Hercules Linton
Encyclopedia
Hercules Linton was a Scottish
surveyor, designer
, shipbuilder, antiquarian
and local councillor
, best known as the designer of the Cutty Sark
and partner in the yard of Scott and Linton which built her.
He was born in Inverbervie
, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. On his nineteenth birthday in 1855 Hercules Linton was apprenticed to Alexander Hall and Sons
who at the time, were the leading shipbuilders in Aberdeen
and whose schooner
Scottish Maid (1839) with its sharp bow and entry helped coin the term Aberdeen Bow. Linton progressed through his apprenticeship and eventually rose to a senior position at Alexander Hall and Sons.
Eventually he left Alexander Hall and Sons to become a Lloyd's Register
Surveyor based at the Lloyds offices in Liverpool
and subsequently moved to the Liverpool Underwriters Registry where from early in 1862 he was assisting John Jordan who was the Chief Surveyor. It is thought that he left the Liverpool Underwriters Association in May 1864 but still associated on a free-lance basis.
near its junction with the River Clyde
.
Approximately £600 of the £1200 capital to set up the business was provided by Scott’s father. The rest was a borrowing against Linton’s life insurance policy and some cash. Hercules Linton managed the design and shipbuilding and William Scott managed the counting house
and engineering.
In May 1868 Scott & Linton rented part of the Woodyard. The yard was previously occupied by Denny’s
until they moved across the river Leven upon expiry of their lease. However the lack of business experience in the two partners showed as early as August. Correspondence between Scott and his father shows that cash flow problems emerged during the building of their first order, the small iron steamship ‘Camel’, for which there appeared to be no contracted stage payments during the build. Work had to be completed in October and the completed vessel delivered to J. Bibby & Co in Newcastle
at which point Scott & Linton would then receive the full purchase price of £980.
is not known. Linton certainly had many contacts made through his career as a respected surveyor and probably also did design work as surveyors often did at that time. Linton's experience gained at Alexander Hall & Sons probably contributed to his design skills.
On the surface it seems Willis must have been taking a risk but he used all his business experience to negotiate an agreement which provided a high degree of protection. Willis with his practical experience also approved the drawings and specifications. The agreement provided for a payment of a deposit to Scott & Linton upon signature followed by seven stage payments as the construction progressed. However there were also penalty clauses.
Cutty Sark was contracted for at a price of £17 per ton but if the tonnage exceeded 950 tons there would be no extra payment. The price of £17 per ton was extremely competitive and given the total lack of experience in building a composite
clipper ship of anything close to the size and complexity of Cutty Sark
makes one wonder how the price was calculated to win the order and yet still make a profit. The completed vessel was to be delivered by 30 July 1869 with a penalty of £5 per day to be paid by Scott & Linton for every day of delay unless the delays were due to changes in specification or labour strikes. If Scott and Linton were unable to complete then Willis had the right to enter the yard and finish the work paying for materials out of the withheld stage payments.
Cutty Sark was to be built to Lloyds A1 classification and in addition to the regular visits from the Lloyds surveyors, Willis had one of his experienced skippers, Captain George Moodie
, superintend the construction prior to taking command of Cutty Sark upon completion. Captain Moodie was said to be very particular regarding the quality of the materials used in the construction and only accepted the best quality materials and workmanship which all added to the cost (this may have contributed to why the Cutty Sark is still in existence today).
During the construction the Lloyds surveyors wanted additional strengthening around the bilges and other areas. Agreement was eventually reached with Lloyds but not before causing a delay which in turn delayed the receipt of stage payments, affected cash flow and reduced the profit by causing Scott & Linton to absorb the extra cost of labour and materials to comply with the negotiated additions.
The problems with the surveyors were made worse by the fact that Linton’s father Alexander Linton was one of the Lloyds surveyors involved. He was normally based in Belfast
but in May 1896 he was temporarily seconded to Glasgow
due to the resident Lloyds surveyor's involvement in a shipyard accident.
to complete the ships. Cutty Sark was eventually launched on 22 November 1869, nearly five months late, by Captain Moodie’s wife. Cutty Sark was then moved to Denny’s yard on the other side of the River Leven
to have her masts installed and on the 20 December towed down the River Clyde
to Greenock
to have a specialist firm install her running rigging.
In the midst of the collapse of his business, Linton’s wife gave birth to a baby son in October 1869 but soon after Linton was forced to hand over his house to the creditors. After everything was finished and final costs taken into account, the creditors were owed even more money than the amount outstanding when they made the ill-advised decision to complete the three ships.
, Dundee
.
In December, 1869 Linton took a job as head of the modelling and design department at Leckie, Wood and Munro who were shipbuilders and engineers. At the beginning of April 1870 he resigned due to his involvement with a new firm of shipbuilders Morton, Wyld & Co. who started operations at the yard previously occupied by Scott & Linton. Unfortunately in November 1870 they also went bankrupt.
