It is a testament to the skills they had learnt from their co-workers that it remained in use for nearly twice as long as intended.


In 1961 the floating dock, by now decrepit and


beyond repair after thirty seven years, was broken up for scrap.


By 1964 the company was in dire straits - it made many men who had thought they had a job for life redundant - and was bought out by the Reeves Tim- ber Company of Totnes. Te company took on any engineering work it could to make ends meet; it made bridges, containers and machinery.


Philip Pensabene bought out Reeves shares in the company in 1969, but it seemed he had more interest in the Dart Marina Hotel, which had been built on the site of the Sandquay yard after the down-turn in the early 60s.


But then, in 1970, the company pulled off a coup which it was felt would catapult it back into the big time: British Steel.


Chay Blyth, the former Royal Marine and rower of


the Atlantic, decided he wanted to sail around the world single-handed, against the prevailing winds. He was the first person to attempt the feat, and many felt it would be impossible. Blyth decided he needed a yacht which was strong and that it should be made of steel.


Te owners did not think twice about taking on the


project, even though the state-of-the-art design from George Clark meant it was unclear if they actually had the ability to complete it.


Te construction got underway using steel plat- ing and state of the art electronics for navigation and controlling the large and heavy vessel.


Te men who made her in a remarkable time of just four months debated whether to weld a box contain-


ing trinkets for their children to the hull, so that they could then have possessions which had been around the world. Tey decided against it because they felt that the Scot ‘wouldn’t make it’.


However, he returned to Britain triumphant 292


days later. He told anyone who would listen that the hull did not have a mark on it – thanks to the twelve layers of paint the patient and perfection-seeking Philip and Son workers had lovingly covered her with.


But it did not herald a triumphant return to fortune


for Philip and Son. Soon, just after Blyth’s return, the company stopped


production on steel boats altogether. Philip Pensabene decided to stop using steel for construction completely, and concentrate on fibreglass pleasure boats which the company had been experimenting with.


Te decision was not a successful one, and the yard


made more than 100 men redundant over the next few years, culminating in the ceasing of all construction of boats on the Noss site in 1974.


Men kept working there, repairing ships and yachts, but the next twenty five years saw the Marina at Noss slowly grow and the engineering work and repairs slowly decline.


In 1999 an end was finally called.


Philip and Son called time on their engineering side 141 years after George Philip had set up in the Coombe Mud. Tirty men were made redundant.


Many felt it was the end of an era, others felt it was the inevitable culmination of the collapse of the Brit- ish Shipbuilding Industry. But whatever the reason for the once-great company’s fall, men all over the area could still feel proud that they worked at a company which produced some of the greatest vessels ever to be launched on the River Dart.


77


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