 |
Berwick upon Tweed as seen from the South in the 18th Century.
|
The first boatbuilding activity on the site that was to become Berwick Shipyard appears to have been in 1751. This was the year when Arthur Byram, a qualified boat builder, moved to the town (possibly from Whitby) with the intention of starting up his own shipyard.
Byram applied to the Berwick Freeman’s Guild for permission to set up a yard on the Berwick side of the river, outside the Elizabethan walls. The matter was considered on 25th October 1751 and permission was granted for a yard to be established below the Eight Gun Battery. Byram also secured permission from the Guild to import oak plank, oak timber, blocks, sails and other materials required for the construction of ships. Mindful of the potential economic benefits to the Borough, the Guild further agreed that the imports would be free of Town duties and bailiffs fees.
Byram went on to establish a profitable shipbuilding and ship repair business in the town during which time it is likely that he would have played a role in the development of the Berwick smack.
In 1758 Byram offered to provide boiled oakum for the inmates of the workhouse in Church Street to tease. Oakum, (the fibres of old ropes), was used for the caulking of seams in wooden ships. Picking oakum in those days was a slow and laborious process that was often used as a punishment.
The following year Byram became embroiled in controversy when the Guild investigated a complaint from the freeman smiths of the town that he had breached the terms of the original conditions by 'employing stranger smiths (smiths who were not freemen of Berwick) ... to the great injury of the freeman smiths'. On 28th September 1759 the Guild instructed Byram that he should refrain from employing 'stranger smiths' with the proviso that the local smiths should work to the same standard as those who had been employed from elsewhere. From this decision it is possible to infer that the dispute may have arisen as a consequence of Byram's dissatisfaction with the productivity of the local freeman smiths.
There are few references to vessels constructed by Arthur Byram. The profitability of the business however, was evident in 1782 when Byram had a large house constructed for himself and his second wife in Palace Street not far from the site of the yard.
 |
The AB Gowan logo from a receipt dated 1846. |
Arthur Byram continued to run the shipyard until 1789. Shortly before his death in the same year he handed responsibility for the running of the yard to his son in law, Robert Gowans. At this time the yard employed over twenty workers, and a time-served man’s weekly pay was fifteen shillings.
On Robert’s death in 1802, his wife, Elizabeth, took over the running of the yard until their son, Arthur Byram Gowan (the 's' having been dropped from Gowans), was old enough to take charge in 1814.
In 1825, Arthur Byram Gowan asked for a forty-year lease on the yard, to make it worth his while to upgrade the yard. This was duly granted at an annual rent of twenty-seven pounds, and a slipway was built which would allow vessels to be hauled up into the yard for repair.
 |
|---|
Looking across the Tweed towards the site of Gowans yard. Circa 1842. |
Arthur also appears to have built several ships for himself, running several between 1850 until the time of his death. These varied from small cutters to large brigs of almost two hundred tons.
In 1867 Arthur Byram Gowan died, and the business was taken over by his son also called Arthur Byram Gowan. In 1874, after gaining a further twenty one-year lease on the yard, Arthur made plans for further upgrading of the yard and the slipway. A notable customer of Gowan at this time was James Fisher of Barrow, founder of a company that would later become one of the UK's biggest ship owners.
 |
|---|
A Berwick smack leaving the River Tweed. Reproduced with permission of the artist Bryan Page. |
Until 1877, all vessels built at the yard had been constructed of wood. However, at this date, Arthur entered into partnership with John Wilson, a former shipyard manager from Tyneside, and they set about converting the yard to building in iron. Gowan was the senior partner, as he owned the lease of the yard, and also the equipment, with Wilson supplying only his experienced of building in iron.
The firm was now called Gowan and Wilson. Their final vessel was an iron ship, the Montanez, completed in 1878. After this there were no further orders, and the yard closed at the end of 1878. This was probably due to the expansion of the railway network, which caused a downturn in the coastal shipping of goods.
Throughout the years, the yard had built around four sailing vessels per year. These were of various types and sizes and included schooners, clippers, brigs, smacks, sloops and small cutters.
The shipyard then remained closed until 1950, when it was re-opened by William Weatherhead and Sons of Cockenzie.
Joseph Todd, eldest son of Richard John was a cooper to trade who was admitted as a burgess of Berwick in 1793. With the assistance of his then partners John Robertson and John Miller Dickson Todd established a yard at Tweedmouth in 1800. Robertson was a merchant while the Dickson was a well known sailmaker.
The location of Todd's yard was a cramped quarter of an acre site at the southern end of Berwick Bridge. On 1st October 1800 the Corporation of Berwick granted him and his partners a 21-year lease on the Tweedmouth site for an annual rent of £15. Today this area is the site of a monumental stonemason's yard. In 1800 the river banks sloped and were not built up as they are today. The area on which Todd's yard was located was also the part of the Tweed where vessels were brought to for careening.
Few details are known of the vessels constructed at Todd's yard with the exception of two warships, HMS Forward and HMS Rover that built for the Royal Navy and completed in 1805 and 1808. Both vessels were designed by John Henslow and Wiliam Rule, surveyors for the Navy. Forward was a 12-gun brig of 179 tons. Rover, at 382 tons and over 100' long was a vessel of the 'Cruiser' class and was originally built to carry 18 guns and a crew of 121 men.
By the time that Rover was launched, Robertson and Dickson had withdrawn from the partnership leaving Todd to continue on his own. The end came in 1810 when faced with financial difficulties Todd was declared bankrupt. Shortly afterwards it is understood that he emigrated to America.
On the Berwick side of the river, there was another yard, owned by Davis Cockerill from 1766 until 1774. This same period saw the opening of the Ralph Forster yard at Tweedmouth.
|
To see the locations of the Berwick and Tweedmouth yards click on boxes 10, 11 or 14. A new page will open in your browser. Place your mouse over the map sheet on the new page and use the 'expand' control to view the section of the map in more detail. |
At a later date, another yard similar in size to the Byram Gowan yard was situated on the south side of the river. This was Bruce’s yard, which closed in the early 1800's. William Bruce was born in Ancroft in 1766 and died in Tweedmouth in 1845. He had four surviving sons all of whom became Master Mariners. There are few known references to Bruce although John Fullers History of Berwick upon Tweed (1799) does make mention of ...Mr Bruce in Tweedmouth (P 378). Coincidentally Bruce's grandson, Luke, was master on the maiden voyage of Thomas Clarke, a barque built for R and M Plummer of Newcastle at the Berwick yard of AB Gowan in 1847.
A later yard at Tweedmouth Docks was set up by the firm of Lee and Wight, who built three early steam herring drifters. This first of these, Cormorant (BK1104) was built in 1885, which probably makes it the first English-built steam drifter, although several had been built in Scotland previously.
Sources:
Barrow T. (2000). Corn carriers and coastal shipping: the shipping and trade of Berwick and the borders, 1730-1830. The Journal of Transport History Volume 21 Issue 1, pp 6-27
Cowe F. (1985). Warships built in a flurry or activity in Napoleonic War. Berwick Advertiser 2.5.85
Cowe F. (1980) Arthur Byram Shipbuilder. Berwick Bulletin. 10.9.80
Evans J. (1908). Recollections by “Quaysider”
Fuller J. (1999). The History of Berwick upon Tweed, . Edinburgh
Tarvit J. (2004). Steam Drifters – A Brief History, , St Ayles Press.
Shipbuilding on the
River Tweed remembered
|
|
