As the town grew from a small fishing hamlet to a major port it also developed its own shipbuilding industry, over 1000 ships have been identified as being built in Whitehaven. The most famous of these yards was established by Daniel Brocklebank, after his death in 1801 the business was continued and expanded by his sons, eventually becoming part of the great Cunard Line. Of the ships built at Whitehaven few remain.
The only surviving iron vessel is the 'af Chapman' Launched as the 'Dunboyne' in 1885 she currently resides in Stockholm harbour as a floating Youth Hostel cum tourist attraction and is the third oldest surviving iron ship in the world. The one 'surviving' wooden ship is the 'Vicar of Bray', she was launched in 1841 and was one of the armada of ships that took part in the American Gold Rush of 1849. Her captain only managed to prevent his crew from joining the gold rush by offering them wages far higher than his own! The ship was damaged in 1880 and is now incorporated into a jetty at Goose Green on the Falkland Islands.
The largest ship built at Whitehaven was the 'Alice A. Leigh', a four masted Barque weighing in at 2,929 tons. Unfortunately it was this ship that hastened the demise of the Whitehaven shipbuilding industry, the difficulties that were encountered launching such a large vessel put the Whitehaven Shipbuilding Company under too much financial strain and highlighted the limitations of Whitehaven as a harbour for large ships.
Today shipbuilding, or at least boat building, may be making a welcome return to Whitehaven. The restoration of the historic harbour into an attractive and successful marina has led to a growing demand for businesses to service the leisure market.
