Richardson, Duck and Company
Richardson, Duck and Company was a shipbuilding company in Thornaby-on-Tees, England that traded between 1855 and 1925. History. The yard was founded as the South Stockton Iron Ship Building Co in 1852. Its premises were the former yard of engine builders Fossick of Stockton and its first vessel was the iron-hulled steamship "Advance". In 1855 Joseph Richardson and George Nixon Duck took over the yard. They built fifty iron steamships, a paddle steamer, ten sailing ships and 29 barges in their first ten years. In 1859 they built the paddle steamer "Tasmanian Maid  (yard no. 9) which in 1863 was converted into the gunboat . In 1859 Richardson, Duck took over the Rake Kimber yard at Middlesbrough. They built about 11 vessels at Middlesbrough and then sold the yard to Backhouse and Dixon in 1862. In 1870 Richardson, Duck built (yard no. 160) which in 1884 was re-engined with a triple-expansion engine made by Blair & Co of Stockton-on-Tees. In 1893 the company built the German merchant ship SS Athen". In the 1900s Richardson, Duck started building steel hulls. By the end of that decade Richardson, Duck had built five hundred  tramp steamers, other merchant ships and lighters. It had also become licensees for the Isherwood system of longitudinal framing. Richardson, Duck's ships in 1911 included the cargo steamship "Budapest" (yard no. 616) which was later renamed "Kerwood" and in 1918 was commissioned into the US Navy as . In 1912 Richardson, Duck built 12 ships and became a limited liability company. In the First World War the yard built the "Arabis"-class sloop (yard no. 661) and "Aubrietia"-class sloop (yard no. 666). It also built a further dozen tramp steamers, eight standard War "A" tramps and a standard "AO" tanker. Richardson , Duck's wartime merchant orders included "Farnworth" (yard no. 651), (yard no. 652) and "Cardigan" (yard no. 653) launched in 1917; (yard no. 662), (yard no. 671), (yard no. 672) and (yard no. 673) all launched in 1918 and (yard no. 677) launched in 1919. In 1919 Richardson, Duck became a public company and in 1920 James and Walter Gould acquired a controlling interest in it. In 1922 the yard suffered industrial action and a lack of orders. Richardson, Duck's final ship was (yard no. 689) in 1924. In May 1925 the Gould Group went into liquidation and in  1933 the yard was demolished.