important process of
lengthening in these docks—a special and very important branch
of shipwork in which Mr Laing has been conspicuously successful.
The largest undertaking of this kind was the lengthening of the
Peninsular and Oriental Company’s screw-steamer _Poonah_ in 1874
from a length of 315 feet to that of 395, or an increase of 80
feet. The work was satisfactorily completed, and the results of
the vessel’s after-behaviour at sea were communicated, along with
an account of the work of lengthening, to the Institution of Naval
Architects by Mr Edwin De Russett, of the Peninsular and Oriental
Company, in 1877.

Adjacent to the shipyard are extensive brass and copper works,
employing about 300 hands, which, besides supplying all the brass
and plumber work required for vessels in the shipyard, undertake
similar work for other shipbuilders, also work for the Navy, such
as cast gun-metal rams and stern-posts for men-of-war, and brackets
for outer-bearings in twin-screws. All sorts of steam and other
fittings—Manchester goods—are also here manufactured and dispersed
to all parts of the world. Within the same premises are situated
the requisite machinery for effecting repairs to the engines and
boilers of vessels overhauled in the docks.

At present a large range of new Commercial and Drawing Offices
are being erected near the principal entrance to the yard. A
new joiner’s shop and sawmill will shortly be erected, and
other alterations in the internal economy of the shipyard are
contemplated. The new range of offices referred to, have a frontage
of about 300 feet, and comprise strong room for the preservation
of the firm’s books, drawings, &c.; model-room, 40 feet in length;
foremen’s room, 40 feet by 30 feet; general office, 42 feet by
41 feet; private offices for Mr Laing & Sons; drawing office, 45
feet by 40 feet; moulding loft, 78 feet by 40 feet; model-making
room, &c. An additional and somewhat noteworthy feature in the
new buildings will be a large dining hall for the use of those
workmen who have their meals brought to them at the yard. Also, a
commodious gymnasium for the benefit of the youth in the employ.
These are, in addition to the large “British Workman” already in
existence, built by Mr Laing for the use of his employés, and
for others who care to subscribe. This institution, comprising
dining room, game rooms, smoking room and library, is managed by a
committee of the employés, and is self-supporting, a contribution
of only one half-penny per week being the qualification for
membership, admitting subscriber to all the benefits of the
institution.

THE WORKS OF THE BARROW SHIPBUILDING COMPANY (LIMITED).

The Barrow Shipbuilding Company, Limited, was promoted in 1876 by
several gentlemen in Barrow connected with the Furness Railway,
the Docks, and Steel Works, chief among whom was Mr Ramsden (now
Sir James Ramsden) then managing director of the Furness Railway,
Mayor of Barrow, and leading spirit in its development generally.
The Duke of Devonshire, the largest proprietor in the district and
in the other public works mentioned, became the largest shareholder
and the chairman of the new shipbuilding company, which was then
formally constituted, with Mr Robert Duncan, shipbuilder of
Port-Glasgow, as managing director. Mr Duncan designed the whole
arrangement of the works as they now stand, and continued to act as
managing director till 1875, when he resigned, and was succeeded
by Sir James Ramsden, with Mr James Humphreys as manager, which
position the latter held till 1880, when he was succeeded by Mr
William John, of Lloyd’s Register, to whose talent as a naval
architect some tribute has been elsewhere passed in this work.

The total area of the plot of land on which these works stand
is 58 acres, with two water frontages, each 1050 feet long, one
towards Walney Channel, into which the ships are launched, the
other towards the docks where the ships are fitted out. The
Walney Channel is sufficiently wide to allow of the launching of
the largest vessels without risk, and the site is altogether an
exceptionably favourable one. The shipbuilding is carried on in
that part of the yard adjoining the Walney Channel, being divided
from the engine works by a road, under which is a sub-way, which
affords the required communication between the two departments.

Entering the shipbuilding department by the main gate-way in
this dividing road the visitor finds himself in a large square,
formed by substantial buildings; to the left hand on entering,
are the offices, and to the right some of the smaller shops. The
opposite side of the square is occupied by the machine shed and
smiths’ shops, whilst on the right-hand side of the square are
the frame-bending shed, and on the left the joiners’ shop and the
sawmill. Passing through the offices upstairs, the visitor enters
a very fine drawing office and model-room, 100 feet by 50 feet, in
which an efficient staff of designers are engaged. On the ground
floor are the counting-house, officials’ rooms, &c., and beyond
these the stores for the supply of everything required in building
and outfitting ships and machinery. From the stores, or by the
outside square, the moulding loft, 250 feet by 50 feet, is reached,
of which the joiners’ shop is a continuation. This department is
300 feet long by 60 feet wide, and is fitted with every modern
appliance in the way of tools to facilitate work. At the back of
this shop is an immense room, 600 ft. by 60 ft., occupied by a
sawmill, and used also for spar-making, boat-building, and rigging.
Above these rooms, in continuation of the drawing office and
model-room, from which it may be entered, is the cabinet-making
department, which necessarily requires a large amount of space in
an establishment where passenger and emigrant ships of the largest
types are equipped ready for sea. The iron-working machine shed,
360 ft. by 100 ft., and the frame-bending shed, 300 ft. by 180
ft., follow in order, occupying the whole of one, and most of the
other side of the square above described. Both of these sections
are fully equipped with the machinery necessary for the rapid
manipulation of material. The smiths’ shop, 200 ft. by 120 ft.,
contains one hundred fires and seven steam hammers, the former
being blown by a Schiele fan. Attached to the smiths’ shop are
shops for fitting smith-work and for galvanizing. All these shops
and sheds occupy less than one-third of the ground devoted to the
shipbuilding department.

