Smith's Dock from the air, taken in 1962
Photo from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
(image source)
An Apprentice at Smith's Dock
Smith's Dock was a shipyard first established in Newcastle in 1810 with the North Shields dock opened in 1851. The company gradually moved their shipbuilding activities to a site on the River Tees and by 1909 the site in North Shields was used mainly for ship repair. In 1966 Smith's merged with nearby Swan Hunters and ship repair work continued to be carried out at Smith's Dock until the yard closed in 1987.
Listen to a memory of being an apprentice at Smith's Dock in the late 1960s.
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A riveter at work in the shipyards