Linton was appointed a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in November 1876.
Linton went south to Woolston, Hampshire in 1880 and eventually left to go to Montrose
where his tenth and last child, a daughter was borne in December 1884. Linton's wife Marjory died in January 1885 which affected him deeply.
In 1895 he was living in Inverbervie
and in November of that year was elected to the Town Council.
Hercules Linton was aged 64 when he died on 15 May 1900 due to heart trouble.
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...
surveyor, designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
, shipbuilder, antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
and local councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
, best known as the designer of the Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark is a clipper ship. Built in 1869, she served as a merchant vessel , and then as a training ship until being put on public display in 1954...
and partner in the yard of Scott and Linton which built her.
He was born in Inverbervie
Inverbervie
Inverbervie is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven, in the Aberdeenshire council area.The Inverbervie name derives from Inbhir Beirbhe, meaning Mouth of the River Bervie in Scottish Gaelic.-History:...
, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. On his nineteenth birthday in 1855 Hercules Linton was apprenticed to Alexander Hall and Sons
Alexander Hall and Sons
Alexander Hall and Sons built ships in Aberdeen from 1797 to 1957.Alexander Hall took over his father-in-law’s shipbuilding business Cochar and Gibbon in 1790 to found Alexander Hall and Company. Their first ships were wooden sailing vessels...
who at the time, were the leading shipbuilders in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and whose schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Scottish Maid (1839) with its sharp bow and entry helped coin the term Aberdeen Bow. Linton progressed through his apprenticeship and eventually rose to a senior position at Alexander Hall and Sons.
Eventually he left Alexander Hall and Sons to become a Lloyd's Register
Lloyd's Register
The Lloyd's Register Group is a maritime classification society and independent risk management organisation providing risk assessment and mitigation services and management systems certification. Historically, as Lloyd's Register of Shipping, it was a specifically maritime organisation...
Surveyor based at the Lloyds offices in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and subsequently moved to the Liverpool Underwriters Registry where from early in 1862 he was assisting John Jordan who was the Chief Surveyor. It is thought that he left the Liverpool Underwriters Association in May 1864 but still associated on a free-lance basis.
Scott and Linton shipbuilders
In May 1868, Linton entered into a shipbuilding partnership with William Dundas Scott to form the firm of Scott & Linton, shipbuilders of Dumbarton, on the River LevenRiver Leven, Dunbartonshire
The River Leven is a stretch of water in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, flowing from Loch Lomond in the North to the River Clyde in the South...
near its junction with the River Clyde
River Clyde
The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
.
Approximately £600 of the £1200 capital to set up the business was provided by Scott’s father. The rest was a borrowing against Linton’s life insurance policy and some cash. Hercules Linton managed the design and shipbuilding and William Scott managed the counting house
Counting house
A counting house, or compting house, literally is the building, room, office or suite in which a business firm carries on operations, particularly accounting. By a synecdoche, it has come to mean the accounting operations of a firm, however housed...
and engineering.
In May 1868 Scott & Linton rented part of the Woodyard. The yard was previously occupied by Denny’s
William Denny and Brothers
William Denny and Brothers Limited, and often referred to simply as Denny, were a Scottish shipbuilding company.-History:The Company was founded by Peter Denny in 1840 and based in Dumbarton, on the River Clyde. Although the Denny yard was situated near the junction of the River Clyde and the River...
until they moved across the river Leven upon expiry of their lease. However the lack of business experience in the two partners showed as early as August. Correspondence between Scott and his father shows that cash flow problems emerged during the building of their first order, the small iron steamship ‘Camel’, for which there appeared to be no contracted stage payments during the build. Work had to be completed in October and the completed vessel delivered to J. Bibby & Co in Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
at which point Scott & Linton would then receive the full purchase price of £980.
Cutty Sark and John Willis
The agreement to build the Cutty Sark was signed by John 'Jock' Willis (also known as 'White Hat' Willis) on 1 February 1869 with a contracted completion date six months later on 30 July 1869. Willis had been an experienced shipmaster in his father’s business and now was also an experienced ship owner on his own account. How Willis found and selected Scott & Linton to design and build a state of the art extreme clipperClipper
A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...
is not known. Linton certainly had many contacts made through his career as a respected surveyor and probably also did design work as surveyors often did at that time. Linton's experience gained at Alexander Hall & Sons probably contributed to his design skills.
On the surface it seems Willis must have been taking a risk but he used all his business experience to negotiate an agreement which provided a high degree of protection. Willis with his practical experience also approved the drawings and specifications. The agreement provided for a payment of a deposit to Scott & Linton upon signature followed by seven stage payments as the construction progressed. However there were also penalty clauses.
