William Leslie Comyn (born 30 October 1877) was a Californian businessman, shipbuilder and builder of one of the first large

concrete ship Concrete ships are built of steel and ferrocement (reinforced concrete) instead of more traditional materials, such as steel or wood. The advantage of ferrocement construction is that materials are cheap and readily available, while the disadvantag ...

Life

Comyn was the second son of Charles Comyn an English

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and was born at

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

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 ...

. His great-uncle

Stephen George Comyn Stephen George Comyn (29 December 1764 – 3 March 1839) was an English naval chaplain who served with Lord Nelson at the Battle of the Nile and Battle of Copenhagen. He was a close friend of Nelson and is said to have been his favourite chaplai ...

had been naval chaplain to the English Admiral

Lord Nelson Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British people, British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strate ...

. He was educated at Merchant Taylor's School, and

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and subsequently founded his own shipping company - Comyn Singleton and Dunn of Gracechurch Street London EC1. Through this business he went to California where he settled and became a businessman in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. His father in law William Emil Gerber of

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

was a merchant and financier, and may have supported his enterprises. One of the ships he built was a five master sailing ship named Ann Comyn after his wife. During

World War I 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 fightin ...

Leslie Comyn, tried to persuade the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

(USSB) that they should build concrete ships. They were not convinced so in 1917, he founded the San Francisco Shipbuilding Company at

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. In January 1918 he started, on speculation, to build the first ship, called appropriately "FAITH" designed by Alan MacDonald and Victor Poss. The ship was an 8000-ton freighter, and, at the time, the largest concrete vessel with a sea-going capability in the world. The ship was launched successfully in March 1918. Following this, on April 12, 1918, President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

approved the

Emergency Fleet Corporation The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) was established by the United States Shipping Board, sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board, on 16 April 1917 pursuant to the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729) to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant shi ...

program which oversaw the construction of 24 ferrocement ships for the war. In May 1918, the '' SS Faith'' left San Francisco on her maiden voyage, with 4300 tons of salt and copper ore, bound for Vancouver, followed by other voyages to Honolulu, Balboa, Callao, Valparaiso and New York. In 1919 Comyn's shipbuilding company sold the ship to the French-American SS Lines. Comyn was founder President of the "W L Comyn & Co" shipping company and had an interest in other companies (for example Snow's Import Export). The company is widely quoted in shipping law from the case "Dampskibsselskabet Dannebrog V. Signal Oil & Gas Co. of, 310 U.S. 268 (1940)".FindLaw for Legal Professionals - Case Law, Federal and State Resources, Forms, and Code
/ref> The question concerned is whether the

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

were entitled to maritime liens for fuel oil delivered to Dannebrog's vessels. Dannebrog had chartered two ships - the 'Stjerneborg' and the 'Brand' - to W. L. Comyn & Sons in May 1933. Standard Oil had previously modified a contract with Anglo Canadian Shipping to include the fuel oil requirements of vessels owned, chartered or operated by W. L. Comyn & Sons.

Family

Comyn married Ann Gerber, daughter of William Gerber, and had three children. His brother Hugh Comyn was a Wimbledon singles entrant in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and 1907 as well as a

Scottish Open (badminton) The Scottish Open in badminton is an open international championships held in Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a bord ...

champion in 1908 and 1909. His sister Cicely Vaughan Wilkes, with her husband, founded and ran the influential St Cyprian's School in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

, England.

References

* Durham Bill, ''Ships of Stone to Beat the U-boats'' Steamboat Bill (of Facts) 19 (1962) * Willis, William L., ''History of Sacramento County, California'', Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913 *Robert Force, A. N. Yiannopoulos, Martin Davies ''Admiralty and Maritime Law Abridged Edition'' 2006 Beard Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Comyn, W. Leslie 1877 births People educated at Dulwich College American manufacturing businesspeople American businesspeople in shipping Concrete pioneers Year of death missing