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”Spinaway” Howson
Another successful shipwright was Robert Howson, who arrived in the colony in 1875. He was a master shipwright from Sunderland and came to Fremantle in the barque Spinaway, which he had built for the export trade of the colony. He left the vessel at Fremantle and took over a shipyard between Suffolk Street and Arundel Street.
Among the large vessels he built were the schooners Iris (100 tons), Planet, Ivy, Ruby, Olive, the ketches Roebourne, Ashburton, Electra, Eva, the steamer Clyo and about fifty pearling luggers for Broome. He executed a number of large repairing jobs, among them being the refloating of the Thistle (1,200 tons), which had been driven ashore at Bunbury.
He also refloated and restored the barque Cingalese and the schooners Bessie and Mary Smith, which were deemed to be total wrecks on the Lacepede Islands. Hitchcock: 117.
Garry Gillard | New: 10 October, 2016 | Now: 16 November, 2019