Fleming & Ferguson
Encyclopedia
Fleming and Ferguson was a Scottish marine engineering
and shipbuilding
company that traded between 1877 and 1969.
, Scotland
in 1877, making marine steam engine
s. In 1885 they expanded into shipbuilding by taking over the business and Phoenix Shipyard of H. McIntyre & Co. Fleming and Ferguson became a private company in 1895 and a public limited company
in 1898. In 1903 the Ferguson family withdrew from the business and set up their own shipyard, Ferguson Shipbuilders
, at Port Glasgow
. However, Fleming and Ferguson survived their departure and developed a World-class reputation for reciprocating engines and small ships.
In 1889 Fleming and Ferguson built the cargo ship
with quadruple expansion engines. By 1894 Fleming and Ferguson were also making water-tube boiler
s, which were featured in an article in The Engineer
. The firm also built reciprocating engines for non-marine use. In 1904 it supplied two inverted triple expansion engines for a water company in Brighton
.
In the 1890s the company entered the specialist market for "knock down" vessels. These were bolted together at the shipyard, all the parts marked with numbers, disassembled into many hundreds of parts and transported in kit form for final reassembly with rivets. This elaborate method of construction was used to provide inland vessels for export. In 1898 it built the stern wheel paddle steamer and exported it in sections for reassembly at Maryborough, Queensland
in Australia.
The firms main specialisms were vessels such as dredgers, barge
s, tugboat
s, floating cranes, lighthouse tender
s and, in 1904, the icebreaker
SS Champlain. Occasionally it also built steam yacht
s. In peacetime it also took one Admiralty
order, the minelayer
built in 1901 for service in New Zealand
. In 1914 it had a workforce of 1,000.
it built the Racecourse class minesweeper
s (1916), and (both 1917) and ; Hunt class minesweepers
and (both 1917), , and (both 1918) and and several Strath class naval trawler
s.
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it built the River class frigate
s , and (all 1942), (1943) and (1944); Flower class corvette
s , , , , , , , and ; Castle class corvette
s , and ; Algerine class minesweeper
; Isles class naval trawlers HMS Kerrera HMS Cava, HMS Eriskay and HMS Bardsey and numerous LCTs
.
stern wheel paddle steamer , which plied the Albert Nile in Uganda. In 1964 the American Marine and Machinery Co. Inc. bought Fleming and Ferguson.
The company's final ship was a dredger that it built speculatively. Fleming and Ferguson ceased trading before completing the vessel so Hugh Maclean of Renfrew
completed her. The dredger, yard number 804, was eventually named Bled and exported to Yugoslavia
.
and Rapaki (both 1926) and dredger (1929), all in New Zealand; dredger (1961) (now called UCO 1 and registered in Bahrain
) and research vessel
Andusandhani (1963) on the Hooghly River in West Bengal
.
Marine propulsion
Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a ship or boat across water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting a motor or engine turning a propeller, or less frequently, in jet...
and shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
company that traded between 1877 and 1969.
1877–1914
W.Y. Fleming and P. Ferguson founded the company in PaisleyPaisley
Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1877, making marine steam engine
Marine steam engine
A marine steam engine is a reciprocating steam engine that is used to power a ship or boat. Steam turbines and diesel engines largely replaced reciprocating steam engines in marine applications during the 20th century, so this article describes the more common types of marine steam engine in use...
s. In 1885 they expanded into shipbuilding by taking over the business and Phoenix Shipyard of H. McIntyre & Co. Fleming and Ferguson became a private company in 1895 and a public limited company
Limited company
A limited company is a company in which the liability of the members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. And the former of these, a limited company limited by shares, may be...
in 1898. In 1903 the Ferguson family withdrew from the business and set up their own shipyard, Ferguson Shipbuilders
Ferguson Shipbuilders
Ferguson Shipbuilders Limited is a shipyard located in Port Glasgow on the River Clyde in Scotland. It is the last remaining shipbuilder on the lower Clyde, and is currently the only builder of merchant ships on the river - the company's mainstay has long been Roll-on/roll-off ferries.-History:The...
, at Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow is the second largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16617 persons...
. However, Fleming and Ferguson survived their departure and developed a World-class reputation for reciprocating engines and small ships.
In 1889 Fleming and Ferguson built the cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
with quadruple expansion engines. By 1894 Fleming and Ferguson were also making water-tube boiler
Water-tube boiler
A water tube boiler is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which heats water in the steam-generating tubes...
s, which were featured in an article in The Engineer
The Engineer (magazine)
The Engineer is a London-based fortnightly magazine covering the latest developments and business news in engineering and technology in the UK and internationally...
