Jottings

Woodhaven Pier has over the years been the site for many activities, all ideally suited to the sheltered spot:

Wormit Boating Club – a thriving water sports club
workshop areas for a joiner and a car mechanic
the base for the local Scout troop
the base of Squadron 333 of the Royal Norwegian Air Force operating Catalina flying boats
the shore base for the Mars training ship (the pier is still called the Mars Pier by locals)
a harbour for coastal trading vessels
a shipbuilding yard
workshop areas for a builder and contractor
a terminal for the ferry to Dundee, and the main road south to Cupar and beyond.

Of all of these, it is the shipbuilding that is least well known.

Joseph Garland leased a piece of ground here in 1847. The site is now the Wormit Boating Club dinghy park. The Fifeshire Journal described the site as being ‘exceedingly well chosen and offers many advantages over shipbuilding yards in Dundee, from the greater depth of water on the south side of the river, and the comparatively trifling rents at which the ground can be secured’. The report went on to predict the building of new housing for the incoming workforce.¹

Garland had been in partnership with James Horsburgh in the firm of Garland & Horsburgh, shipbuilders, Dundee (trading initially as the Dundee New Shipbuilding Co.) from 1831 to 1837. Altogether they built 18 ships. When that company was wound up, Garland went to Newburgh where he operated a very successful shipbuilding company from 1837 to 1846, constructing another 18 ship

Then he moved here.

He built 6 ships here from 1847 to 1853; apart from the Hope they were coasting & North Sea vessels.³ The first 3 were either commissioned from him or were sold immediately upon completion. The latter 3 he operated himself for a time before selling them on.

The ships were wooden sailing vessels and were constructed when steam engines were rapidly gaining favour and iron hulls were beginning to be used. They were constructed in a depression in the ground, the hull being supported on legs. At the launch, the depression was flooded and the ship floated out. But changes in technology meant that this method of construction was by now outdated and larger premises with bigger slipways were required.

Woodhaven Pier (50 years after the shipbuilding)

The following information⁴ about the ships built here was researched 30 years ago and required a trip to London. Since then, much more has become available on the internet. I leave it to you to explore further.

Catherine Spence

Clarite — ‘Clarita’ – a 79-ton schooner – similar to ‘Catherine Spence’

Registered Sep 1848, 74 tons, 2-masted schooner, length 60.8′, beam 17.2′, hold depth 9.2′
First owner, from 1848, was David Spence, wood merchant of Tayport. He sold her in 1852 to Alexander Russell of Myrecairnie.
From May – September 1850 she is known to have been coasting. She was crewed by her Master, Captain David Rollo, and 3 men.
She was reported missing in 1854 bound from Tayport to London with potatoes.

Lee

Registered Jun 1849, 103 tons, 2-masted schooner, length 69.7′, beam 18.1′, hold depth 10.1′
First owner in 1849 was James Cooper of Arbroath. She was sold in 1853 to David Stewart of Dundee. Sold again in 1857 to David Low, coal merchant of Ferryden. She operated from Montrose and was later sold to William Alexander who had been her Master for several years. At this change of ownership, William Alexander had 60 shares and John Balfour Alexander, described only as shipowner, had 4 shares.
She was a coasting vessel and was finally wrecked at Rosehearty in September 1868, her Master being William Alexander.

Hope

‘Francis Mollison’ – a 90′ long brig – a little larger than ‘Hope’

Registered Mar 1850, 203 tons, 2-masted snow, length 83.9′, beam 20.9′, hold depth 14.3′
First owners: William Mudie Paton & Robert Fleming, merchants, Dundee (32 shares each).
Her first voyage was Dundee – Riga – Montrose, with David Smith, Master, 7 men and 2 apprentices.
Sold in 1853 to John Wood, shipowner, and Edward Cole, linen merchant, both of Bristol; and registered in Bristol. She made many voyages to West Africa & the Canaries. By 1871 she was coasting.
Sold to foreigners in 1872.

