L. Smit en Zoon

L. Smit en Zoon previously known as Fop Smit, was a Dutch shipbuilding company located in Kinderdijk. Its successor is now part of Royal IHC.

Context

L. Smit en Zoon shipyard was one of multiple shipyards belonging to the Smit family. In 1785 Jan Smit Fopszoon (1742–1807) and his brother Jacques Smit Fopszoon (1756–1820) took over a shipyard in Alblasserdam, near the border with Nieuw-Lekkerland.

After they were established, Jacques built another shipyard west of the one they had, at the terrain later known as that of L. Smit en Zoon. Jan Smit Fopszoon was very successful in building a small type of vessel, the On his death, Jan Smit Fopszoon was wealthy. He had two shipyards, several houses, 18 hectares of land multiple (parts in) ships, as well as many securities. With Marrigje Ceelen (1747–1820) he had three sons and two daughters:

Fop Smit (1777–1866) Jan Smit (1779–1869) inherited his father's shipyard in Alblasserdam, and worked in partnership with Fop from 1824 to 1828, his sons founded J. & K. Smit Cornelis Smit (1784–1858) Founded his own shipyards Jan Smit Czn. near the harbor of Alblasserdam and in Zierikzee, and had a patent slip in Papendrecht.

Fop Smit, or more exactly Fop Smit Janszoon (11 October 1777 – 25 August 1866) took over the shipyard of his uncle Jacques Smit Fopszoon, and thus founded the shipyard Fop Smit, later known as L. Smit en Zoon.

Fop Smit married Jannigje Mak (1776–1852) and had: Pieter Smit (1808–1863), father of Pieter Smit Jr. (1848–1913) Jan Smit (1811–1875), father of Jan Smit V (1837- ?) and Arie Smit (1845–1925) Leendert Smit (1813–1893) Fop Smit Jr. (1815–1892)

Jan Smit a.k.a. Jan Smit Fopszoon would later lead a shipyard at Slikkerveer, which was probably split off from Fop Smit's shipyard. He would be succeeded by his son Arie Smit.

Leendert Smit continued to work at his father's shipyard, and would continue it as L. Smit en Zoon. He would be joined by his nephew Jan Smit V, who had married his daughter Jannetje Johanna (1838-?).

History as Fop Smit's shipyard

Separate shipyards of Jan and Foppe From 1807 to 1820 Jan Smit Fopszoon's second son Jan Smit and his mother continued his shipyard, which had about 10 employees. Afterwards Jan continued alone. Meanwhile, Fop acquired the shipyard of Jacques Smit Fopszoon (1756–1820). Until 1824 the shipyards of Fop Smit and Jan Smit continued to build only built small vessels.

United shipyards of Fop and Jan In 1824 Jan Smit contracted to build the paddle steamer Willem de Eerste for a shipping line between Rotterdam and Nijmegen. The engines were made by Billard in Jemappes. It was probably on account of this project that Fop and Jan entered into a partnership.

On 9 May 1825 the first Batavier was laid down by Fop Smit for an Amsterdam Hamburg line managed by the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (NSM, later NSBM). The engines would be built by John Cockerill in Liège. Also for NSM, Fop Smit launched the steam vessel Lodewijk on 15 March 1826. It would be used for service between Mainz and Strasbourg On 14 November 1826 the brothers laid down for their own account the Kinderdijk, a 380 tons . She was launched on 24 May 1828. A Kofschip was a most often two-masted vessel meant for coastal shipping. Kinderdijk's hull was sheathed in zinc.

The shipbuilding partnership between Fop and Jan Smit did not last long. Jan left it, and rented his part of the shipyard to Fop. Fop Smit thus continued alone, but with both terrains. On 28 November 1828 Fop Smit laid down a two-deck commercial frigate of 34.2 m length. This might have been Vier Gebroeders, launched in 1830.

