s.s. 'Hawk' - Form of Tests of Boiler Steel for Hawk - 1st October 1887.

Tests of 32 steel plates manufactured by Messrs. David Colville & Sons of Motherwell, near Glasgow, for Boiler No. 2360 to be constructed by Messrs. John Stewart & Sons of the Blackwall Iron Works, Russell Street, Blackwall, London whom were ship and engine builders and repairers in their own right.

[© Lloyd's Register Foundation : Unique Reference Code : LRF-PUN-CFF83-0347-C] [760] [20200629]

lower image : An advertisement for David Colville & Sons from a Trade Periodical c.1888. [002]

'Owners David Colville and Sons rose to dominance in Scotland’s industrial landscape after they struck upon a method of mass producing steel at a cost-effective price. Previous attempts had failed due to the high phosphor content of Scottish pig iron but the adoption of a new open-hearth method allowed the firm to successfully burn impurities and carbon out of the crude material. Steel quickly became cheaper to produce than wrought iron and demand from the Clyde’s shipbuilding industry, which by 1913 was building a quarter of the world’s ships, plus new industrial projects insured that the Dalzell furnaces fired with intensity as the 19th Century drew to a close.' [795]