Denny, William

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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From 1844 until 1962, the Clyde shipyard of William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, produced over 1,500 ships, trained innumerable students of all nationalities in shipbuilding and marine engineering, and for the seventy-plus years of their existence were accepted worldwide as the leaders in the application of science to ship design and construction. Until the closure of the yard members of the Denny family were among the partners and later directors of the firm: they included men as distinguished as Dr Peter Denny (1821(?)–95), Sir Archibald Denny (1860–1936) and Sir Maurice Denny (1886– 1955), the main collaborator in the design of the Denny-Brown ship stabilizer.

One of the most influential of this shipbuilding family was William Denny, now referred to as William 3! His early education was at Dumbarton, then on Jersey and finally at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, before he commenced an apprenticeship at his father's shipyard. From the outset he not only showed great aptitude for learning and hard work but also displayed an ability to create good relationships with all he came into contact with. At the early age of 21 he was admitted a partner of the shipbuilding business of William Denny and Brothers, and some years later also of the associated engineering firm of Denny \& Co. His deep-felt interest in what is now known as industrial relations led him in 1871 to set up a piecework system of payment in the shipyard. In this he was helped by the Yard Manager, Richard Ramage, who later was to found the Leith shipyard, which produced the world's most elegant steam yachts. This research was published later as a pamphlet called The Worth of Wages, an unusual and forward-looking action for the 1860s, when Denny maintained that an absentee employer should earn as much contempt and disapproval as an absentee landlord! In 1880 he initiated an awards scheme for all company employees, with grants and awards for inventions and production improvements. William Denny was not slow to impose new methods and to research naval architecture, a special interest being progressive ship trials with a view to predicting effective horsepower. In time this led to his proposal to the partners to build a ship model testing tank beside the Dumbarton shipyard; this scheme was completed in 1883 and was to the third in the world (after the Admiralty tank at Torquay, managed by William Froude and the Royal Netherlands Navy facility at Amsterdam, under B.J. Tideman. In 1876 the Denny Shipyard started work with mild-quality shipbuilding steel on hulls for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, and in 1879 the world's first two ships of any size using this weight-saving material were produced: they were the Rotomahana for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand and the Buenos Ayrean for the Allan Line of Glasgow. On the naval-architecture side he was involved in Denny's proposals for standard cross curves of stability for all ships, which had far-reaching effects and are now accepted worldwide. He served on the committee working on improvements to the Load Line regulations and many other similar public bodies. After a severe bout of typhoid and an almost unacceptable burden of work, he left the United Kingdom for South America in June 1886 to attend to business with La Platense Flotilla Company, an associate company of William Denny and Brothers. In March the following year, while in Buenos Aires, he died by his own hand, a death that caused great and genuine sadness in the West of Scotland and elsewhere.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Wallace was brought up just outside Glasgow, and educated at Paisley Grammar School and later at the Anderson College in Glasgow. The next few years were typical of the early years in the life of many young engineers: he served an apprenticeship at the Paisley shipyard of Bow, MacLachlan, before joining the British and Burmese Steam Navigation Company (Paddy Henderson's Line) as a junior engineer. After some years on the Glasgow to Rangoon service, he rose to the rank of Chief Engineer early in life and then came ashore in 1911.

He joined the old established Edinburgh engineering company of Brown Brothers as a draughtsman, but by 1917 had been promoted Managing Director. He was appointed Chairman in 1946. During his near thirty years at the helm, he experimented widely and was the engineering force behind the development of the Denny-Brown ship stabilizer which was jointly pursued by Brown Brothers and the Dumbarton shipyard of William Denny \& Brothers. The first important installation was on the cross-channel steamer Isle of Sark, built at Dumbarton for the Southern Railway in 1932. Over the years countless thousands of these installations have been fitted on liners, warships and luxury yachts. Brown Brothers produced many other important engineering innovations at this time, including the steam catapult for aircraft carriers.

In later years Sir William (now knighted) took an active part in the cultural life of Edinburgh and of Scotland. From 1952 to 1954 he served as President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Following his education at Brisbane Academy in Largs, William Fife (the third generation of the name) became apprenticed at the age of 14 to the already famous yacht-building yard owned by his family at Fairlie in Ayrshire. On completion of his apprenticeship, he joined the Paisley shipbuilders John Fullerton \& Co. to gain experience in iron shipbuilding before going on as Manager to the Marquis of Ailsa's Culzean Steam Launch and Yacht Works. Initially the works was sited below the famous castle at Culzean, but some years later it moved a few miles along the Ayrshire Coast to Maidens. The Culzean Company was wound up in 1887 and Fife then returned to the family yard, where he remained for the rest of his working life. Many outstanding yachts were the product of his hours on the drawing board, including auxiliary sailing cruisers, motor yachts and well-known racing craft. The most outstanding designs were for two of Sir Thomas Lipton's challengers for the America's Cup: Shamrock I and Shamrock III. The latter yacht was tested at the Ship Model Experiment Tank owned by Denny of Dumbarton before being built at their Leven Shipyard in 1903. Shamrock III may have been one of the earliest America's Cup yachts to have been designed with a high level of scientific input. The hull construction was unusual for the early years of the twentieth century, being of alloy steel with decks of aluminium.