Fop Smit works on his own

+ Some early sailing ships built by Fop Smit Name Type Laid Down Launched Tonnage Principal Notes Vier Gebroeders Frigate 23 Jun. 1830 643 ton N/a Captain F.C. Lupcke. Cornelis Werner Eduard Frigate 7 Sep. 1839 400 last Weiland, Van Walcheren, W. Ruys J.D. Zn. Captain D.H. Kramer. Louise Ship 25 Sep. 1840 500 last J. Antheunis from Rotterdam. Captain was J.F. Verschuur. Jan Daniël Barque 27 May 1841 450 last W. Ruys J.D. Zn. Nieuw-Lekkerland Barque 22 Jun. 1842 450 Java last 's Gravenhaagsche Scheepsrederij, Captain W.H, Kramer. Drie Gebroeders Barque 30 Jul. 1844 300 last W. Ruys J.D. Zn. Captain T.C. Bauditz.

+ Early river and coastal steam vessels built by Fop Smit Name Type Laid Down Launched Power For Notes Prinses Marianne Steam yacht In service Feb. 1833 Rotterdam - Middelburg line Koningin der Nederlanden Paddle steamer Delivered 18 Apr. 1836 Rotterdam - Nijmegen line Herzog von Nassau Paddle steamer In service 7 Nov. 1837 First ship of DGNM 160 * 20', engines by Miller Ravenhill Kronprinz(essin) von Preußen Paddle steamer In service Sep.1838 Rotterdam - Düsseldorf line of DGNM Stad 's Hertogenbosch Paddle steamer 1 Sep. 1838 Rotterdam - 's-Hertogenbosch line Stad Gorinchem Paddle steamer In service Mar.? 1838 80 hp Gorinchem - Middelburg line Engines by Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel Kinderdijk Sea tug 31 Aug. 1843 140 hp Smit's tug service Engines by Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel.

What made Fop Smit special was the amount of steam vessels he built. Most of these were for inland shipping lines. For ocean-going sailing ships Fop Smit started a close cooperation with Willem Ruys J.D. zn. (1809–1889) in the late 1830s. Fop built a long line of sailing ships for Willem Ruys, who managed them for multiple owners that formed a partenreederei for each ship. Fop Smit himself also became a partner in many of these ships. These ships formed the nucleus of what would later become the Royal Rotterdam Lloyd.

Smit Slikkerveer and J. & K. Smit The ship Louise, launched in 1840 was launched from Fop Smit's shipyard in Slikkerveer, municipality Ridderkerk. This also applied to Drie Gebroeders in 1844. In 1851, the Fop Smit was launched by J. Smit from his shipyard in Slikkerveer. From then on a list of ships was built in Slikkerveer by Jan Smit, a.k.a. as Jan Smit Fopszoon, or Jan Fz. Jan would also build several ships for his father, amongst these most of the Noach's, designed by his son Arie.

In 1847 the sons of Jan Smit started their own shipyard J. & K. Smit on the terrain of their father Jan Foppe, southeast of that of Fop Smit. In 1906 J. & K. Smit had to leave this terrain. It obviously moved to a terrain north of that of L. Smit, a situation recognizable on the black and white aerial photograph. In 1906 the new shipyard was getting readied.

L. Smit towage service In 1842 Fop Smit founded a towage service between Hellevoetsluis and Brouwershaven. At the time Hellevoetsluis was the outport of Rotterdam. Hellevoetsluis was connected to Rotterdam via the ship canal Canal through Voorne. Brouwershaven on Schouwen-Duiveland offered the best opportunity to wait for a favorable wind to sail through the English Channel. Another reason to found the tug service was to decrease the losses through accidents. Therefore, many shipping lines and insurers in Rotterdam united to enable the foundation of the towage service. Fop Smit would manage it and build its first tugboat of 140 hp. The company would receive a yearly subsidy by multiple commercial parties. The first tug, Kinderdijk entered service in December 1843.