. The firm also built reciprocating engines for non-marine use. In 1904 it supplied two inverted triple expansion engines for a water company in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
.
In the 1890s the company entered the specialist market for "knock down" vessels. These were bolted together at the shipyard, all the parts marked with numbers, disassembled into many hundreds of parts and transported in kit form for final reassembly with rivets. This elaborate method of construction was used to provide inland vessels for export. In 1898 it built the stern wheel paddle steamer and exported it in sections for reassembly at Maryborough, Queensland
Maryborough, Queensland
Maryborough is a city located on the Mary River in South East Queensland, Australia, approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city is serviced by the Bruce Highway, and has a population of approximately 22,000 . It is closely tied to its neighbour city Hervey Bay which is...
in Australia.
The firms main specialisms were vessels such as dredgers, barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s, tugboat
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
s, floating cranes, lighthouse tender
Lighthouse tender
A lighthouse tender is a ship specifically designed to maintain, support, or tend to lighthouses, or lightvessels, providing supplies, fuel, mail and transportation....
s and, in 1904, the icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
SS Champlain. Occasionally it also built steam yacht
Steam yacht
A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.-Origin of the name:...
s. In peacetime it also took one Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
order, the minelayer
Minelayer
Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...
built in 1901 for service in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. In 1914 it had a workforce of 1,000.
First World War
In the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
it built the Racecourse class minesweeper
Racecourse class minesweeper
The Racecourse class minesweepers were 32 ships delivered to the Royal Navy during the First World War. They were built to two related designs as paddlewheel coastal minesweeping sloops under the Emergency War Programme. The vessels were reasonable sea-boats, but lost speed badly in a seaway when...
s (1916), and (both 1917) and ; Hunt class minesweepers
Hunt class minesweeper (1916)
The Hunt class minesweeper was a class of minesweeping sloop built between 1916 and 1919 for the Royal Navy. They were built in two discrete groups, the earlier Belvoir group designed by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company and the subsequent Aberdare group designed by the Admiralty...
and (both 1917), , and (both 1918) and and several Strath class naval trawler
Naval trawler
A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...
s.
Second World War
In the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it built the River class frigate
River class frigate
The River class frigate was a class of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic....
s , and (all 1942), (1943) and (1944); Flower class corvette
Flower class corvette
The Flower-class corvette was a class of 267 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic...
s , , , , , , , and ; Castle class corvette
Castle class corvette
The Castle-class corvettes were an updated version of the much more numerous Flower-class corvettes of the Royal Navy, and started appearing during late 1943...
s , and ; Algerine class minesweeper
Algerine class minesweeper
The Algerine-class was a class of minesweepers of the Royal Navy and the Commonwealth. 110 ships of the class were launched between 1942 and 1944 and served in World War II....
; Isles class naval trawlers HMS Kerrera HMS Cava, HMS Eriskay and HMS Bardsey and numerous LCTs
Landing craft tank
The Landing Craft, Tank was an amphibious assault ship for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the British Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of versions. Initially known as the "Tank Landing Craft" by the British, they later...
.
1945–69
In 1946 Fleming and Ferguson built the East African Railways and Harbours CorporationEast African Railways and Harbours Corporation
The East African Railways and Harbours Corporation was formed in 1948 for the new East African High Commission by merging the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours with the Tanganyika Railway of the Tanganyika Territory...
stern wheel paddle steamer , which plied the Albert Nile in Uganda. In 1964 the American Marine and Machinery Co. Inc. bought Fleming and Ferguson.
The company's final ship was a dredger that it built speculatively. Fleming and Ferguson ceased trading before completing the vessel so Hugh Maclean of Renfrew
Renfrew
-Local government:The town of Renfrew gave its name to a number of local government areas used at various times:*Renfrew a town to the west of Glasgow*Renfrewshire, the present unitary local council area in which Renfrew is situatated....
completed her. The dredger, yard number 804, was eventually named Bled and exported to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
.
Surviving ships
Surviving Fleming and Ferguson products include the floating steam cranes HikitiaHikitia
Hikitia is a working self-propelled floating steam crane in Wellington, New Zealand. She is thought to be the only working steam crane of her type in the world...
and Rapaki (both 1926) and dredger (1929), all in New Zealand; dredger (1961) (now called UCO 1 and registered in Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
) and research vessel
Research vessel
A research vessel is a ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel, others require a dedicated vessel...
Andusandhani (1963) on the Hooghly River in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
.