Derry’s third shipyard: 1887-1892 - Our Space 23

Over the following five years, Foyle Shipyard built 26 sailing ships and seven steamships, mostly of iron and steel.

In 1887 it launched the ‘Maiden City’, a 1,200 ton steel barque. The owner Robert Dickie aimed to establish a fleet of Derry-owned, Derry-built ships. But the yard depended on outside business - ‘Brandenburg’ (1888) for the Liverpool-Brazil route; ‘Oporto’ (1888) for Liverpool-Lisbon; and ‘Esmeralda’ (1892) for a Hamburg company.

In 1890 Bigger built ‘The Parkmore’, a steamer for Derry-born William Johnston, a prominent Liverpool businessman, who wanted it for Liverpool-Baltimore trade.

A showpiece Bigger ship, with its ornate saloon lit by electricity, was the steamer ‘Ivy’ in 1888 for passengers and cargo, including Royal Mail, on the Derry-Glasgow route.

That year Bigger and his yard were honoured by the Londonderry Corporation.

He built three steel sailing ships for local businessman William Mitchell. Averaging almost 2,000 tons, they were the largest ships to belong to the port. And he built the stately ‘Osseo’ steel sailing ship, the largest and fastest of the local McCorkell fleet.

Between 1889-1892 Bigger built nine ships for the Liverpool ‘Dale’ line. But when that line went into receivership, Foyle Shipyard was badly affected and once again Derry shipyard closed.

‘Thunder & Clatter: The History of Shipbuilding in Derry,’ by Gerald Hasson: Guildhall Press 1997; ‘Atlantic Gateway: The port and city of Londonderry since 1700’ by Gavin, Kelly & O’Reilly: Four Courts Press 2009.