William Fife was decorated for his service to shipbuilding during the First World War. With the onset of the Great Depression the shipyard's output slowed, and in the 1930s it was sold to other interests; this was the end of the 120-year Fife dynasty.

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See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA

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Archimedes of Syracuse

Armstrong, Sir William George

Atwood, George

Ayre, Sir Amos Lowrey

Barlow, Peter

Barnaby, Kenneth C.

Barnett, James Rennie

Bell, Henry

Bell, Imrie

Bentham, Sir Samuel

Berry, Henry

Biles, Sir John Harvard

Booth, Hubert Cecil

Brown, Andrew

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom

Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard

Burrell, William

Caird, Sir James

Chapman, Frederik Henrik af

Cockerell, Christopher Sydney

Cousteau, Jacques-Yves

Cubitt, William

Dalen, Nils Gustav

Davis, Robert Henry

Deane, Sir Anthony

Deas, James

Denny, William

Du Cane, Peter

Egerton, Francis

Elder, John

Elgar, Francis

Ericsson, John

Fairbairn, William

Ferguson, Peter Jack

Fife, William

Fox, Uffa

Foyn, Svend

Froude, William

Fulton, Robert

Giles, Francis

Harrison, John

Henry, James J.

Herreshoff, Nathaniel Greene

Holland, John Philip

Hulls, Jonathan

Jessop, William

Kennedy, Sir Alexander Blackie William

King, James Foster

Kirk, Alexander Carnegie

Kirkaldy, David

Krylov, Alexei Nicolaevitch

Laird, John

Li Gao

Linton, Hercules

Lithgow, James

Lobnitz, Frederick

MacGregor, Robert

McKay, Donald

McNeill, Sir James McFadyen

Mavor, Henry Alexander

Meek, Marshall

Miller, Patrick

Mitchell, Charles

Murray, John Mackay

Napier, Robert

Parsons, Sir Charles Algernon

Peter the Great

Plimsoll, Samuel

Popoff, Andrei Alexandrovitch

Pounder, Cuthbert Coulson

Purvis, Frank Prior

Railton, Reid Anthony

Ramus, Revd C.M.

Rickover, Admiral Hyman George

Russell, John Scott

Samuda, Joseph d'Aguilar

Schanck, John

Seppings, Robert

Shen Gua

Sickels, Frederick Ellsworth

Simpson, Thomas

Smith, Sir Francis Pettit

Sperry, Elmer Ambrose

Stalkartt, Marmaduke

Stanhope, Charles

Steers, Thomas

Stevens, John

Stevens, Robert Livingston

Stevenson, Robert

Symington, William

Taylor, David Watson

Temple, Lewis

Tideman, Bruno Joannes

Wallace, Sir William

Watson, George Lennox

Watts, Philip

Waymouth, Bernard

White, Sir William Henry

Williams, Thomas

Wilson, Thomas

Yarrow, Sir Alfred Fernandez

Yourkevitch, Vladimir Ivanovitch

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Despite being one of the youngest entrants to the South Kensington School of Naval Architecture, Purvis obtained both a Whitworth Exhibition and a Scholarship. Upon graduating he commenced a career in shipbuilding that involved him in military, civil and research work in Scotland, England and Japan. Initially he worked in Robert Napier's shipyard on the River Clyde, and then in the London drawing offices of Sir Edward Reed, before joining the staff of the Admiralty, where he assisted William Froude in his classic ship experiments at Torquay. After a short spell with Sir William Pearce at Govan, Purvis joined William Denny and Bros and with his recently gained knowledge of hydrodynamics helped set up the world's first commercial ship model tank at Dumbarton. His penultimate appointment was that of Shipbuilding Partner in the Scottish shipyard of Blackwood and Gordon.

In 1901 he became Professor of Naval Architecture at the Imperial University of Tokyo (succeeding Percy Hillhouse, who had become Naval Architect of Fairfield and later became Professor at Glasgow University) and it was in this role that Purvis was to achieve distinction through developing a teaching course of the highest order. It is accepted that his influence on the Japanese shipbuilding industry was profound. After nineteen years of service he retired to the United Kingdom.

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1890-1949

   Rex Lease, Buck Jones, Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Steele, entre otros heroes del western, forman parte de la nomina de actores a los que dirigio Elmer Clifton en algunas de las peliculas de sus series respectivas. Una obra abundante la de este director- guionista-actor, dominada por westerns y peliculas dramaticas, tanto mudas como sonoras. Cuando estaba dirigiendo No Wanted, 1949, cayo enfermo, siendo reemplazado por la actriz de la pelicula, Ida Lupino, quien desde entonces le tomo gusto a eso de dirigir peliculas. La ultima de Clifton, The Silver Bandit, es postuma porque el director iba a morir, precisamente, en el ano 1949.

   FILMOGRAFIA

    Cyclone of the Saddle. 1935. 53 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Superior Talking. Rex Lease, Janet Chandler.

