The Morgan Giles Shipyard
The Morgan Giles Shipyard - Designers and builders of over 800 vessels of all classes
Morgan Giles Shipyard circa 1951 (photo by Philip Scill)
Although it has been many years since the Morgan Giles shipyard in Teignmouth has been in operation, interest in the yard and its products remains high. This is due to the quality of the designs,the workmanship and the number of vessels produced, many of which are still in use today.
The history of the yard goes back well over two centuries and it is highly likely that boats were built on the Teign before records began.
During the Napoleonic Wars sixty eight ships were built on the Teign but after peace was declared shipbuilding declined until John Mansfield came to Teignmouth in 1849.Mansfield set up his ship building business in what became known as the Strand Shipyard. He came from a shipbuilding family and had managed his father's yard in Lyme Regis and had gained further experience in Portsmouth Dockyard. Within a year he had built a 'clipper schooner' for the Azores fruit trade named the Bonita. He then built a 700 ton full rigged ship called the Crystal Palace. Mansfield built many fine ships over the years and was also instrumental in the improvement of the harbour and the town in general through the increase in trade. He built merchant ships and also pleasure craft but his most outstanding success was the salvage and rebuilding of the American ship Caroline which he renamed Superb causing much jubilation with the workforce and the townsfolk. Mansfield died in 1879 and the yard was sold to the Teignmouth Ship and Yacht Company.
The owners of the Teignmouth Ship and Yacht Company were Flemmick and Schank and no further merchant ships were built by them; they concentrated more on refit and repairs. There are some limited records held by the Teign Heritage Centre showing that they built launches in the latter days of the yard; correspondence shows they purchased steam plant for these craft.
The yard was sold in 1903 to Gann and Palmer, who had taken over the Pengelly and Gore yard in Shaldon some years earlier where Frank Morgan-Giles started his boat building and design career. Gann and Palmer mainly built yachts but by 1912 the company had gone bankrupt. The yard lay derelict throughout the First World War until it was purchased by Frank Morgan-Giles in 1920 and became Morgan Giles Ltd.
Estuary Map 1963 - Click for enlarged version
Please go to the next secion to read about Frank Morgan-Giles and his Teignmouth shipyard.
