William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company.

History

The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny (born 1779), for whom ships are recorded being built in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

as far back as 1811 such as the sailing

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Alpha''.) By 1823 the company name had changed to William Denny & Son. The first ship it built under this name was the paddle steamer ''Superb''. From 1845 the company became Denny Brothers (this being William jnr, Alexander and

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

), and in 1849 the firm was reconstituted as William Denny & Brothers, this being William, James and Peter Denny. Although the Denny yard was situated near the junction of the River Clyde and the River Leven, the yard was on the Leven. The founder developed the company's interests in ship owning and operation with interests in the British & Burmese Steam Navigation Company, the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company and La Platense Flotilla. The Company built all types of ships but were particularly well known as producers of fine cross-channel

steamships A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

and

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

. It was a pioneer in the development of the ship's stabiliser in conjunction with

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

-based Brown Brothers & Company. In 1913 the Channel steamer ''Paris'' was one of the first ships to use geared turbine engines utilising new Michell tilting-pad

fluid bearing Fluid bearings are bearings in which the load is supported by a thin layer of rapidly moving pressurized liquid or gas between the bearing surfaces. Since there is no contact between the moving parts, there is no sliding friction, allowing flu ...

. It also undertook experimental work in

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull, or air cushion, ...

and

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

-type aircraft. A marine engineering company, also based in

, was formed by

Peter Denny Peter Denny FRSE LLD (25 October 1821 – 22 August 1895) was a shipbuilder and shipowner based in Dumbarton, Scotland. Parents and education Denny was the son of William Denny (1779–1833) and his wife Christeanne Macintyre. He was first appr ...

, John Tulloch and John McAusland in 1850 as Tulloch & Denny. In 1862 the company was renamed Denny & Co. The company manufactured a wide range of types of

marine engine An inboard motor is a marine propulsion system for boats. As opposed to an outboard motor where an engine is mounted outside the hull of the craft, an ''inboard motor'' is an engine enclosed within the hull of the boat, usually connected to a pr ...

s and was absorbed into William Denny & Brothers in 1918. HMS Jaguar F37

Dennys were always innovators and were one of the first commercial shipyards in the world to have their own experimental testing tank: this is now open to the public as a museum. William Denny & Company went into voluntary liquidation in 1963.

Denny ship model experiment tank

Inspired by the work of eminent naval architect

William Froude William Froude (; 28 November 1810 in Devon – 4 May 1879 in Simonstown, South Africa) was an English engineer, hydrodynamicist and naval architect. He was the first to formulate reliable laws for the resistance that water offers to ships (su ...

, Denny's completed the world's first commercial example of a ship testing tank in 1883. The facility was used to test models of various ships and explored various propulsion methods, including propellers, paddles and vane wheels. Experiments were carried out on models of the Denny-Brown stabiliser and the Denny

to gauge their feasibility. Tank staff also carried out research and experiments for other companies:

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

-based

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

decided to fit a

bulbous bow A bulbous bow is a protruding bulb at the bow (or front) of a ship just below the waterline. The bulb modifies the way the water flows around the hull, reducing drag and thus increasing speed, range, fuel efficiency, and stability. Large ships w ...

on the liner after successful model tests in the Denny Tank. After the Denny yard closed, the test tank facility was taken over by

Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construct ...

and used for the testing of

submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

until the early 1980s. Re-opened as part of the

Scottish Maritime Museum The Scottish Maritime Museum is an industrial museum with a Collection Recognised as Nationally Significant to Scotland. It is located at two sites in the West of Scotland in Irvine and Dumbarton, with a focus on Scotland's shipbuilding heritage ...

in 1982, it retains many of its original features, including the 100m long ship testing tank. The towing carriage is still in working order and is demonstrated from time to time, but all instrumentation has been removed and so the tank cannot currently be used for hydrodynamic research and testing.

Denny-built vessels

Some significant Denny-built vessels include: * ''SS Margery'' (1814) for James McCubbin, first steamship on east coast, first on Thames and first to cross the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

* ''SS Greenock'' (1815) for James McCubbin, first steamship in

and first on

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

* ''

Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period ...

'' (1869); completed by Denny's after the liquidation of her contracted builders, Scott & Linton; preserved in a dry dock at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, London * (1892); a

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, i ...

steamer and now a floating restaurant * (1899); excursion steamer on

Loch Katrine Loch Katrine (; or ) is a freshwater loch in the Trossachs area of the Scottish Highlands, east of Loch Lomond, within the historic county and registration county of Perthshire and the contemporary district of Stirling. The loch is about ...

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 border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

* (1901); excursion steamer and the first commercial ship powered by steam turbines * ; an ocean liner built for the

Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival Corporation & plc#Carnival United Kingdom, Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its ...

. Existed under multiple roles and ownerships for over 80 years before finally being scrapped in Japan. * (1893) A cross-channel ferry which sank in 1895 after collision with another LBSCR vessel, the cargo ship Lyon. * (1896) A cross-channel ferry, built as an almost exact replacement for SS Seaford. It was severely damaged by a torpedo from a German U-boat in 1916. At least 50 passengers died. * A cross-channel ferry which was involved in a collision with the windjammer

Preußen Preußen or Preussen is the German word for Prussia. It also refers to: Ships * ''Preußen'' (ship), windjammer built in 1902 * SMS ''Preußen'' (1873), armored frigate * SMS ''Preußen'' (1903), pre-dreadnought Battleship * , vorpostenboot ...

8 nautical miles (15 km) south of Newhaven, resulting in its total loss. *; a

refrigerated The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

that was the first commercial ship to be powered by a combination of reciprocating steam engines and a low-pressure steam turbine *; a cross-channel packet boat that was converted into a seaplane tender in 1914, sold to Filipino owners in 1933 and sunk by a mine in 1941 * '' Delta King'' (1924–26); currently a hotel, theatre, and restaurant in

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

* ''

Delta Queen The ''Delta Queen'' is an American sternwheel steamboat. She is known for Cruising (maritime), cruising the major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the Mississippi River, particularly in the American South, although she began service i ...

'' (1924–26); currently a hotel at

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

* (1933); A Clyde turbine steamer that was once a floating restaurant in London. Now undergoing restoration next to the Glasgow Science Centre. *; a Clyde paddle steamer that was converted into a minesweeper in 1939, a pub and restaurant in 1969 and was destroyed by fire in 1980 * (1937); built for the Southern Railway, and the World's last coal-fired sea-going paddle steamer when withdrawn from service in 1969. Undergoing preservation at the

Island Harbour Marina Island Harbour Marina, on the Isle of Wight, UK, is a commercial marina on the River Medina in the small hamlet of Binfield. It is located approximately halfway between Cowes and the County Town of Newport. Visiting yachtsmen will find it jus ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

. * (1938); a former Denny-owned tug and tender on the Clyde * (1938); an Isle of Wight ferry that in 1974 became the Clyde ferry MV ''Sound of Sanda'' * (1950); a former Mersey ferry berthed at Woolwich, London * MV ''Fenerbahçe'' (1953); a former passenger ferry, now a museum ship in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

* (1957); Leopard class frigate, now BNS ''Ali Haider'' in Bangladesh Navy * Denny D2 Hoverbus; an early attempt to build a hovercraft for use as a passenger vehicle * (1961) Last vessel built by William Denny and Brothers. She was a

Roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

Road/Rail ferry built for

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...

Company flag

The company's flag consisted of a blue elephant against a white field. This image was taken from the civic arms of Dumbarton, and it also served to symbolise the strength and solidity of the company's products.

References

External links