Editing North East England (section)

====Wood to iron and steel====
The early ships were built of wood, but in the 19th century there was a move towards building ships of iron then steel.  Ships were built across the region, especially along [[Tyneside]] in Jarrow and [[Wearside]] in Sunderland and also in smaller ports like Blyth, [[Whitby]] and Hartlepool. Sunderland's early development was due to coal but it later transitioned to become the largest shipbuilding town in the world<ref>{{cite book|last=Brett & Clark|publisher=Black Cat Publications|title=Sunderland-the biggest shipbuilding town in the world|isbn=978-1-899560-97-4|date=3 November 2009}}</ref> giving the town its fame. The first recorded shipbuilder was Thomas Menville at [[Hendon, Tyne and Wear|Hendon]] in 1346.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=British Broadcasting Corp|title=Shipbuilding on Wearside|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/image_galleries/shipbuilding_on_wearside_gallery.shtml?8|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130819151807/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/image_galleries/shipbuilding_on_wearside_gallery.shtml?8}}</ref>

By 1790 Sunderland was building around nineteen ships per year making it the most important shipbuilding centre in the United Kingdom. By 1840 there were 65 shipyards such that over 150 wooden vessels were built at Sunderland in 1850. At this time 2,025 shipwrights worked in the town and some 2,000 others were employed in related industries. Sunderland's first iron ships were built from 1852 and wooden shipbuilding ceased here in 1876. Sunderland shipbuilders included Austin and Son, William Pickersgill and William Doxford.<ref name="Shipbuilding 1790 to 1899" />

It was between 1790 and 1805 that Thomas Haw of Stockton began building ships for the [[Napoleonic wars]]. Shipbuilding did not begin in Middlesbrough until 1833 when a wooden sailing ship called ''The Middlesbro'' was built. Teesside's first iron ship was built in Thornaby in 1854, it was a screw steamer called ''The Advance'', and Teesside's first steel ship was ''Little Lucy'' built in 1858. One famous Teesside-built ship was the {{convert|377|ft|m|adj=on}} long ''Talpore'', built by Pearse and Co of Stockton in 1860. It was a [[troop ship]] for the River Indus, and was the world's largest river steamer at the time.<ref>{{cite book|first=Alan|last=Betteney|publisher=Tees Valley Heritage group|title=Shipbuilding in Stockton and Thornaby|isbn=978-0-9546319-0-1|date=1 December 2003}}</ref> An archive of the ships built on Teesside has been created,<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Teesside Ship Society|title=Shipbuilding on the River Tees|url=http://www.teesbuiltships.co.uk/|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823143943/http://www.teesbuiltships.co.uk/|archive-date=23 August 2013}}</ref>

In Hartlepool Thomas Richardson of Castle Eden and John Parkin of Sunderland established a shipyard at Old Hartlepool in 1835 and built The Castle Eden ship. The shipbuilding company of William Gray was established here in 1862 and Gray became one of the most influential men in the town. He was the first mayor of West Hartlepool in 1887. William Gray shipbuilders won the Blue Ribband prize for maximum output in 1878, 1882, 1888, 1895, 1898 and 1900. The yard closed in 1961.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Hartlepool Mail|title=History of Ship Building in Hartlepool|url=http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk/ships|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917165614/http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk/ships|archive-date=17 September 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Mauretania (ship) (between 1906 and 1914).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|RMS ''Mauretania'' on its Tyneside builder's ways before launch in 1906]]
On Tyneside, [[Charles Mark Palmer]], born in [[South Shields]], established a yard at Jarrow in 1851 and built its first iron collier, ''The John Bowes'', in the following year. It was the first ever seagoing screw collier and was built for John Bowes of Barnard Castle for shipping coal to London. Palmer was also famed for building the first rolled armour plates for [[warship]]s in 1854. William Smith and Co launched the 1,600-ton ''Blenheim'' in 1848.

W. G. Armstrong, the northern engineer, acquired an interest in the Tyneside shipbuilding firm of Mitchells in 1882, and the company of [[W.G. Armstrong|W. G. Armstrong]], Mitchell and Co was formed. The yard built [[battleship]]s as well as a ship called ''Gluckauf'', which was arguably the world's first oil tanker.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} It was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] by the yard in 1886. Scotsman Charles Mitchell started building ships at Walker-on-Tyne in 1852 and purchased a {{convert|6.5|acre|adj=on}} site at [[Wallsend]] in 1873 to soak up excess orders from his Walker shipyard. The new yard failed financially and was handed to his brother-in-law Charles Swan. Charles and his brother Henry were directors of the Wallsend Slipway Company, a repair yard established by Mitchell in 1871. In 1878 Charles arranged a partnership with Sunderland shipbuilder George Hunter, but in 1879 Charles died after falling overboard from a channel steamer whilst returning from the Continent with his wife. Hunter went into temporary partnership with Swan's wife before becoming managing director in 1880. [[Swan Hunter Shipyard|Swan Hunters]] built their first steel ship at Wallsend in 1884 and their first oil tanker in 1889.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Most early ships built at the Swan Hunter yard were smaller, like colliers and barges, but in 1898 it built its first [[ocean liner]], ''Ultonia,'' with a further 21 liners being built between 1898 and 1903. The most famous ship ever launched there was undoubtedly {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|2}}, a transatlantic ocean liner that launched on 20 September 1906. The ship was {{convert|790|ft|m|adj=on}} long, with a [[Beam (nautical)]] of 88&nbsp;ft (27 m) and a [[gross register tonnage]] of 31,938 tons. It carried 2,000 passengers on its maiden voyage on 16 November 1907 and won the [[Blue Riband]] for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, a record held for 22 years.<ref name="Shipbuilding 1790 to 1899" />