Difference between revisions of "Armstrong, Mitchell and Co"

Revision as of 11:19, 15 September 2007

Armstrong, Mitchell and Co of Elswick-on-Tyne, Newcastle were shipbuilders 1882-1897

1847 William Armstrong had established a company W. G. Armstrong and Co with a capital of £19,500 plus Armstrong's patents valued at £3000, to manufacture new hydraulic devices. The company's first buildings were erected on a narrow strip of land, between the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and the Tyne, at Elswick, just over a mile to the west of the town. Production commenced in the autumn and some twenty or thirty men being employed.

1882 W. G. Armstrong and Co merged with Charles Mitchell and Co to form Armstrong, Mitchell and Co. The company was launched with a capital of £1.575M.

The vessel Esmerelda, a Chilean cruiser was the first fruit of a merger between William Armstrong and Charles Mitchell.

He came to prominence due to the Armstrong Field Gun which was used extensively in the Crimean War. He was one of the two great armament manufacturers in the world.

1885 - The Low Walker yard concentrated on merchant shipbuilding especially of tankers.

1886 – Gluckauf was completed in July as the world’s first ocean-going tanker; designed by Henry F. Swan to carry 3500 tons of oil from America or the Black Sea to Europe.

The Deutsch-America Petroleum Company subsequently placed orders for many sister tankers and the yard completed over 100 tankers up to the outbreak of war in 1914.

1898 Two Russian ice-breakers were completed with Sampo (1339/98) being fitted with hydraulic elevators for raising and lowering carriages and trucks for the different levels of the river Volga.

1899 Baikal (4200/99) was considered to be the most spectacular ship for the Russians. It was a train ferry and was sent overland in 7200 pieces and reassembled on the banks of Lake Baikal as part of the Trans-Siberian Railway!

Over 35 dry-cargo liners were also ordered by German and British owners between 1880 and 1913

The yard was willing to tackle anything that came its way including coastal passenger steamers, cable layers, large cargo ships, suction dredgers and floating cranes.

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 * 1852 Armstrong's Hydraulic Crane. Drawing. Mentions G. W. Armstrong.
-* 1882 [[William Armstrong]] merged with [[Charles Mitchell and Co]] to form '''Armstrong, Mitchell and Co'''. The company was launched with a capital of £1.575M.
+* 1882 '''W. G. Armstrong and Co''' merged with [[Charles Mitchell and Co]] to form '''Armstrong, Mitchell and Co'''. The company was launched with a capital of £1.575M.
 * The vessel Esmerelda, a Chilean cruiser was the first fruit of a merger between William Armstrong and Charles Mitchell.