Hall, Russell and Co

Hall, Russell and Co was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Alexander Hall and Co. (AKA Hall, Russell and Co.) were two very famous Aberdeen shipbuilders with yards next to each other. Alexander Hall and his son William had been operating under the Alexander Hall and Company name making China tea clippers and Australian grain and wall barques.

Shipbuilding

• 1860s - Hall, Russell and Company came into being in the mid 1860s when William and James Hall, two brothers, joined with Glasgow engineer Thomas Russell and took over the foundry of the Aberdeen Iron Works. The initial aim was to make marine engines and then open a shipyard. They achieved this in a very short time with the first ship being built three years later.
• 1880s - In the mid 1880s, steel replaced iron, and the company became a limited liability one in 1897. Also at this time the yard made the first of a series of fourteen large steamers for John T. Rennie and Company. The yard also engined the first steam trawler built at Aberdeen in 1880: North Star. This was the first of hundreds of others.
• 1900s -In the 1900s the company continued making trawlers, cruisers, coasters, colliers. In 1904 the company became of limited liability status and concentrated on trawlers, drifters, and small coasters. It also made a number of ships for the Admiralty.
• World War I - During the First World War the yard’s main output was Admiralty ordered trawlers and drifters as well as other local fleets of the Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing Co. Ltd. After the War, the yard made coasters, trawlers, and ferries.
• 1920s -In the 1920s the yard received orders for large Transatlantic traders and was the first of many such large ships. The yard continued making colliers, trawlers and tugs, including the firs ever diesel-electric tug in the world.
• World War II - World war II output was frigates, corvettes, minesweepers, tank landing craft, coastal salvage vessels and other small naval craft along with many trawlers and tugs. In 1942 the yard was taken over by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Co. and was joined in 1953 by Alexander Hall and Co. to form the Burntisland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. From 1949 to 1969 the yard made over 32 large colliers and general cargo ships.
• 1950s - From 1955 onwards the yard went from strength to strength with a full order book for medium-sized sugar carriers and mini bulkers along with smaller passenger cargo ships.
• 1960s - In the 1960s the National Environment Research Council placed an order for an oceanographic survey ship which was completed as Discovery. More trawlers and research fishing vessels then followed throughout the 60s. In 1968, the Burntisland Shipbuilding Group was liquidated and the yard continued making ferries, roll on/roll off ships. Later, a series of coastal and deep sea tankers were made along with coasters and Mediterranean traders.
• 1970s - In the 70s a number of off shore patrol vessels were made for the Royal Navy, along with torpedo recovery ships. The Hall Russell Yard was nationalised in July 1977 and then dedicated itself to naval work only. This was undertaken for British, and Hong Kong governments.
• 1980s - In 1986 the yard was privatised and a £19M passenger/cargo liner was ordered by St Helena Government. Sadly, the yard ran into financial difficulties in 1988 and receivers were called in. The yard was sold privately to A&P Appledore (Aberdeen) in 1989. One more ship was completed at the yard which then concentrated on shiprepair work. It finally closed in 1992

Sources of Information

• [1] Wikipedia
• British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss