Lobnitz & Company (established with William Simons & Co.) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

company located at

Renfrew Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...

on the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

, west of the Renfrew Ferry crossing and east of the confluence with the River Cart. The Lobnitz family lived at

Chapeltoun Chapeltoun is an estate on the banks of the Annick Water in East Ayrshire, a rural area of Scotland famous for its milk and Dunlop cheese, cheese production and the Ayrshire cattle, Ayrshire or Dunlop breed of cattle. Templeton and the Knights ...

House in

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Roa ...

. The company built

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing ...

rs, floating docks,

fishing boat A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, arti ...

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s and workboats.

History

The company was descended from Coulburn Lobnitz & Company, established in 1874, and the adjacent shipyard of William Simons & Co, established in 1860. Coulborn Lobnitz had in turn evolved from the 1847 firm of James Henderson & Son, at Ship dock, Renfrew, which became Henderson, Coulborn & Co. In 1874, Lobnitz took over the business, which was renamed Lobnitz, Coulborn & Co. Both builders specialised in the construction of dredgers and hopper barges. The two companies amalgamated in 1957 as Simons-Lobnitz Ltd. Faced with declining business the Renfrew yard finally closed in 1964, after some 1300 dredgers as well as barges and tugs had been built at the site. One late example survives: SS ''Shieldhall'' was built as a Clyde

sludge Sludge (possibly , or some dialect related to slush) is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. It can be produced as a settled sus ...

boat in 1954 with reciprocating steam engines, and now operates as a pleasure cruiser on the Solent. Also still afloat is the ''William C. Daldy'' a steam tug operating as a pleasure vessel in Auckland, New Zealand, where she sailed from the Clyde in 1935/6.

Naval warship construction

In addition, over sixty minor war vessels ( sloops,

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s and boom defence vessels) were constructed by Lobnitz at Renfrew between 1915 and 1945 for the Royal Navy. One of these, HMS ''Saxifrage'', was built in 1918 as a Flower-class sloop, which was the first class of purpose-built anti-submarine warships. She was renamed HMS ''President'' in 1921 and served as the London Division

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

training ship until 1988, before being sold into private ownership. She survives near

Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple C ...

on the

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment (the other section is the Chelsea Embankment), a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London, England. Built in the 1860s, it runs from the Palace of Westminster to ...

of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

in London, as one of only three remaining

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

British warships.

Lobnitz Marine Holdings

The company's goodwill and orders were purchased in 1964 by Alexander Stephen and Sons, which merged into

Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) was a Scottish shipbuilding consortium, created in 1968 as a result of the amalgamation of five major shipbuilders of the River Clyde. It entered liquidation, with much controversy, in 1971. That led to a " work-in ...

in 1968. Simons-Lobnitz re-emerged from the collapse of UCS in 1971 and continues to operate as a

marine engineering Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circ ...

and

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and op ...

consultancy based in Paisley, now called Lobnitz Marine Holdings.

References

External links

Lobnitz Marine Holdings
Companies based in Renfrewshire Defunct shipbuilding companies of Scotland British companies established in 1860 1860 establishments in Scotland River Clyde 1964 disestablishments in Scotland British companies disestablished in 1964 Renfrew Manufacturing companies established in 1860 {{Scotland-company-stub