Petrel

Registered Apr 1850, 45 tons, 1-masted smack, length 55.9′, beam 15.1′, hold depth 7′
Garland owned this small ship himself for 6 years, during which time she coasted round the UK with a crew of 3.
Sold to John Aitken of Stirling, then sold to the Shetland North Sea Fishery Company. They sold her to Francis & Duncan McNeil, mariners of Glasgow, with Francis McNeil as her Master. She was eventually broken up in 1890.
She was recorded as having left Woodhaven on 10 July 1851, discharged ballast at Newcastle, loaded full of coals and was back again at Woodhaven in 68 hours.⁵

St Fort

Registered Feb 1851, 95 tons, 2-masted schooner, length 39.4′, beam 17.7′, hold depth 10.3′
This ship was also first owned by Garland for a year. Her Master was William Jack, born in Flisk, and there were 4 other crew.
She sailed from Dundee on 8th February 1851 and is known to have called at Liverpool, Belfast, Bordeaux, Dublin & Pettycur by 14th June.
Sold to William (10 shares), John (27) & James (27) Wishart, merchants of Leith. They operated her with Peter Johnstone as Master, from Leith to Holland, Spain and the Baltic.
She was wrecked on the Swedish coast in December 1858.

Seagull

Registered Aug 1853, 18 tons, 1-masted sloop, length 36.4′, beam 11.3′, hold depth 7′
Garland owned this last small vessel for 2 years as a coaster. She was then sold to Lerwick and passed through several hands and several Masters.
She disappears from the shipping lists between 1901 and 1904.

After Garland retired from work here, he continued as a shipowner and operator, and eventually became a Director of the D P & L Shipping Company.⁶

Two things I did not know at the time but which have emerged in a trawl of old newspapers:

In April 1849 there was an accident at the shipyard and Alexander Rae, a carpenter from Dundee, and another man fell when the stage they were working on gave way. Rae broke his leg in 2 places.⁷

Another boatbuilder, Peter Watson, started business on the site in January 1855. He built much smaller boats, up to 20′ in length, suitable as ships’ boats or for shooting or fishing. He moved away in June 1856.⁸

Sources:

Fifeshire Journal, 8 Jul 1847
Shipping Notes, J P Ingram, Dundee Central Library
Shipping Notes, J P Ingram, Dundee Central Library
Ships’ Muster Rolls, Dundee; Board of Trade: Ships’ Registries: Transcripts & Transactions; Merchant Navy List (various years); Lloyds Register of Shipping (various years); Shipping Notes, J P Ingram, Dundee Central Library
Dundee Advertiser, 18 Jul 1851, p3
D P & L Directors Minute Book, Dundee City Archives, GD/DPL
Dundee Advertiser, 27 Apr 1849 p2
Dundee Advertiser, 5 Jan 1855, p2; 7 Aug 1855, p1; 10 Jun 1856, p2

Photos: These are as close as I can get to the size of the vessels and the location at the time. They are intended to give a flavour of the topic. Woodhaven Pier – postcard; Clarita from State Library Victoria; Francis Mollison from Newport History Group

Establishing the Comerton Home

Soon after Thomas Hodge arrived in Newport in June 1891¹ as the new pastor of the Congregational Church he determined to wake the people of Newport up to their responsibilities to the disadvantaged members of society. He was a popular, young (well, 31), Welsh, recent graduate of Oxford² who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. He could fill the church with his sermons (although a talk about the Salvation Army’s work in Dundee was rather less well attended).³ By October that year, he had proposed, from the pulpit, a convalescent home in Newport for poor children from Dundee. The home should be run by the people of Newport on a voluntary basis, similar to the facility already in operation for adults [this is a reference to Mrs Berry’s house for invalids at Den Cottages].⁴ He was sure money and assistance would be forthcoming and pledged £20 himself to the fund.

