Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowland ...

on the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

. In its time in Greenock, Scotts built over 1,250 ships.

History

John Scott founded the company in 1711. He built herring busses and small craft. He was succeeded by his son William Scott (1722-1769) and another son. In 1765 they built their first square-rigged vessel. William's son John (1752-1837) expanded the shipyard to a major shipbuilding company. The Scott family took over the Greenock Foundry in 1790. In 1791, Scott & Co. built , of 600-ton (bm), for the Newfoundland trade. She and , built in 1794, were the largest ships built in Scotland in their years. They marked the beginning of increased activity by Scott & Co., particularly with respect to large, ocean-going ships. C. G. Scott started building at Cartsdyke Dockyard in 1850, as Scott & Company. John Scott (II) and Robert Scott bought the adjacent yard of R Steele & Company in 1883, to create the Cartsburn Dockyard, which was laid out for naval shipbuilding. By 1900, John Swire & Company were major shareholders and Henry Scott was a director of Swire Scotts. In 1900–1901, he specified and oversaw construction of Swire's Taikoo Dockyard in Hong Kong. In 1925, Scotts took over Ross & Marshall's Cartsdyke Mid Yard. In 1934, they exchanged their Cartsdyke East yard for Cartsdyke Mid yard with Greenock Dockyard Ltd. In June 1965, the Company took over Scott's & Sons (Bowling) Ltd, and in December 1965, Scott's merged with the

Greenock Dockyard Company The Greenock Dockyard Company was a Scottish shipbuilding and ship repair firm located at Greenock, on the River Clyde. History The company was established by J E Scott of Greenock, with the yard at Cartsdyke being taken over in 1879 by Russel ...

and the Cartsburn and Cartsdyke Dockyards were fully integrated in 1966. In 1967, the Company merged with

Lithgows Lithgows Limited is a family-owned Scottish company that had a long involvement in shipbuilding, based in Kingston, Port Glasgow, on the River Clyde in Scotland. It has a continued involvement in marine resources. History Founding The Company w ...

to form Scott Lithgow Ltd, operating as Scotts Shipbuilding Co (1969) Ltd. Scott Lithgow Ltd was absorbed into the nationalised

British Shipbuilders British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation was ...

in 1977.

Cartsdyke Shipyard was closed in 1979 and Cartsburn in 1984. In 1983, the Scott Lithgow company and yards were sold to Trafalgar House. No further shipbuilding was undertaken and the 270-year-old Scott shipbuilding company finally ceased trading in 1993. Between 1988 and 1997, the Cartsburn and Cartsdyke shipyards were gradually demolished and redeveloped as insurance offices, computer warehouses and fast food restaurants. In 2011, Greenock's McLean Museum and Art Gallery celebrated the tercentenary of Scotts' foundation.

Notable ships

Notable vessels built included the early Royal Mail Steam Packet Company liners ''Clyde'', ''Dee'', ''Solway'' and ''Tweed'' in 1841, SS ''Thetis'' of 1857, which John Scott (1830–1903) financed himself to test his theory about high pressure steam in the compound engine, which worked at about 120 lb_f/in² in ''Thetis'', the early tanker ''Narragannsett'' in 1903, the barque ''Archibald Russell'', the British S-class submarines, in 1914, the cruiser in 1937, and the drilling ship ''Ben Ocean Lancer'' in 1977. Principal customers of Scotts were Alfred Holt & Co (

Blue Funnel Line Alfred Holt and Company, trading as Blue Funnel Line, was a UK shipping company that was founded in 1866 and operated merchant ships for 122 years. It was one of the UK's larger shipowning and operating companies, and as such had a significan ...

) (88 ships), The China Navigation Company / John Swire Ltd (95 ships) and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

(114 ships). Scotts Assistant Manager James Richardson devised an early "Snorkel" for submarines, for which they were granted British Patent No.106330 of 1917. It was not taken up by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

for use by the Royal Navy.

In popular culture

Pictures of some Scotts-built vessels were painted by the Greenock marine artist

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

. ( Glasgow Museum of Transport). A painting of the launch in 1818 from Scotts yard of the wood ship ''Christian'' was painted by the Anglo-US marine artist Robert Salmon. (Glasgow Museum of Transport).

Citations

References

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External links