The first reference to shipbuilding at Sunderland was in 1346 when Thomas
Menvill is recorded as having a place at Hendon for building vessels. In 1559 a
royal commission reported that Sunderland was 'little frequented' by shipping in
contrast to other ports.
The town is in great decay of buildings and inhabitants. However in the closing
years of the century Sunderland's fortunes took a turn for the better. This
followed the leasing of land just to the west of Sunderland by Robert Bowes of
Barnes and his partner, John Smith of Kings Lynn. They obtained the lease in
1589 and soon began producing salt from brine, from then Sunderland's economy
took off as increasing quantities of salt and coal were shipped from the Wear.
By the 1600's the port had come to life, the commercial town of Sunderland had
started it's career. The actions of Robert Bowes and John Smith had transformed
Sunderland from little more than a fishing village into a scene of commercial
endeavour, and it's character was changed permanently. An indication of this
change is the amount of coal being exported. In the 1590's an average of 2/3000
tons annually was shipped from the Wear, however in 1608 to 1609 some 14,700
tons were exported and in subsequent years the quantity continued rising
significantly.
The local historian George Garbutt wrote in 1819 'In shipbuilding the port of
Sunderland stands at present the highest of any in the United Kingdom'. By 1851
the port had more than 1,000 vessels, so clearly the new ships required also
added substantially to local shipbuilding output and many ship owners from other
ports bought their vessels at Sunderland.
The war had a dramatic effect on Sunderland's shipyards. At the beginning of
1939 only four yards were open and there were only nine contracts in hand, but
orders subsequently flooded in. New workers were taken on and idle yards once
again reverberated with the sounds of shipbuilding.
During the war a total of nine shipyards opened in Sunderland, the ninth was the
Shipbuilding Corporation Yard which opened at Southwick in 1943. The banks of
the River Wear as far as Hylton were now lined with shipyards, for years
Sunderland had the title of the greatest shipbuilding town in the world. Between
1939 and 1944 Sunderland shipbuilders made a vital contribution to the war
effort. Since the second world war Sunderland has changed significantly in a
number of ways, including the closure of the last shipyard in 1989 when
shipbuilding on the River Wear came to a sad end.
