Ailsa Shipbuilding Company

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Ailsa Shipbuilding Company
TypePrivate
IndustryShipbuilding
Founded1885
Defunct2000
FateClosed
HeadquartersTroon and Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland

Ailsa Shipbuilding Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Troon and Ayr, Ayrshire.

Steam yacht Andria. Launched 18 Feb 1897

History[]

The company was founded in 1885 by the 3rd Marquess of Ailsa along with Peter James Wallace and Alexander McCredie.

In 1902 the Ailsa yard fitted out the polar exploration ship Scotia for the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of 1902–04. The Scotia sailed from Troon for the South Atlantic on 2 November 1902.[1]

The company built paddle steamers for various companies around the UK, including the New Medway Shipping Company's PS Medway Queen, the only estuary paddle steamer left in the UK.

During the First World War, the shipyard built the Royal Navy's first paddle minesweeper of the Racecourse class.[2]

During the Second World War, Ailsa built vessels for the Navy, including several Bangor-class minesweepers.

In 1977 Ailsa was nationalised and subsumed into the British Shipbuilders Corporation. In 1981, the assets of Ailsa and those of Ferguson Brothers were merged to form Ferguson-Ailsa, Limited. This grouping was split and privatised in 1986, the Ailsa yard being acquired by Perth Corporation as Ailsa & Perth, Limited.

Ailsa stopped large-scale shipbuilding in 1988 and finally closed as a shipbuilder in 2000.[3] The yard has recently been used for ship repair work and the fabrication of large concrete sections for a pier improvement programme in Grimsay, Western Isles.[4]

Ships built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company[]

Yard No Name Type Launch Notes
4 Cargo ship 4 January 1888 renamed Belgian Prince
53 SV Dalblair Steel sailing vessel 3-masted barque 1895

Dalblair was a steel ship of 1,474 tons built in 1895 in Scotland (town of Troon) by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company. Crash reports mention that the vessel left Cardiff for Mauritius with a cargo of coal on 14 November 1901. After 82 days at sea, on 4 February 1902 the ship reached the south east seas of Mauritius

see link [1][5]
Italian Navy gunboat Built 1897 as yacht Evona - since 1912 RN Tobruk
70 SS Hebrides Passenger ship 24 March 1898
78 Katoomba Patrol ship 28 December 1898 renamed USS Emeline
297 HMS Ascot Minesweeper 26 January 1916
298 HMS Atherstone Minesweeper 4 April 1916
294 HMS Aphis Gunboat 15 September 1915
299 HMS Chelmsford Minesweeper 14 June 1916
334 HMS Aberdare Minesweeper 29 April 1918
335 HMS Abingdon Minesweeper 11 June 1918
336 HMS Albury Minesweeper 21 November 1918
338 HMS Alresford Minesweeper 17 January 1919
345 HMS Appledore Minesweeper 15 August 1919
396 SS Sillonian Passenger vessel 17 November 1925
439 HMS Clacton Minesweeper 19 December 1941
437 HMS Hythe Minesweeper 4 September 1941
452 [6] Frigate 19 October 1944
453 [7] Frigate 8 October 1945
388 PS Medway Queen Paddle steamer 23 April 1924
487 HMS Ockham Minesweeper 12 May 1959
488 HMS Ottringham Minesweeper 22 January 1958
HMS Raider Patrol & Training vessel January 1988
432 HMS Rye Minesweeper 19 August 1940
473 HMS Bottisham Minesweeper 16 February 1953
474 HMS Brantingham Minesweeper 4 December 1953
481 MV Bute Ferry 28 September 1954
480 MV Cowal Ferry 20 January 1954
483 HMS Elsenham Minesweeper 25 May 1955
484 HMS Etchingham Minesweeper 9 December 1957
496 MV Glen Sannox Ferry 30 April 1957
499 MV Lochalsh (II) Ferry 1957 renames Scalpay
508 Ferry 16 February 1961
507 Passenger 29 April 1960
509 Ferry 27 October 1961
510 MV Kyleakin Ferry 1961 renamed Largs
517 MV Bowbelle Aggregate dredger 11 May 1964 Involved in the sinking of the Marchioness on the River Thames in 1989. Renamed Billo in 1992 and Bom Rei in 1996. Sank off the coast of Madeira in March 1996.[8]
529 MV Glenachulish Ferry 1969
MV Graemsay[9] Ferry 1996
530 MV Iona Ferry 22 January 1970 renamed Pentalina-B
531 MV Coruisk Ferry 26 June 1969
533 MV Mona's Queen Diesel ferry 22 December 1971
547 MS Lady of Mann Ferry 4 December 1975 renamed Panagia Soumela
551 MV Isle of Cumbrae Ferry 23 December 1976
552 MV Saturn Ferry 30 June 1977
554 MV Lochmor Ferry 11 June 1979
571 RV Corystes Research vessel 1988
HMS Tracker Patrol & training vessel January 1998
Triton Motor yacht 1902 now Madiz
HMS Warrior Yacht 4 February 1904
592 MV Lochnevis Ferry 8 May 2000[10]
Sources: Miramar[11]

Archives[]

The Ailsa Shipbuilding Company archives are maintained by the University of Glasgow Archives Services.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ "William S. Bruce". South Pole.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  2. ^ "HM Ships As extracted from Jane's Fighting Ships for 1919". Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  3. ^ Ayrshire shipyard closing BBC News, 18 August 2000
  4. ^ "Huge concrete box due for harbour". BBC News. 21 August 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  5. ^ "Sailing Vessel DALBLAIR built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in 1895 for Ship "Dalblair" Co (J. Campbell, mgr)., Cargo". www.clydeships.co.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  6. ^ "HMS Loch Tarbert". Naval-History.Net. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  7. ^ "HMS Loch Veyatie". Naval-History.Net. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  8. ^ "Scottish Built Ships", www.clydeships.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  9. ^ "MV Graemsay". FerryPhotos. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  10. ^ "History - Lochnevis". Ships of Calmac. Archived from the original on 27 December 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  11. ^ "Shipyard search results for "1015"". Miramar. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  12. ^ "Records of Ailsa Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Troon, East Ayrshire, Scotland". from Glasgow University Archive Catalogue. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2009.


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