Ailsa Shipbuilding Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in

Troon Troon is a town in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with freight services and a yacht marina. Up until January 2016, P&O opera ...

and Ayr,

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine, North Ayrshi ...

Steam Yacht Andria 1897 - Scientific-american-v77-n02-1897-07-10 0007

History

The company was founded in 1885 by the 3rd Marquess of Ailsa along with Peter James Wallace and Alexander McCredie. In 1902 the Ailsa yard fitted out the polar exploration ship for the

Scottish National Antarctic Expedition The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), 1902–1904, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in terms of prestige by Ro ...

of 1902–04. The ''Scotia'' sailed from Troon for the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

on 2 November 1902. The company built

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

s for various companies around the UK, including the New Medway Shipping Company's PS ''Medway Queen'', the only estuary paddle steamer left in the UK. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, the shipyard built the Royal Navy's first paddle minesweeper of the . During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Ailsa built vessels for the Navy, including several s. In 1977 Ailsa was

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

and subsumed into the

British Shipbuilders Corporation British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation was ...

. In 1981, the assets of Ailsa and those of Ferguson Brothers were merged to form Ferguson-Ailsa, Limited. This grouping was split and privatised in 1986, the Ailsa yard being acquired by Perth Corporation as Ailsa & Perth, Limited. Ailsa stopped large-scale shipbuilding in 1988 and finally closed as a shipbuilder in 2000. The yard has recently been used for ship repair work and the fabrication of large concrete sections for a pier improvement programme in Grimsay,

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coas ...

Ships built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company

References

Defunct shipbuilding companies of Scotland Former defence companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in South Ayrshire 1885 establishments in Scotland Manufacturing companies established in 1885 British companies established in 1885 Troon British Shipbuilders {{UK-manufacturing-company-stub

History

Ships built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company

Archives

References