Earle's Shipbuilding was an

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

company that was based in Hull,

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from 1845 to 1932.

Earle Brothers

The company was started in Hull in 1845 by two brothers,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and William Earle. The firm was made up of

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

s and focussed on

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

and

repair The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installat ...

. Its most notable association was with the Wilson Line, for whom the yard produced many

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

s. Earle's also built vessels for many other British shipping firms, especially those operating on

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

routes such as the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

and the Hull & Netherlands Steamship Co. Ltd. In 1871, Earle's was restructured as a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

and for a short time Sir Edward James Reed served as its chairman and managing director. Earle's built two steam yachts for Tsarevitch Alexander: ''Slavanka'' in 1873 and ''Czarevna'' in 1874. Also in 1874 Earle's built the unsuccessful , Sir Henry Bessemer's experimental swinging-cabin

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

, which made its maiden (and only) public voyage in 1875. Earle's built the yacht ''Bosphorous'' for Khedive Isma'il of Egypt and later built other yachts for wealthy clients. Earle's was an early adopter of

triple-expansion engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) Cylinder (engine), cylinder, then ha ...

s, for example installing them in the liner that the company built for Wilson Line in 1882. Reed had been chief constructor to the Admiralty and helped Earle's to win a number of naval orders including the

ironclad warship An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship protected by steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The firs ...

s (1874) and (1875) for the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy () is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense (Chile), Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Ori ...

Later naval orders included two s for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

(RN): launched in 1891 and launched in 1892. In 1895 the company built two s for the RN.

Liquidation and takeover

Earle's faced difficulties when Charles died and William was taken ill. In the latter part of the 1890s, the firm suffered both cash-flow problems and a labour shortage, and in 1900, it entered voluntary

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

. However, Charles Wilson bought the firm for about £170,000, keeping the Earle's name, but making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Wilson Line. In 1904, Earle's built for the Peruvian Corporation, a UK-owned company that ran

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

's railways. She was built as a "knock down" ship; that is, she was bolted together at Earle's shipyard, then all her parts were marked with numbers, unbolted and packed into crates, and then shipped in kit form to Peru, where they were transported inland, reassembled with rivets, and in 1905 launched on

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) 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. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

, the highest navigable lake in the world. In the 1920s ''Inca'' needed a new bottom, so Earle's made one in kit form and shipped that to Peru as well. In 1929, Earle's built a larger "knock down" ship for the Peruvian Corporation, , which was launched on Lake Titicaca in 1931. By now, manufacturing in the UK was declining in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and after ''Ollanta'', Earle's built only three more ships. The UK government sponsored a rationalisation of the shipbuilding industry, and in 1932, the National Shipbuilders Securities (NSS) took over Earle's. NSS sold Earle's tools and machinery, shipping the yard's large crane and other equipment to

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. The terms of Earle's closure included a

restrictive covenant A covenant, in its most general and covenant (historical), historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the ...

on the site of the yard proscribing any shipbuilding there for the following 60 years.

Surviving Earle's ship

At least one Earle's-built ship survives. ''Ollanta'', now retired from scheduled ferry service, is leased out by

PeruRail PeruRail is a railway operator providing tourist, freight, and charter services in southern Peru. It was founded in 1999 by two Peruvian entrepreneurs and the British company Sea Containers. The main line between the port of Matarani, Arequipa ...

for charter tourist cruises on

References

External links

* {{Commonscat-inline, Ships built at Earle's Shipbuilding, Hull Defunct companies based in Kingston upon Hull Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1845 British companies disestablished in 1932 Industry in Kingston upon Hull