Samuda Brothers

Samuda Brothers
Industry
Founded1843; 181 years ago (1843) in Leamouth, London
Founders
Defunct1890s
HeadquartersCubitt Town, Isle of Dogs,
London, England
,
United Kingdom

Samuda Brothers was an engineering and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in London, founded by Jacob and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda. The site is now occupied by Samuda Estate.

An iron tube for the Waterloo and Whitehall Pneumatic Railway
Share of the Samuda Brothers Ltd., issued 23. October 1885

Samuda Brothers initially leased a premises on the Goodluck Hope peninsula, Leamouth, London, in 1843, by the mouth of Bow Creek. However disaster struck with one of their first ships, the Gipsy Queen which exploded on its test trip in November 1844. Jacob was killed with nine of the firm's employees.[1] There was a further explosion at their shipyard in 1845 and another three workers were killed.[2]

The firm moved to Cubitt Town in 1852, having outgrown a site that was hemmed in by other industrial premises. By this time the company was run by Joseph, Jacob having been killed in the trial of the Gipsy Queen.[3] The Cubitt Town yard specialised in iron and steel warships and steam packets and by 1863 was said to be producing double the output of the other London shipyards combined.

Samuda fabricated components for the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway, an atmospheric railway system. The project was abandoned due to the 1866 financial crisis.[4] Orders from Germany, Russia and Japan enabled the firm to survive the crisis, which affected many other London yards.[5]

Togo at the time of his work experience with Samuda in 1877

In 1877 Togo Heihachiro, later a prominent Japanese admiral, came for work experience with the Samuda Brothers after completing his training at Naval Preparatory School in Portsmouth, and the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. He supervised the construction of the Fusō before returning to Japan. He led the Imperial Japanese navy to victory in the Russo-Japanese War, establishing Japan as a Great Power.

Following the death of Joseph in 1885 attempts were made to sell the firm as a going concern. This was unsuccessful, resulting in closure in the 1890s, leaving Yarrows and Thames Ironworks as the last significant London shipbuilders.[5]

  1. ^ "Shipbuilding on the Isle of Dogs : The Story of the Samuda Brothers". Isle of Dogs Life. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  2. ^ "The explosion at the Samuda Works, Blackwall. – Historical events – Port Cities". portcities.org.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  3. ^ 'Leamouth Road and Orchard Place: Individual wharves and sites', Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 655–685. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46545. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
  4. ^ "Railway Engineering in London". Scientific American. 15: 368. 1866.
  5. ^ a b 'Cubitt Town: Riverside area: from Cubitt Town Pier to the Graving Docks', Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 532–539. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46530. Retrieved 7 November 2007.