What precisely would a shipwright do?

[Nick Carver]

I have an ancestor who was a shipwright in Hull. I wondered if that counted as a manual labourer, a skilled labourer or something different? We are all labourers of some description in the family, so it would be nice to uncover someone who had bettered themselves.

Having said that, via younger daughters of younger daughters, a new contact who is a 3rd cousin once removed has acquainted me with a lineage that can be proven back to 1521, mainly because we are talking of landed gentry. So it's not all "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir".

[D ap D]

The trades and occupations dictionary:

http://www.ict.mic.ul.ie/100yearsago/web/craft_list_s.htm

lists a shipwright as "A constructor or repairer or ships". Very helpful.

But this site gives a good description:

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/DLDecArts/DLDecArts-idx?type=turn&entity=DLDecArts000300030083&isize=M

A shipwright was definitely a tradesman, so would have had to go through an apprenticeship. With a bit of luck the East Riding archives might have a copy of his apprenticeship.

[XPhile2868]

I've found this whilst googling -

http://www.myfuture.edu.au/services/default.asp?FunctionID=5050&ASCO=498111A.

It gives some information on shipwrighting, but the modern job might be slightly different.

[Little Nell]

Hi Nick,

Very definitely a skilled person.  

From my own research into my Portsmouth ancestors, shipwrights served an apprenticeship which in the 18th century could last up to ten years.  A shipwright was involved at every stage of a ship's construction, from the drawing up of plans to the final fitting out.  However, the trade of shipwright had much in common with that of carpenter.  They used similar tools: an axe and an adze for cutting the wood; holes were drilled using an augur; bevels help transfer the shape from a design to the wood itself.  Shipwrights might also go to sea.

The shipwrights that I have encountered were reasonably well off - they were able to leave property and money to their families.

Nell

[Nick Carver]

Thanks for all your help. That will certainly point me in the right direction for further research. I'm sure I've seen something somewhere saying that he was an apprentice at some point (1871 census IIRC when he was 15) although he was a shipwright in 1891, so that all fits.. Curiously he is missing from the 1881 census, but as I've tracked him down later, that's not an issue. Perhaps one day I'll fomd pit wjhere he was/

[denben]

I knew someone in the sixties who claimed to be the last apprentice shipwright on Newport (South Wales) Docks.  By his age I would guess that he started his apprenticeship in the fifties.

I also believe that it involved mainly the same job as a carpenter.

[MarieC]

I have a copy of the shipwright apprenticeship papers for my ggrandfather, Thomas Hood Bentley, dating from 1860 in London.  He later went on to manage docks in Hong Kong, captain his own sailing ship, and become a marine surveyor.  So it could definitely be a springboard to higher things!

MarieC

[peterpiper]

Nick, shipwrights worked at sea and on shore, so in 1881 your rellie may have been at sea. with the hull connection, he was probably in the merchant navy,but, of course, I could be wrong
peter

[Nick Carver]

That's what I was thinking. His cousin (my grandfather), with whom he lived whilst growing up, was a sailmaker and apparently did the run to San Francisco round Cape Horn many times so if he was at sea the chances are that he would have been away for months at a time. I have him in 1891 and 1901, so there's no urgent need to find out where he was in 1881. If I stumble across it then great, but I've lots of other lines of enquiry to pursue for the moment.