Robert Steele II (1791-1879) portrait by Norman MacBeth, 1879 (Inverclyde Libraries, Museum and Inverclyde Archives)
Sir Lancelot (1865) tea clipper.

Robert Steele & Company was a shipbuilder based in Greenock, Scotland, formed in 1815 by Robert Steele (1745-1830) and two sons. It followed dissolution of an earlier shipbuilding partnership between Robert Steele and John Carswell, known as "Steele and Carswell."[1]

The first vessel the company built was the three-masted barque Rebecca.[1] The company was one of the shipbuilders credited with the development of the four-masted barque along with Alexander Stephen and Sons.[2]

Clipper ship Hesperus (1874).

The company built twenty China tea clippers, many of which won China Tea Races.[1]

The following are some of the Tea Clippers built by Robert Steele and company:

Vessel Name Material Owners / Agents Date Built Period Owned Net Tonnage Length Overall (feet) Breadth (feet) Depth(feet)
ArielCompositeShaw, Lowther & Maxton18651865-1872853197.433.921
ChinamanComposite1865668
Ellen RodgerWoodenAlexander Rodger & Co18581858-1866585155,829.419.5
FalconWoodenPhillips, Shaw & Lowther18591859-1900794191.432.220
Guinevere1862647
KaisowCompositeAlexander Rodger18681868-1891820193.23220.3
Kate CarnieWoodenAlexander Rodger & C. Carnie18551855-1889576148.42619
King ArthurIron1862699
LahlooCompositeAlexander Rodger & Co18671867- 1872799191.632.919.9
MinWoodenAlexander Rodger & Co18611861-1891629174.529.819.3
SericaCompositeJames Findlay18631863-1872708185.931.119.6
Sir LancelotCompositeJohn McCunn18651865-1895886197.633.721
TaepingCompositeAlexander Rodger18631863-187176718331.119.9
TitaniaCompositeShaw, Lowther, Maxton & Co18661866-19108792003621
WyloCompositeKillick Martin & Company18691869-1886829192.932.120.2
Young Lochinvar724


From 1854 the company started building iron ships, such as Irish ferry, ss Mangerton, an 1855 Robert Steele steamship,[3] which struck wooden barque Josephine Willis in 1856

References

  1. 1 2 3 Howard, Mark. "Robert Steele and Company: Shipbuilders of Greenock" (PDF). The Northern Mariner. Canadian Nautical Research Society. II (3): 17–29. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  2. Nick Robins (21 January 2014). Scotland and the Sea: The Scottish Dimension in Maritime History. Seaforth Publishing. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-1-4738-3441-5.
  3. "Shipyards: Robert Steele & Co". www.bruzelius.info. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.