This tug service would become a major customer of the shipyard. In April 1847 Fop Smit bought the steam yacht Stad Gorinchem for 45,000 guilders, to serve as the second ship of the tow service. The tug service would be continued as L. Smit & Co., later Smit International.

The switch to iron (1846) The first steam vessels were made of wood, but in time the first iron hulls appeared. In 1837 Fijenoord launched its first commercial iron steamship. In 1844 Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel secured orders for iron tugs on the Rhine, and started to construct its own shipyard. If iron was the future for inland navigation, Fop Smit had to follow suit, or loose this market. In June 1846 Fop Smit delivered the iron steam yacht Amicitia. For construction in iron, the shipyard had to acquire a lot of technical skills. On the other hand, it could employ these on the market for sailing ships. In 1847 Fop Smit launched the schooner Industrie, the first iron sailing vessel of the Netherlands. Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel followed by launching its own iron schooners.

In 1853 Fop Smit launched California, the first Dutch iron ship. (Ship in the sense of a fully rigged three mast sailing vessel.) Other innovations that Fop Smit promoted were iron masts and iron stays. On 31 March 1856 the machine factory Diepeveen, Lels en Smit was founded. With Smit referring to Fop's son Leendert, and Fop's brother's son Jan.

The main market for Dutch ocean going ships was the route to the Dutch East Indies. From about 1848 this profited from extremely favorable circumstances, such that even small old ships still made a profit. This lasted until freight rates suddenly plummeted in 1857. It led to a major crises in the Dutch shipping industry. Fop Smit survived the crisis, and even built some more iron sailing ships in the early 1860s. These had the advantage that they suffered less partial damage to the cargo. Another advantage of Smit's ships was their speed. E.g. in 1859 the clipper Noach made the trip from Batavia to Brouwershaven in a record time of 82 days.

+ Some ocean going vessels built by Fop Smit Name Type Laid Down Launched Tonnage Power Principal Notes Japara Barque 4 Nov. 1846 300 last W. Ruys J.D. Zn. Ida Elisabeth Barque 15 Jul. 1847 300 last W. Ruys J.D. Zn. Industrie Iron schooner 21 Sep. 1847 120 rye last W. Ruys J.D. Zn. First Dutch iron sailing vessel Resident van Son Barque 15 Jul. 1847 23 May 1849 450 last W. Ruys J.D. Zn. Doelwijk Barque 23 May 1849 18 Sep. 1850 400 last W. Ruys J.D. Zn. Captain D.H. Kramer Fop Smit Barque 18 Sep. 1850 2 Oct. 1851 350 last Macassar Iron Screw steamship 3 Jun. 1851 Cores de Vries in D.E.I Ambon three mast screw ship 3 Jun. 1851 26 Nov. 1851 Cores de Vries in D.E.I California Iron clipper 1 Mar. 1852 24 Mar. 1853 400 last Louis Bienfait en Zoon First Dutch iron Ship Australie Barque ship 18 Dec. 1852 14 Mar. 1854 360 last Q. Blauw in Amsterdam De Maas Iron clipper 25 Aug. 1854 400 last C. Balguerie & Zonen, Rotterdam Ternate Iron clipper 25 Aug. 1854 16 Jul. 1855 400 last H. van Rijckevorsel 175 feet long Noach Clipper 19 Sep. 1857 500 last Own account First Dutch ship with all metal stays Oceaan Iron clipper 24 Dec. 1856 17 Oct. 1857 500 last Louis Bienfait en Zoon Jan de Wit Iron clipper 15 Jun. 1858 425 last C. Balguerie en Zoon Sara Iron screw steam ship 18 Nov. 1861 5 May 1862 600 ton Dordrecht - London line Cornelia Iron barque 29 May 1863 400 last L. Bienfait en Zoon Hoek van Holland Iron clipper 2 Apr. 1864 500 last Wm Ruys Willem en Clara Iron screw steam vessel 2 Apr. 1864 17 Sep. 1864 Dordrecht - London line Laid down as Stad Dordrecht