Beyond the machine shop are the slip-ways, twelve in number, where
vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 40,000 tons have frequently
been seen at one time in various stages of construction. On these
slip-ways have been built the well-known mail steamer _City of
Rome_ and the steamship _Normandie_, the largest vessel of the
French mail service. Here also were built for the Anchor Line the
_Anchoria_, the _Devonia_, the _Circassia_, and the _Furnessia_;
for the Ducal Line, the _Duke of Devonshire_, the _Duke of
Buccleuch_, the _Duke of Lancaster_, the _Duke of Buckingham_, and
the _Duke of Westminster_. From these slip-ways also emanated the
_Ganges_ and the _Sutlej_ for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Company as well as the _Eden_ and the _Esk_ for the
Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. For the Isle of Man Steam Packet
Company, the _Ben my Chree_, the _Fenella_, and the _Peveril_.
For the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belge Américaine, the
s.s. _Belgenland_ and _Rhyhland_. For the Castle Line, the s.s.
_Pembroke Castle_, and for the Société Générale de Transports
Maritimes à Vapeur of Marseilles, the s.s. _Navarre_ and _Bearn_.
Here were also produced the _Kow Shing_ for the Indo-China Steam
Navigation Company, and the _Takapuna_ for the Union Steamship
Company of New Zealand, besides many other vessels well known
to the mercantile world. For the Admiralty this yard has turned
out seven gun-boats, namely, the _Foxhound_, the _Forward_, the
_Grappler_, the _Wrangler_, the _Wasp_, the _Banterer_, and the
_Espoir_, as well as four torpedo mooring ships.

Leaving the shipbuilding department, the visitor passes through
the afore-mentioned sub-way to the engine works, which occupies an
area of ground equal to that of the shipyard proper. To the left
may be noticed the coppersmith’s shop, the brass foundry, and the
engineer’s smithy. The Foundry has seven ordinary pot furnaces, and
one large reverberatory air furnace for castings of the heaviest
class. The smithy is well fitted up with hammers suitable for the
work. On the opposite side of the ground are two buildings, the
one to the left containing the iron foundry and boiler shop. The
foundry, 250 ft. by 150 ft., provided with overhead travellers,
is capable of turning out the largest castings required for the
monster marine engines of the present day. The boiler shop is
the same size, and possesses the most modern contrivances for
the skilful and economical execution of work, and it contains a
complete equipment of hydraulic riveting machines, both fixed and
portable, the largest having a gap of 10 feet and a pressure of
90-lbs.

In the space between the boiler shop and the machine shop there
are situated a well-arranged furnace for heating, and the vertical
rolls for bending the large plates forming the shells of the marine
boilers. In the furnace just mentioned the plates are heated
while standing on their edge, and as the top of the furnace is
level with the ground, they are readily lifted out by a portable
crane and deposited on the bed-plate adjoining the vertical
rolls. In this vacant space is also situated the water tower for
the accumulator for the 100-ton crane, constructed by Sir Wm. G.
Armstrong and erected at the side of the Devonshire Dock, where the
machinery is placed on board and fixed for new ships.

The engine shop, although 420 ft. long by 100 ft. wide, is scarcely
large enough for the pressure of work oftentimes concentrated
there. This shop is unsurpassed in the completeness of its fittings
and the perfection of its tools. It, like most of the other shops
in the establishment, is fitted up with the electric light.

* * * * *

The foregoing descriptive notes of individual yards may fittingly be supplemented by the following table, which shows the number and relative positions of firms throughout all the districts whose total output of tonnage during the year 1883 exceeded 20,000 tons:—

+------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+
| Firm’s Name. | District. | Number of | Gross |
| | | Vessels. | Tonnage.|
+------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+
| 1. Palmer Shipbuilding Co. | Tyne | 36 | 61,113 |
| 2. John Elder & Co. | Clyde | 13 | 40,115 |
| 3. Wm. Gray & Co. | Hartlepool | 21 | 37,597 |
| 4. Oswald, Mordaunt & Co. | Southampton | 15 | 33,981 |
| 5. Raylton, Dixon & Co. | Tees | 17 | 31,017 |
| 6. Harland & Wolff | Belfast | 13 | 30,714 |
| 7. Russell & Co. | Clyde | 28 | 30,610 |
| 8. Jos. L. Thomson & Sons | Wear | 16 | 30,520 |
| 9. Short Bros. | Wear | 14 | 25,531 |
| 10. R. Napier & Sons | Clyde | 6 | 23,877 |
| 11. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co.| Tyne | 17 | 23,584 |
| 12. A. Stephen & Sons | Clyde | 11 | 23,020 |
| 13. James Laing | Wear | 9 | 22,877 |
| 14. Pearse & Co. | Tees | 9 | 22,671 |
| 15. Wm. Denny & Bros. | Clyde | 10 | 22,240 |
| 16. Richardson, Duck & Co. | Tees | 12 | 21,413 |
| 17. Edward Withy & Co. | Hartlepool | 12 | 21,197 |
| 18. Swan & Hunter | Tyne | 15 | 20,080 |
+------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+