Aktiebolaget Vulcan was an
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
works and
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 that operated in
Turku
Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...
,
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
between 1898 and 1924.
The company was founded by local businessmen, who bought the production facilities from previously ceased Ã…bo Mekaniska Verkstads Ab. The company produced
ship
A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...
s,
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...
s,
pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy.
Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...
s and other engineering products. Vulcan had a facility also in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, where it produced military supplies for the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...
. The company struggled due to losses caused by the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
and declined orders.
The company manager
Allan Staffans joined Vulcan with its competitor
Ab Crichton, creating
Crichton-Vulcan
Crichton-Vulcan is an abandoned shipyard in Turku, Finland, that once formed the cornerstone of the Finnish shipbuilding industry. The shipyard is best known for the World War II coastal defence ships and submarines it produced.
Shipbuildi ...
shipyard.
Background
Vulcan originated from 1874 established Ã…bo Mekaniska Verkstads Ab, which was located on east bank of
Aura River. The founder was
Carl Korsman and the 400 000
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks
A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...
' share capital was primarily funded by
C.M Dahlström's trading house and alderman Gustaf Wikeström. The company's main products were ships,
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
s and
steam boiler
file:Dampfkessel für eine Stationärdampfmaschine im Textilmuseum Bocholt.jpg, An industrial boiler, originally used for supplying steam to a stationary steam engine
A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat ...
s; it also carried out
ship repair
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other 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 that traces i ...
s. It invested on building a large red brick assembly workshop, thin plate workshop,
foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
and a
slipway
A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving smal ...
. The initial capital was used out and the company did not get credit, and therefore the owners were obligated to increase the capital by value of their own shares. Carl Korsman could not afford this, and he had to give up with his ownership.
In 1875, the number of personnel was already 119. During 1881 and 1882 the company built some larger ships; the headcount went up to 400 and the total sales reached 800 000 marks, but the orders declined after and personnel was reduced to 100 and the
turnover dropped to level of 270 000 marks. The orders consisted some steam powered
sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
Types
Although sailboat terminology ...
s, small steam engines and repair works. The business was discontinued at the late 1890s; the real estate and machinery were put on sale thereafter.
Beginning
Foundation
Tradesman C.F. Junnelius collected a
consortium
A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...
to buy the production facilities of Ã…bo Mekaniska Verkstads.
Aktiebolaget Vulcan was started in early summer 1898. 31 people subscribed for shares;
the most significant were A.M. Cronvall, E. Minuth, C.F. Junnelius and engineer Caesar Holmström. The total share capital was 500 000 marks. Holmström was appointed director of the company.
Production growth
At the beginning Vulcan continued the production with the portfolio of its predecessor. In 1903 it introduced its first
internal combustion engines
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal comb ...
. At about at the same time
the Imperial Russian Admiralty Board placed an order for
torpedo launching devices for
naval ship
A naval ship (or naval vessel) is a military ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) that is used by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose. Generally, naval ships are damage resili ...
s, and this was followed by another military equipment order by the Russian artillery. To undertake this, the facilities were grown significantly for additional capacity in 1905. By the following year the number of personnel had reached 667 and the turnover 2 700 000 marks.
The prolific orders declined suddenly, when the Russian government decided to end orders from
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire.
Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...
. Therefore, in 1907 Vulcan bought a facility in Saint Petersburg which only focused on military supplies, and it soon passed the Turku works in sales. The headcount in the new branch was 900 in 1910
[Haavikko: ''1907–1917; chapter 6.'' p. 25.] and the factory was operated in three shifts.
Vulcan sold the facility in 1914.
Prior to the First World War the facilities in Turku consisted of two-floor engineering works,
forging
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...
shop, foundry with four
furnaces, thin plate shop and
carpentry
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. C ...
shop. On the riverside there were two slipways, of which the bigger one was for 400-tonne ships and other one for small vessels, and a 20-tonne
mast crane. The larger slipway was covered by a wooden hall in 1915.
The products were internal combustion engines,
locomobiles, pumps, steam engines,
steam ship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The fir ...
s,
refrigeration devices and slaughterhouse equipment. A new series of combustion engines was introduced and entered in production.
Additionally, the company repaired ships. The number of personnel ranged from 200 up to 500 people.
In 1912 the main owners were Gösta Schahtelovitz, E. Taipale, Caesar Holmström, Bertel Holmström, Einar Holmström and Edvard Åström. Ab Vulcan was listed in stock market starting from 23 March 1916.
In the same year the share capital was increased to 1 750 000 marks.
Postwar struggle

Fall of the Russian empire drove Vulcan into trouble. The Russian government did not pay all the outstanding payments and the company's property in Saint Petersburg lost its value. This together with the short order backlog of the first postwar years collapsed the company's economy. In 1918, after
Finland had declared its independence, Vulcan possessed two semi-finished 350-tonne,
ice-strengthened ships ordered by Russians. One of them was eventually bought by a consortium led by captain M. Grönroos; it was launched in 1920 and named ''Aranda''. It was sold already in 1921 to the state of Finland and modified at Vulcan to serve year round between
Ã…land
Ã…land ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...
and the mainland. The sister vessel became a
lightvessel
A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. It is used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the ...
and it was sold to the maritime administration, which it served under name ''Storbrotten''.
At the beginning of 1921 the company was on poor financial basis.
Allan Staffans was appointed company manager. The turnover of the same year reached 4 350 000 marks and the company made loss of 1 180 000 marks. Vulcan made an exceptional agreement together with its main funding company
Yhdyspankki in December 1921: the bank cut the liabilities by six million marks in exchange to 50% of shares. In addition, the other lenders had to reduce their liabilities by 50%. The transaction was put into force at the beginning of 1922, and the company started to recover.
New line of business and merger
In February 1922 Staffans started negotiating with the
defence ministry
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...
about renovating an outdated Russian
submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
. Neither in the company, nor in the whole country was knowledge about submarines, and therefore Staffans started to seek for the know-how in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Germany was not allowed to build submarines after the
Versailles peace treaty, and therefore the contact was handled via the
Dutch dummy company
A dummy corporation, dummy company, or false company is an entity created to serve as a front or cover for one or more companies. It can have the appearance of being real (logo, website, and sometimes employing actual staff), but lacks the capacit ...
NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw
(Dutch: engineer-office for shipbuilding), usually contracted to IvS or Inkavos, was a Dutch dummy company set up in The Hague and funded by the after World War I in order to maintain and develop German submarine know-how and to circumvent the ...
(IvS).
Frigate captain
Frigate captain is a naval rank in the naval forces of several countries. Corvette captain lies one level below frigate captain.
It is usually equivalent to the Commonwealth/US Navy rank of commander.
Countries using this rank include Argenti ...
Blume from IvS and Staffans signed a secret contract about submarine building in Finland on 15 November 1923. Staffans presented the contract in general meeting of Ab Vulcan held on 12 December 1923. Another significant point on the agenda was a
merger
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
plan with the neighbour company and competitor,
Ab Crichton. The merger became effective in 1924
and led to establishment of
Ab Crichton-Vulcan Oy.
Some of the vessels built by Vulcan
The total number of vessels built at Ab Vulcan is about 50.
Sources
*
*
References
External links
Brochures about Vulcan products.
{{Authority control
Defunct shipbuilding companies of Finland
Shipyards of Finland
Engine manufacturers of Finland
1898 establishments in Finland
Manufacturing companies established in 1898
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1924
Crichton-Vulcan