    Pals of the Range. 1935. 57 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Superior Talking. Rex Lease, Frances Morris.

    Fighting Caballero. 1935. 65 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Superior Talking. Rex Lease, Dorothy Gulliver.

    Rough Riding Ranger. 1935. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Superior Talking. Rex Lease, Janet Chandler.

    Skull and Crown. 1935. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Reliable. Regis Toomey, Molly O’Day.

    Custer’s Land Stand. 1936. 328 minutos. 15 capitulos. Blanco y Negro. Stage and Screen. Rex Lease, Lona Andre, William Farnum, Nancy Caswell, Ruth Mix.

    Custer’s Land Stand (II) (La flecha sagrada). 1936. 84 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Stage and Screen. Rex Lease, Lona Andre, William Farnum, Nancy Caswell, Ruth Mix.

    Wildcat Trooper. 1936. 60 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Ambassador. Kermit Maynard, Fuzzy Knight, Lois Wilde.

    The Stranger from Arizona. 1938. 54 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Columbia. Buck Jones, Dorothy Fay.

    Law of the Texan. 1938. 54 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Coronet Productions (Columbia). Buck Jones, Dorothy Fay.

    California Frontier. 1938. 54 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Coronet Productions (Columbia). Buck Jones, Carmen Bailey.

    Crashin’ Thru. 1939. 65 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Monogram. James Newill, Jean Carmen, Warren Hull.

    Deep in the Heart of Texas. 1942. 62 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Universal. Johnny Mack Brown, Jennifer Holt, Tex Ritter, Fuzzy Knight.

    The Old Chisholm Trail. 1942. 61 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Universal. Johnny Mack Brown, Jennifer Holt, Tex Ritter, Fuzzy Knight.

    The Sundown Kid. 1942. 57 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Republic. Don Barry, Ian Keith, Emmett Lynn, Helen MacKellar.

    The Blocked Trail. 1943. 58 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Republic. Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Helen Deverell, Jimmie Dodd.

    Days of Old Cheyenne. 1943. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Republic. Don Barry, Lynn Merrick.

    Guns of the Law. 1944. 55 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Dave O’Brien, Jim Newill, Jennifer Holt.

    The Return of the Rangers. 1943. 60 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Dave O’Brien, Jim Newill, Nell O’Day.

    Frontier Law. 1943. 59 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Universal. Russell Hayden, Fuzzy Knight, Jennifer Holt.

    Boss of Rawhide. 1943. 57 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Dave O’Brien, Jim Newill, Nell O’Day.

    The Pinto Bandit. 1944. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Dave O’Brien, Jim Newill, Mady Lawrence.

    Spook Town. 1944. 59 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Dave O’Brien, Jim Newill, Mady Lawrence.

    Gangsters of the Frontier. 1944. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Tex Ritter, Dave O’Brien, Patti McCarty.

    Dead or Alive. 1944. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Tex Ritter, Dave O’Brien, Marjorie Clements.

    Swing, Cowboy, Swing. 1944. Three Crown. Cal Shrum, Max Terhune, Alta Lee.

    The Whispering Skull. 1944. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Tex Ritter, Dave O’Brien, Denny Burke.

    Marked for Murder. 1945. 58 minutos. Blanco y Negro. PRC. Tex Ritter, Dave O’Brien, Marilyn McConnell.

    Red Rock Outlaw. 1950. 56 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Raymond Friedgen. Bob Gilbert, Ione Nixon, Lee “Lasses” White.

    The Silver Bandit. 1950. 54 minutos. Blanco y Negro. Raymond Friedgen. Sapade Cooley, Bob Gilbert, Virginia Jackson.

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Linton came from a north-east Scottish family with shipbuilding connections. After education at Arbuthnott and then Arbroath Academy, he followed his father by becoming an apprentice at the Aberdeen shipyard of Alex Hall in January 1855. Thus must have been an inspiring time for him as the shipyards of Aberdeen were at the start of their rise to world renown. Hall's had just introduced the hollow, lined Aberdeen Bow which heralded the great years of the Aberdeen Clippers. Linton stayed on with Hall's until around 1863, when he joined the Liverpool Under-writers' Register as a ship surveyor; he then worked for similar organizations in different parts of England and Scotland. Early in 1868 Linton joined in partnership with William Dundas Scott and the shipyard of Scott and Linton was opened on the banks of the River Leven, a tributary of the Clyde, at Dumbarton. The operation lasted for about three years until bankruptcy forced closure, the cause being the age-old shipbuilder's problem of high capital investment with slow cash flow. Altogether, nine ships were built, the most remarkable being the record-breaking composite-built clipper ship Cutty Sark. At the time of the closure the tea clipper was in an advanced state of outfitting and was towed across the water to Denny's shipyard for completion. Linton worked for a while with Gourlay Brothers of Dundee, and then with the shipbuilders Oswald Mordaunt, of Woolston near Southampton, before returning to the Montrose area in 1884. His wife died the following year and thereafter Linton gradually reduced his professional commitments.

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