Wm. Crichton and Co (Finland)
Also written W:m Crichton & C:o Ab.
This was an engineering and shipbuilding company that operated in Turku, Grand Duchy of Finland in 1842–1913. The company also had another shipyard in Okhta, Saint Petersburg.
The company was founded as Cowie and Eriksson, initially producing steam engines, boilers and other engineering products. The company was started in 1842, when Swedish chief engineer Anders Thalus Eriksson and Scottish engineer David Cowie got a permit to start a foundry and engineering works in Turku. The men had worked before in Stockholm for Samuel Owen who had built the first steam engines of Sweden.
William Crichton became the owner in 1862 and the company was named W:m Crichton & C:o. The first shipbuilding slipway was constructed in 1864. The company became the biggest employer of Turku after acquiring the nearby yard Åbo Skeppswarf in 1883.
1879 John Edward Eager became the head designer. He specialised in fast boats and designed a number of new vessel types, such as torpedo boats, gunboats and tankers.
Crichton died in 1889, after which the operations were continued by investors. In 1896 the company started a new yard in Okhta, Saint Petersburg, to build ships for the local market. The operations were poorly organised and by time the yard created so much losses that the company went bankrupt in 1913.
1908 John Edward eager died.
1909 William Wilson became Chief Engineer. He had previously worked for Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co and Yarrow and Co in London.
A new company, Ab Crichton, was established in 1914 to continue shipbuilding in Turku.
1935 The Crichton-Vulcan yard at Turku was acquired by Wartsila
See Also
Sources of Information
- For the source of the above, and for much more information, see Wikipedia entry and 'Trade and Industry in Finland' [1]