Wilton's Dok- en Werf Maatschappij

Wilton was one of several companies that started to construct steam engines and boilers in the 1870s: On 16 September 1876 shipyard van der Kuijl in Slikkerveer launched the iron screw tugboat Hendrika Wilhelmina for A. Bos in Alblasserdam. The machines were to be made by Wilton.[11] On 20 December 1877 the shipyard Wed. C. Boele en Zonen launched the screw tugboat Vooruitgang for Johan van der Graaf at Kralingen, the machine was made by Wilton.[12] On 26 January 1878 M. van der Kuyl in Slikkerveer laid down an iron passenger screw steam boat for Wijnands & Co in Groningen. Wilton would build the machines.[13] The Burgemeester van Uithuizen was launched on 24 May 1878. Van der Kuyl then immediately laid down the Volharding 7 for the Leidsche Stoombootmaatschappij Volharding, also with machines by Wilton.[14] On 9 May 1881 shipyard Gebroeders Pot in Bolnes laid down an Icebreaker with machinery and boilers by Wilton.[15] In 1893 Wilton got orders for a 180 hp engine for the William Egan & Co III built by M. van der Kuil in Slikkerveer.[16] It would also built the machinery for the following William Egan & Co's that would number up to 18. In 1895 Wilton built the 250 ihp machines for the Betsy, the first Dutch steam trawler.[17] In 1896 a Wilton company built the engine and boilers for the fishing sloop Koningin Wilhelmina.[18]

On 18 July 1882 Wilton launched its first ship.[19] Cf below for more ships built by Wilton. In 1893 the terrain next to the slipway was heightened by 25,000 cubic meters of soil dug out for the harbor of Katendrecht.[20]

On 24 September 1889 Bartel Wilton and Bartel Wilton Jr. (1863-1938, also known as 'Bart') came to an agreement for joint ownership of and authority over the company. This did not pertain to acts like lending money or offering security. For these Bartel Sr. remained the only authority.[21]

The move to Delfshaven would be combined with bigger plans. On 14 February 1895 the private company was transformed into a limited company with a capital of 300,000 guilders. Bartel Sr. got 296 shares and Bartel Jr. just three. For these they brought in their ownership of the company. Henry Wilton just one share, that he paid in cash. The new company got the name: 'Machinefabriek voorheen onder de firma B. Wilton'.[25] The statute of a limited company helped to keep profits in the company and to raise capital. On March 4, 1895, the sons Bart and John Henry Wilton took over their father's part in the business. Bart was a businessman, and John Henry a technician who had been trained as a shipbuilder in Delft.[1] Bartel Jr. opted for an expansion strategy to profit from the huge growth of the Rotterdam port following the completion of the Nieuwe Waterweg and the economic expansion of Germany. In his vision one should stay ahead of the competition by having the best technical equipment on the most economical place (the Westkousdijk). Bart would prove right in his assessment.[26]

On 3 September 1898, a few weeks before he died, the Bartel Wilton Sr. laid the first stone for a big new factory to build boilers.[1] In 1902 an electrical power plant was built.[27] The new complex also included a bank slope[27] and an iron foundry. By 1904 the whole company was concentrated in Delfshaven.[1] The jewel in the crown was a new floating dry dock launched in 1907 by Swan Hunter and Wighan Richardson. It had a lift capacity of 7,500 tons, and was 424 feet long. It had three separate independent compartments, that could be uncoupled when the drydock herself had to dock. Its pumps were powered by electricity from shore.[28]

The effect of the dry dock was enormous. The total wages paid by Wilton in 1904 amounted to 594,237 guilders. In 1913 this was 1,819,795 guilders,[27] three times as much in under 10 years. The tonnage of the ships that Wilton repaired showed an even more extreme expansion. On the slipway it grew slowly, but in drydock it exploded to more than ten times the amount on the slipway. In 1911 an agreement with the Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen en spoorwegmaterieel, later named Werkspoor, resulted in a license to produce Diesel engines for ships.[27] In September 1911 a second floating dock built by Swan Hunter arrived. Measuring 365 by 81 feet,[29] it was somewhat smaller and lifted 4,200 tons.

