owner. Another change was the frequent documentation of female owners of Cork vessels in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Shipyard, Browns
( Anne, Brown, Charlotte, Dominica )
In 1832 the Passage Docks and Shipbuilding Yard built by William Craig and Henry Brown was officially opened and the following year Henry’s brother, William Brown Jr (b.1808), began construction of a drydock, the Victoria Dock, at Passage which later became the Royal Victoria Dockyard (O’Riordan 2014). The Albert Drydock was added in 1851. Henry Brown (b.1812), known as Captain Brown, was the captain of Nancy Brown and George Lawrence in the mid-1830s. William Brown Jr, who had reputedly also worked in the shipyard of William Barry of Passage West, was probably involved in the construction of Charlotte by the Browns in 1826.
Shipyard, Hennessy
( Mary Macklin )
Andrew Hennessy was the proprietor of a shipyard in Passage West which earned an excellent reputation in the early nineteenth century. On 15 June 1815 he launched the first steam ship built in Ireland, the City of Cork . Then in 1816 the Waterloo steamer was launched at Hennessy’s Yard ( O’ Mahony 1986). These two steamers ran in opposition transporting people and goods between the city and the lower harbour (McCarthy 2019).
Shipyard, Knight
( Barbadoes )
‘ Cork became the most important shipbuilding centre in the country in the 1820s and 1830s …. At this stage there were two dockyards at Lower Glanmire, which were run by Knight and Wheeler ’ (Bielenberg 1991). Knight’s Yard , located just downriver from Wheeler’s Yard , installed a patent slip in 1828 (the second in the country after Waterford) enabling six men to extract a 100t ship 2-5 feet up the slip in one minute (McCarthy 2019). Steam engines would soon make the process even more efficient. Knight’s Yard was taken over by Stephen Hickson in 1842 and it was successful until his death in 1847.
Shipyard, Lecky & Beale
Lecky & Beale , later known as Robert J Lecky & Co ., came into prominence around 1845 when they launched the first iron hulled vessel to be built in Cork (Anderson). While an important shipyard, they were not overly influential in the construction of sailing vessels and will not be discussed further.
Shipyard, Pike
Established by Ebenezer Pike, managing director of the Cork Steamship Co . in 1844 in place of the old St George Co . on the north side of the river, just below the city. He saw the construction of many important steamers, built a large fleet of ships and dominated shipping in Cork for many years. Again, like Lecky’s Yard , no notable contribution to pure sailing vessels.
372
Powered by FlippingBook