By December that year, considerable support had been gained. The difficult search for a suitable property had eventually resulted in Woodbine House (now 11-11a King Street) being purchased for £740. It was a commodious building with a large secluded garden. Whoever spoke to the Courier, I suspect it was Hodge himself, considered it ‘in every respect well adapted for the purpose’. The object of the Home would be to provide a change of air and scene free of expense to poor children belonging to Dundee and neighbourhood during the period of their convalescence after illness. It was proposed to admit girls of from 4 to 14 years of age, and boys from 4 to 10 or 12, and to board each of them for a fortnight or a month. The idea was to begin in a small way – maybe 10 or 12 children at a time – so around 300 would enjoy the advantage of a change of air with bright and happy surroundings over a year. A committee was to be set up, without regard to sect, to administer the scheme. The home itself would be under the charge of a properly qualified matron who would reside in the institution, assisted by voluntary workers. Dr Stewart had volunteered to act as medical officer – every child would be examined before admission to prevent infectious diseases being introduced. The newspaper was sure the scheme would meet with hearty support from the generous citizens of Newport and Dundee.⁵

It turns out that Woodbine House, which had previously been unsuccesfully marketed at a price of £1000, had been bought by a group of several Newport gentlemen for the purposes of setting up a children’s convalescent home – before the public meeting at which the home would be officially set up.⁶

On 14 January 1892 a public meeting agreed to the proposals and a committee was elected. Expenses were to be defrayed by public subscription and gifts in kind. Estimated costs: £740 for purchase of the house, £250 for alterations and furnishings; with 12 children the running costs would be £200 – £300 per year. A gentleman had offered to pay the rent or equivalent for 5 years and there were many other expressions of support.⁷

Well, you can lead a horse to water …

There must have been many heated discussions in Newport in early 1892.

By February, the management committee had decided that Woodbine House which had previously been ‘well adapted for the purpose’ was now ‘somewhat unsuitable for such an institution’ – it would ‘need extensive alterations’ and ‘it would be expedient for sanitary reasons to have the Home situated outside the burgh boundaries’. (Bear in mind that Newport had excellent piped water and gas supplies, and mains drainage, whereas a location outside the burgh boundaries would have none of them.) So the committee ultimately agreed to back down on the use of Woodbine House and to have a new building erected, outside the burgh. The location was undecided but an architect would draw up the plans free of charge and St Fort would provide the ground if required.⁸

So what of Woodbine House? At that same meeting it was decided to transfer the property to Mr D S Smith who had offered to purchase it if the committee had decided on building afresh.

By April, St Fort had arranged for a site for the erection of a new building and plans had been prepared. A delay was required, however, to allow for an application for more funding from the Cobb bequest.⁹ This delayed the project somewhat. (David Cobb left £60000 for charitable purposes. His trustees were, of course, inundated with requests.) The Evening Telegraph called for action on the home.¹⁰

Eventually, progress was made. Having apparently given up waiting for the Cobb Trustees, in January 1893 Comerton House, the property of Mr Arthur Smith, was first leased, then purchased.¹¹

Comerton is described as being very suitable. Miss Stead has been employed as Matron.^{12, 13} (Comerton, at that time surrounded by open fields but now opposite the entrance to Drumoig, is not only outside the burgh boundary, it is also outside the parish boundary!)

The home opened at Comerton on 12 Jun 1893.¹⁴

Rev. Hodge continued as president of the management committee until 1900 when he left his Congregational charge in Newport and moved to Leicester. By then, 1220 children had passed through the home’s doors, the building had been extended and a good water supply had been added.¹⁵ (well, well!)

The Comerton Home went on very successfully for many years. The original management committee eventually offered the premises for sale in 1956.¹⁶

The Constitution of the Management Committee is here and there is an article about the home on the Children’s Homes website.

Sources:

Dundee Courier, 27 Jun 1891, p5 (all newspapers available at British Newspaper Archive)
Oxford Men 1880-1892, Joseph Foster, 1893 (at the Internet Archive)
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 24 Aug 1891, p3 and 15 Oct 1891, p3
Dundee Courier, 19 Oct 1891, p3
Dundee Courier,25 December 1891, p4
Dundee Courier,13 Jan 1892, p3, plus sketch
Dundee Advertiser, 15 Jan 1892, p7
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 17 Feb 1892, p3
Dundee Courier, 22 Apr 1892, p3
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 8 Oct 1892, p3
Fifeshire Journal, 19 Jan 1893, p6
Dundee Advertiser, 28 Jan 1893, p3
Dundee Courier, 13 May 1893, p6, plus sketch
Dundee Courier, 12 & 13 Jun 1893
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 28 Mar 1900, p5
Dundee Courier, 31 Dec 1955, p1

Shipbuilding at Woodhaven

Not In My Backyard