women earning their keep at two yards at Noss-on-Dart and Sandquay.
P But the yard would forever have a special hold over
the hearts of Dartmothians because of the terrible events of September 18th 1942, when German bombers hit the metal work shed at Noss, killing 22 men, and injuring many others.
Te company, started on the Coombe Mud (now
Coronation Park) in 1858 by George Philip, an Aberdo- nian shipwright and foreman, had an eventful Second World War; building 230 ships and repairing battle- damaged ones, including those nearly destroyed in the debacle that was Operation Tiger.
Te chaos that surrounded the bombing, which took place in the morning when the yard was in full swing, could have spelt disaster for the yard. But it was up and working again in a limited capacity the next day, and within a few months was at full tilt again.
Tis was only possible thanks to the dedication and
determined attitude of the workers. One worker - now in his late eighties and still living in Kingswear, forced his way past fire fighters into the burning workshop, having been working next door in the woodwork shop, to find the body of his younger brother. He had to cycle home to ask his mother what his brother had been wear- ing to confirm he had found the right man. He returned to work the next day, because of his belief that working towards the war effort was too important.
After the war the yard’s
good employment prospects meant it single-handedly made Dartmouth a viable community, keeping men, and their families, in the area through regular em- ployment.
Te 1950s dawned on
the business’ best ever pe- riod outside the war years. It was working on some of its most famous ships, includ- ing the Trinity lightships, of which the company made more than thirty over a period of twenty years.
Te yard had the ‘floating dock’, an amazing contrap- tion which allowed ships
hilip and Son was, for many years, the biggest employer in the Dart Valley with up to 500 men and
to be worked on without a slipway, which had been a shrewd investment when it was purchased in 1924. It al- lowed the yard to take on much bigger work than would otherwise have been the case, often keeping the wolf from the door in times of strife.
Te yard started to take on more interesting and
diverse work than regular shipyards, for example the five-star cargo ships for the Sultan of Zanzibar and the ‘Sun’ tugs which were still working on the river Tames fifty years later, and more and more lightships.
But hard times were just around the corner. By 1960 orders were hard to come by – just four
years after the company’s books had been full. Te apprentices were tasked to build a new Higher
Ferry out of scrap metal lying around the yard – as much to give them something to do than anything else.
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