The Patterson family

The directors of the Great Western Steamship Company required a sister ship to provide a frequent shuttle service. The construction committee of Patterson, Guppy, Claxton and Brunel recommended that the new ship should be built of iron. In 1839 Patterson made the first drawings of the hull, with concave bows at the waterline, and he must be given much of the credit for the elegant lines of the ship that finally emerged. The new ship was too large to be built in Patterson’s yard so the Steamship Company leased and enlarged an existing dry dock (now known as the Great Western Yard) and it was here that Patterson built the Great Britain. Completed in 1843, she was 289 feet long by 50 feet wide and weighed 3270 tons, easily the biggest ship in the world. She was the first large ship to be built of iron, and the first large ship to be driven by a screw. She had the most powerful engine built up to that time, over 1000 horsepower, and the first balanced rudder. She had a double bottom and watertight compartments. She was the ’mother’ of all modern ships.

Unfortunately the Great Britain was almost too large for Bristol Docks and there was great difficulty getting her out of the floating harbour. The business of building and operating large steamships soon moved to other ports.

William Patterson built many other ships in Bristol after the Great Britain, both in the Wapping yard, and from 1858 until 1865 in the Great Western Yard where he was assisted by his son William Jr. He experimented with mass production and in 1851 he completed 7 pilots of 26 tons in quick succession. Also in 1851 another ship over 3000 tons, the Demerara, was completed. She was to have engines fitted in another port, but while being towed down the Avon she was caught by the falling tide and broke her back – described vividly below (per Cynthia Stiles):

1851 census - H.O.  107/1945

CUMBERLAND VILLA, Bedminster, Bristol

PATTERSON William 56 Ship Builder London

Eliza 48 Bristol

SUTHERLAND Eliza Daughter 26 Bristol

PATTERSON Frances 21 Bristol

Mary 17 Bristol

George 10 Bristol

HUNTER Eliza Niece 20 London

TOMKINS Hester  Servant 29 Burton Wiltshire KEATES Jessie  Servant 28

On November 10th 1851 the Demerara, was wrecked in the Avon through careless navigation. She was a new paddle steamer just turned out of the hands of Mr William Patterson in whose yard the Great Western had been built. The Demerara was the largest ship, save the Great Britain that had left stocks, her registered tonnage being about three thousand.

She had been built to the order of the West India Mail Steamship Company and was launched on September 27th. On the day of the disaster she left Cumberland Basin in tow of a Glasgow tug to go to the Clyde to be fitted with engines. She was late on the tide which had begun to ebb. The tug was started at the dangerously high speed of seven or eight miles an hour in the hope of making up for lost tide.

Mr Patterson who was aboard the Demerara was alarmed and spoke urgently to the pilot. Speed was then reduced but not sufficiently and soon after passing the Round Point the bow of the new boat heavily struck the rocks on the Gloucestershire bank The strong ebb tide swung the ship across the Avon.  The tide left her and she settled down, rivets starting and the deck twisted. Here was not only damage to the ship, but a blocking of the port as effectual as any that had occurred during the past century or two.

Therefore almost superhuman salvage efforts were made on the next tide and the ship was eventually removed to the side of the river in front of Eaglestaff’s quarry so that the navigation was free. This was done at night amidst the blaze of tar barrels and torches presenting a remarkable spectacle to thousands of persons who had assembled to watch the proceedings of the large body of workmen engaged.

It was thought to repair the ship where she lay but unhappily she was not properly secured and about an hour later she broke free from her moorings and was again carried across the river where she lay until the morning tide and suffered more damage. Eventually she was floated and was taken back to the dock.

Exaggerated reports of damage were widespread. The ship insured for her full cost, £48,000, was abandoned by the underwriters as a total wreck, value £15,000. She was however repaired, sold on July 13th for £5,600 and again in September 1859 for £200 less. By that time she had become the British Empire, being converted into a sailing ship (the largest sailing ship in the world.)

In June 1858 Mr Patterson was obliged to consult his creditors and it was then stated that he had lost £5,900 by the Demerara in addition to heavy losses on other ships he had built. .Mr Patterson had world-winning fame as the builder of such ships as the

v  the Great Western,

v  the Great Britain and the Severn (for the Oriental Co),

v  the Royal Charter

v  and the Demerara itself.

The rewriting of history and the editing out of William Patterson seems to have taken hold as early as the death of Engineer and Marine Architect IK Brunel as the following letters to The Times suggests:

SOURCE: GaleGroup.com