Volume Ten - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - Construction of the Penarth Slipway and Gridiron . . .

In the previous chapter we explored the work of the Cooper family and their boat building activities at Penarth. Their expertise was traditional and limited to sailing vessels ; generally specialist work-boats, pilot-skiffs, etc. of wooden construction.

George Cooper broke away from his family tradition and by the mid-1870's had gained considerable experience as a ships' draughtsman in the N.E. of England. In c.1877-8, he was charged with the design of the gridiron for the newly formed Penarth Ship Building and Ship Repairing Company and had been appointed manager. He was in his early thirties!

The stimulus for the development of such facilities at Penarth was that there was a growing demand for the repair of vessels arriving at Penarth Dock and the Ely Tidal Harbour. Many of these merchant vessels had been damaged during their voyage or required maintenance. Also, as at Cardiff and Bristol, there was an opportunity identified to capitalise on the building of both steel and larger wooden vessels for local ship owners of which there were approx. 100 at Cardiff alone by around the turn of the century.

I suggested that George Cooper had been most probably head-hunted during 1877-78 for his skills and experience in iron steamship design plus the necessary infrastructure to build these vessels by the new Company at Penarth Dock which was formed during 1878. Perhaps the local Cooper family had been consulted and recommended George for the job!

◊ 1878 - Penarth Dock - 'This dock is to be supplied with a patent slipway and gridiron. It will be erected by Messrs. Edwards and Fry (who received the necessary permission from the Board of Trade) on the bank of the River Ely, north-east of Penarth Dock.' - Engineering [516] [499] 8th March 1878.