TYNE BUILT SHIPS
A history of Tyne shipbuilders and the ships that they built

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Above: Select the required shipbuilder by using initial letter of the surname eg: Armstrong, Palmer or Readhead.
KEY BELOW: D / H / P (D means basic dimensions are shown; H means a history is given; P means one or more photographs are available)
Below: (TT) indicates that the link will open up in a new window belonging to our sister web site Tyne Tugs


Shipbuilder: Brigham & Cowan, South Shields (1876 - 1982)

Above advert for Brigham & Cowan Ltd is copyright of Tyne and Wear Museums

The firm of Brigham & Cowan was established in 1876 by Thomas Brigham and Malcolm Cowan. In 1900 it was incorporated as a limited liability company as Brigham & Cowan Ltd. It then became a private company in 1908 but returned to public ownership again in 1953. In 1924 the company acquired the shipyard of Hepple Ltd, located beside the Brigham & Cowan premises in South Shields and used the land to extend their drydocks. Brigham & Cowan built an extensive shiprepair business with 3 drydocks at South Shields. In 1977 Brigham & Cowan Ltd was nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders. The yard closed in 1982.

Yd No Year Ship Name D / H / P
1893 West Dock D / H
1898 Hyla D / H
8 1898 John Foster Spence (TT) D / H
10 1898 Milhafre D / H
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