J & W Dudgeon was a Victorian shipbuilding and engineering company based in Cubitt Town, London, founded by John and William Dudgeon.
John and William Dudgeon had established the Sun Iron Works in Millwall in the 1850s, and had a reputation for advanced marine engines. In 1862 they set up as shipbuilders at a yard to the south of Cubitt Town Pier. They initially specialised in building blockade runners for the American Civil War, at times employing up to 1500 men.
The yard, with of river frontage, stretched nearly inland to Manchester Road. The first ship built there was the 150-foot Flora, the first twin-screw steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The firm survived the 1866 crash of Overend Gurney, with enough orders to take over the disused yard to the south in 1869. This gave a combined river frontage of .
In 1874 the company was severely damaged by the bungled launching of the large warship Independencia for the Brazilian government, repairs and refitting eventually being done by Samuda Brothers, just down the river. The ship was eventually acquired by the Royal Navy, as HMS Neptune. William Dudgeon died in 1875 and the yard closed. John Dudgeon was subsequently judged to be 'of unsound mind' and was admitted to an asylum in Edinburgh.
By 1882 the site had become an oil storage wharf, with tanks below ground level. By 1913 it had 27 oil storage tanks with a combined capacity of over 14,000 tons. It remained in this use until the 1960s, by which time it had nearly 100 tanks, some of 20,000 gallons.
In 1969 an explosion in an oil storage tank being demolished at the site (then known as Dudgeon's wharf) killed five firemen.
The site was later developed for housing and is known as Compass Point.
Ships
ShipGRTYard NoDate of Launch 305 25 September 1862 Annie 3701863 Coya 515August 1863 Apelles 10306 May 1863 Dee 3241863 Kate 4771863 Vesta 3701863 Ceres 3741863 Don 39023 May 1863 Hebe 44991863 125931 October 1863 1863 5371864 Atalanta 3801864 61426 March 1864 61323 April 1864 4811864 432 1864 614 1864 680 1865 902 1865 1504 March 1865 393 1865 680 1865 66623 May 1864 138 1865 933 1866 16 June 1866 170 1866 103 1866 1986028 July 1866 143 1867 143 1867 122821 December 1867 143 18 April 1867 171 1869 181 1869 505 1869 181 1869 1698 June 1870 1698 August 1870 1698 30 December 1869 1870 1870 290019 February 1870 1698754 April 1870 281 1871 670 13 October 1870 348030 September 1871 7181871 498 July 1872 791 28 May 1872 105 1872 2570 20 April 1872 861 November 1872 498 September 1872 730 1873 245 March 1873 604 April 1873 278 1873 734June 1873 221310313 December 1872 276 November 1874 233 May 1874 309 1874 65712 September 1874 54512131 January 1874 1874 36813115 May 1875 9310 10 September 1874
References
External links
List of Dudgeon ships