Samuda Brothers was an

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ham ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, founded by

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

and

Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda (21 May 1813 – 27 April 1885) was an English engineer and politician. He was born in London the younger son of Abraham Samuda, and brother of Jacob Samuda. He started out in his father's counting-house, but in 1832 he ...

. The site is now occupied by

Samuda Estate The Samuda Estate is on the east side of Manchester Road, in Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs. With 505 dwellings it is home to about 1,500 people and covers . Historical background The estate is named for the shipbuilding company of the Samuda ...

An iron tube for the Waterloo and Whitehall Pnumatic Railway

Samuda Brothers initially leased a premises on the Goodluck Hope peninsula, Leamouth,

in 1843, by the mouth of Bow Creek. However disaster struck with one of their first ships, the ''Gipsy Queen'' which exploded on its test trip in November 1844. Jacob was killed with nine of the firm's employees. There was a further explosion at their shipyard in 1845 and another three workers were killed. The firm moved to Cubitt Town in 1852, having outgrown a site that was hemmed in by other industrial premises. By this time the company was run by Joseph, Jacob having been killed in the trial of the ''Gipsy Queen''. The Cubitt Town yard specialised in iron and steel warships and steam packets and by 1863 was said to be producing double the output of the other London shipyards combined. Samuda fabricated components for the

Waterloo and Whitehall Railway The Waterloo and Whitehall Railway was a proposed and partly constructed 19th century Rammell pneumatic railway in central London intended to run under the River Thames just upstream from Hungerford Bridge, running from Waterloo station to the ...

, an atmospheric railway system. The project was abandoned due to the 1866 financial crisis. Orders from Germany, Russia and Japan enabled the firm to survive the crisis, which affected many other London yards.'Cubitt Town: Riverside area: from Cubitt Town Pier to the Graving Docks', Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 532–539. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46530. Retrieved 7 November 2007. Togo in Europe

In 1877 Togo Heihachiro, later a prominent

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

, came for

work experience Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal tr ...

with the Samuda Brothers after completing his training at Naval Preparatory School in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, and the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. He supervised the construction of the ''Fusō'' before returning to Japan. He led the Imperial Japanese navy to victory in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, establishing Japan as a

Great Power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...

. Following the death of Joseph in 1885 attempts were made to sell the firm as a going concern. This was unsuccessful, resulting in closure in the 1890s, leaving Yarrows and Thames Ironworks as the last significant London shipbuilders.

Ships built by the Samuda Brothers

* SS ''Carnatic'', P&O, 1862 * HMS ''Tamar'',

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, 1863 * BAP ''Independencia'' Flag of Peru (state)

, Peruvian Navy, 1864 * '' Mahroussa'', Khedive of Egypt, 1865 * ''Bordein'', Khedive of Egypt, Nile steamer c 1865 * SMS ''Kronprinz'', Prussian Navy, 1867 * ''Muin-i Zafer'', Ottoman Navy, 1869 * SMS ''Deutschland'', German Navy 1875 * ''Fusō'' Naval Ensign of Japan

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

, 1877 * HMS ''Belleisle'', Royal Navy 1876 (originally to be ''Peyk-i Şeref'' for Ottoman Empire) * HMS ''Orion'', Royal Navy 1879 (originally to be ''Büruç-u Zafer'' for Turkish Navy) * ARA ''Almirante Brown'',

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...

, 1880 * ''Riachuelo'', Brazilian Navy, 1883Clive Trebilcock,''Phoenix Assurance and the Development of British Insurance, Vol II, The Era of the Insurance Giants 1870–1984'', P19,Cambridge University Press * HMS ''Sappho'', Royal Navy, 1891 * PS ''Myleta'' (1891), a paddle steamer with a two cylinder single oscillating engine. Built for the South Eastern Railway, and scrapped in 1909

References

Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom Shipbuilding in London Ships built in Leamouth Ships built in Poplar Ships built in Cubitt Town Port of London Shipyards on the River Thames British marine engineers

Ships built by the Samuda Brothers

See also

References