Cutty Sark was contracted for at a price of £17 per ton but if the tonnage exceeded 950 tons there would be no extra payment. The price of £17 per ton was extremely competitive and given the total lack of experience in building a composite
Composite ship
The technique of composite ship construction emerged in the mid-19th century as the final stage in the evolution of fast commercial sailing ships....
clipper ship of anything close to the size and complexity of Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark is a clipper ship. Built in 1869, she served as a merchant vessel , and then as a training ship until being put on public display in 1954...
makes one wonder how the price was calculated to win the order and yet still make a profit. The completed vessel was to be delivered by 30 July 1869 with a penalty of £5 per day to be paid by Scott & Linton for every day of delay unless the delays were due to changes in specification or labour strikes. If Scott and Linton were unable to complete then Willis had the right to enter the yard and finish the work paying for materials out of the withheld stage payments.
Cutty Sark was to be built to Lloyds A1 classification and in addition to the regular visits from the Lloyds surveyors, Willis had one of his experienced skippers, Captain George Moodie
George Moodie
George Moodie was an Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the early years of the Victorian Football League ....
, superintend the construction prior to taking command of Cutty Sark upon completion. Captain Moodie was said to be very particular regarding the quality of the materials used in the construction and only accepted the best quality materials and workmanship which all added to the cost (this may have contributed to why the Cutty Sark is still in existence today).
During the construction the Lloyds surveyors wanted additional strengthening around the bilges and other areas. Agreement was eventually reached with Lloyds but not before causing a delay which in turn delayed the receipt of stage payments, affected cash flow and reduced the profit by causing Scott & Linton to absorb the extra cost of labour and materials to comply with the negotiated additions.
The problems with the surveyors were made worse by the fact that Linton’s father Alexander Linton was one of the Lloyds surveyors involved. He was normally based in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
but in May 1896 he was temporarily seconded to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
due to the resident Lloyds surveyor's involvement in a shipyard accident.
Financial Problems
Cash flow problems were such that all work in the Scott & Linton yard was suspended in the first week of September. Rather than apply for the Company to be liquidated, the creditors met and decided to complete some or all of the outstanding contracts and a financial agreement was reached with William Denny & BrosWilliam Denny and Brothers
William Denny and Brothers Limited, and often referred to simply as Denny, were a Scottish shipbuilding company.-History:The Company was founded by Peter Denny in 1840 and based in Dumbarton, on the River Clyde. Although the Denny yard was situated near the junction of the River Clyde and the River...
to complete the ships. Cutty Sark was eventually launched on 22 November 1869, nearly five months late, by Captain Moodie’s wife. Cutty Sark was then moved to Denny’s yard on the other side of the River Leven
River Leven, Dunbartonshire
The River Leven is a stretch of water in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, flowing from Loch Lomond in the North to the River Clyde in the South...
to have her masts installed and on the 20 December towed down the River Clyde
River Clyde
The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
to Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
to have a specialist firm install her running rigging.
In the midst of the collapse of his business, Linton’s wife gave birth to a baby son in October 1869 but soon after Linton was forced to hand over his house to the creditors. After everything was finished and final costs taken into account, the creditors were owed even more money than the amount outstanding when they made the ill-advised decision to complete the three ships.
Hercules Linton in later years
After the troubles at Scott & Linton, Hercules Linton joined Gourlay Brothers as assistant manager at their yard in CamperdownCamperdown, Dundee
Camperdown is an area of Dundee, Scotland, best known for Camperdown Park, which is the largest park in the city.The name is Dutch in origin, being the English version of Kamperduin, a village of the North Holland province on the North Sea coast of the Netherlands...
, Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
.
In December, 1869 Linton took a job as head of the modelling and design department at Leckie, Wood and Munro who were shipbuilders and engineers. At the beginning of April 1870 he resigned due to his involvement with a new firm of shipbuilders Morton, Wyld & Co. who started operations at the yard previously occupied by Scott & Linton. Unfortunately in November 1870 they also went bankrupt.
Linton was appointed a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in November 1876.
Linton went south to Woolston, Hampshire in 1880 and eventually left to go to Montrose
Montrose, Angus
Montrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...
where his tenth and last child, a daughter was borne in December 1884. Linton's wife Marjory died in January 1885 which affected him deeply.
In 1895 he was living in Inverbervie
Inverbervie
Inverbervie is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven, in the Aberdeenshire council area.The Inverbervie name derives from Inbhir Beirbhe, meaning Mouth of the River Bervie in Scottish Gaelic.-History:...
and in November of that year was elected to the Town Council.
Hercules Linton was aged 64 when he died on 15 May 1900 due to heart trouble.
Sources
- The Cutty Sark, Her Designer and Builder, HERCULES LINTON, 1836-1900. Author Robert E. Brettle. Published in 1969 by W. Heffer & Sons, Cambridge, England.