The Wilhelminadok was a floating dock with a lift capacity of 13,000-14,000t. It was launched in 1915 by the NSM from a special slipway in Schellingwoude just outside the Oranje Locks, because it was too broad for the North Sea Canal. It was built in three sections that could be joined, the outside sections having a pointy end. It had three main pumps of 90 hp, and three others of 35 hp.[30] The framework (Dutch: Spantwerk) had been made by Werkspoor.[31] On 9 September four tugboats began to transport the dock over the Zuiderzee and North Sea to Rotterdam. Flags had been painted on the sides to advert the nationality to submarines.[32] Later that month the SS Insulinde was the first ship that used the dock.[33]

World War 1 started with some good years for Dutch shipping. Wilton also profited from an increased demand for ship repair caused by mines and torpedoes.[27] In January 1916 the company was hit by a measure of the German government. It forbade the export of multiple kinds of iron, annulling existing contracts. New contracts could be made only at much steeper prices.[34]

During the war the company considered the options for the post war period. The company could make a strategic choice for shipbuilding, advocated by younger brother Ir. Henry Wilton. An alternative strategy was to continue the focus on ship repair. The latter option probably necessitating investments to dock ships of up to 20,000 tons. Bartel Jr opted for the ship repair strategy. It led to the move to Schiedam.[35] The move included an ambition to be able to repair the biggest ocean liners. The latter was supported by the Holland America Line, which foresaw that it would employ very big ships in the near future, and was looking for a docking facility. In 1916 a terrain of 56 ha was bought in Schiedam.[36] In 1917 construction of a harbor on the terrain started, but the company did not move to the new grounds till after the war.

In 1919 the corporate strategy was further expanded. The idea was to be able repair and construct the biggest ships afloat. The company would build a double fixed drydock for building very big ships, the first of its kind in the Netherlands. Its size would permit the simultaneous construction of two ships of 200 m, or 8 ships of 100m each. If this new method of construction would prove effective another fixed drydock would be built for constructing ships of 300 m. A huge floating drydock of 40,000 tons would complete the picture.[37] For Bartel Jr. the expansion into ship construction went too far, and in 1920 he resigned from his executive position.[35]

The ambition to have a huge floating drydock was realized by buying the floating dock that Blohm + Voss had started to construct for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. It was bought in 1919, but it was July 1920 when it arrived in Schiedam. It was 211.8 m long, 51.2 m wide and 16 m high. During transport one of its 6 parts was carried as cargo.[38] From July till April 1921 Wilton worked on completing this floating drydock, spending another 400,000 guilders. In April 1921 the dock was taken into use when it received the SS Rotterdam (1908) of 36,870t displacement, the biggest Dutch ship. Several government ministers and other dignitaries visited Wilton for the occasion.[39] It was one of the decisive moments in Wilton's history.[40]

The fixed construction drydock was also finished in 1921. Such a construction drydock was a novelty. It was not as deep as a regular fixed drydock, because new ships had a shallower draft. Two advantages for the shipyard originated from constructing on a horizontal surface. It made vertical placement of scantlings etc. much easier, and it led to a significant reduction in the cost of moving men and building materials vertically. A third advantage were the reduced cost of launching a ship.[40] The huge warehouse (Scheepsloods) on the new terrain was made of reinforced concrete. At 165 m by 130 m it was supposed to be the largest of its kind in Europe with regard to total surface as well as surface spanned by its concrete arcs.[41]

SS Paris in the 46,000 tons dock at Schiedam in 1926

In 1921 there was also a financial reorganization. A new public company called Wilton's Dok- en Werf Maatschappij N.V. was founded. It acquired all shares of Wilton's Machinefabriek en Scheepswerf, and in turn emitted shares for 25,000,000 guilders.[40] The HAL got involved in the company by converting a loan into shares.[42]

The 1918-1929 period was in general profitable for the company, except for a small downturn in 1921 and 1922. From 1920-1928 the number ships in the drydocks grew from 331 to 486 while the tonnage grew from 1,346,896 to 2,506,609 R.T.B. The board of the company had the ambition to bring the ship and engine construction activities of the company to the same height as that of the ship repair activities, but this was not so simple. In ship repair the excellent location, facilities, reputation and skill of her employees put the company ahead of foreign competition and led to good margins. In ship construction the competition was much fiercer.

In October 1925 a newspaper wrote that in a practical sense the yard at Schiedam was not yet in use, and called it a monument for the foolish investments by war profiteers.[43] Indeed in 1924 Wilton had received a first significant order from the navy department for HNLMS Soemba, and in 1925 four ships had been laid down for the KPM, but this was way below the capacity of the location. In 1926 the 233 m long SS Paris of 34,570t docked at Schiedam. In 1927 another big ocean liner arrived in Schiedam. It was the SS Statendam (1898) of 28,291 brt. She had been ordered by the HAL at Harland and Wolff in 1919. In 1922 construction had been stopped, and the uncompleted hull had been launched in 1924. The HAL then decided to have her finished in Schiedam, where she arrived in 1927.[44]