J Weir Johnston, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce’s Industrial Development Committee, searched Ireland, England and Scotland for a company that would re-open the Derry’s idle shipyard.

In 1912 the North of Ireland Shipbuilding Co took over the yard. In reality it was a subsidiary of Tyneside’s famous Swan Hunter shipbuilders.

Londonderry Corporation honoured Mr Johnston for his success with a civic dinner in the Guildhall.

NISC built at least 14 ships: The ‘Glenvais’, The ‘San Francisco’, The ‘Keynor’, The ‘Bedale’, The ‘Van Stirum’, The ‘Assiant’, The ‘Amorna’, The ‘Ville de Havre’, The ‘Pinar Del Rio’, The ‘Ville De Nantes’, The ‘Ville De Paris’, The ‘Ville D’Orléans’, and, in 1920, The 9,000-ton ‘Ville De Metz’, the largest ship ever built on the Foyle. Those ‘Ville’ ships and The ‘Keynor’ were built for service on Canada’s great lakes. And 1922 saw the last ship built in Derry - the ‘New York News’.

Launch of 'SS New York News' 1922, the last Derry-built ship. Right: Trevisa Clarke, Managing Director, North of Ireland Shipbuilding Co.

placeholder image — Launch of 'SS New York News' 1922, the last Derry-built ship. Right: Trevisa Clarke, Managing Director, North of Ireland Shipbuilding Co.

World War 1, 1914-18 saw the yard’s most intense period, repairing warships, minesweepers and submarines. It built its own electricity station and by1918 employed 2,000 men - a major force in the city’s economy.

With no housebuilding during WW1, many of the incoming skilled workforce found lodgings in local houses. The first eight houses of what became Garden City housed shipyard foremen.

But the end of WW1 saw a slump in the need for new ships. Across the UK shipyards were closing or merging and there was no demand for the skills of Derry’s fifth and last shipyard. It closed down in 1924.

“Thunder & Clatter: The History of Shipbuilding in Derry” by Gerald Hasson: Guildhall Press 1997.