ARCHIVES AND PHOTOS

Building our database of Humber ship information is an ongoing task. We currently have details of over 3500 sloops, keels, schooners, ketches, motor barges and lighters, with information on their builders, owners, dimensions and where possible their fate. Because of limitations of space and time we are not at present researching fishing vessels or trawlers unless they appear in yard lists with any of the other craft.

An example (abbreviated) showing a sample of the information on our database.

We can, hopefully, supply you with information to help your family history research although we can't guarantee results as ships which were purely canal-going were usually only listed in the 'Port Health' registers while tidal waters and sea-going ships were in the British Shipping Register with much more information on owners and such things as mortgages.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SHIPYARD AT BARTON ON HUMBER

According to legend there has been a shipyard at Barton for a thousand years. Unfortunately there is no firm documentary evidence to prove this earlier than the 18th century.   Certainly Barton was a major port before Hull was established, and there are records of Barton ships and ship-owners trading with the continent in the 14th century so it is likely that repair or building  facilities existed alongside this trade. This trade is described in the book " Barton and the River Humber 1096-1900" details of which can be found our "Home" page.

Deeds and documents from the 18th century list several shipbuilders who repaired the many coastal schooners and ketches that used Barton Haven and who built fishing smacks as well as keels and sloops. The yard had a sail loft where sails for keels and sloops were made and a floating dry-dock for repairs. The yard eventually became a partnership of William Brown and Robert Bell Clapson, who had originally met one another during their apprenticeship days at Burton Stather shipyard.

Clapson & Sons was established as a company in 1912 by Robert Bell Clapson and his three sons to take over Barton shipyard after William Brown's retirement. The new owners built wooden drifters and composite ammunition lighters for the Admiralty during the 1914-18 war. In 1920 a second floating dry-dock was built. This partnership was incorporated as a Limited Company in 1946 after spending the 1939-45 war years building fast motor launches, 105ft. motor minesweepers and 75ft. fleet tenders (MFV's) for the Admiralty.  These ships were built and launched from two building berths in what is now the day riverside car park, and were in service world-wide. The additional work meant that the old sail loft which had doubled-up as a moulding loft       ( where full sized moulds were made from the vessels lines drawn out on the floor) was no longer large enough and a single storey building used as a steam saw mill was converted to a two storey building with a large moulding loft above the sawmill.  This building is still existence on the old shipbuilding site, now used as offices.

Before 1880 the Clapson family had been keel-owners carrying cargoes on the Humber, Trent, Ouse and the associated canals.  Robert Bell Clapson was apprenticed as a shipwright to John Wray when his father moved with his keel to live at Burton Stather.

Barton shipyard built many of the sloops and keels which traded under sail, and also provided masts, spars and leeboards to other shipyards such as Hessle and New Holland for their new vessels. Some of the early fishing smacks for the new railway port of Grimsby were also built at Barton.

With the passing of commercial sail the yard built small yachts and motor cruisers, as did most small shipyards in the area, and later exhibited these craft at the Earls Court Boat Shows, finally turning to the new trade of fitting out GRP ( glass reinforced plastic ) hulls.

From 1955 many small steel commercial  craft were repaired. So a full range of ship and yacht building skills became available to the growing numbers of small yachts on the Humber.

As commercial vessels disappeared from from the Humber, cargoes now being carried by road, the yard concentrated on pleasure craft. In 1967 a new site at South Ferriby was developed as a marina, where the Company's own crane, heated workshops for osmosis and general repairs, and space for shore storage. Work could now be carried out on wood, GRP or steel yachts and cruisers.

However, the shipyard at Barton continued in existence under the ownership of Eric Hammond trading as Offshore Steel Boats. A successful range of inshore fishing vessels were supplied country-wide as well as steel yachts and work boats. This work continued until 2010, and now the accent is on rebuilding and restoring vintage yachts to a high standard under the ownership of Joe Irving.

The Clapson collection of shipwright tools, and their photograph archive is still in existence and can be seen regularly at exhibitions and presentations arranged by the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society, the Friends of Leicester Trader Group, Barton Local History Group, or the Barton Branch of the Workers Educational Association.   For more information on these groups, follow the links on these pages.

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