Richardson, Duck and Company

Richardson, Duck and Company was a shipbuilding company in Thornaby-on-Tees, England that traded between 1855 and 1925.

The yard was founded as the South Stockton Iron Ship Building Co in 1852. Its premises were the former yard of engine builders Fossick of Stockton and its first vessel was the iron-hulled steamship SS Advance. In 1855 Joseph Richardson and George Nixon Duck took over the yard. They built fifty iron steamships, a paddle steamer, ten sailing ships and 29 barges in their first ten years. In 1859 they built the paddle steamer Tasmanian Maid (yard no. 9) which in 1863 was converted into the gunboat HMS Sandfly.

In 1859 Richardson, Duck took over the Rake Kimber yard at Middlesbrough. They built about 11 vessels at Middlesbrough and then sold the yard to Backhouse and Dixon in 1862. In 1870 Richardson, Duck built SS Burgos (yard no. 160) which in 1884 was re-engined with a triple-expansion engine made by Blair & Co of . In 1893 the company built the German merchant ship SS Athen.

In the 1900s Richardson, Duck started building steel hulls. By the end of that decade Richardson, Duck had built five hundred tramp steamers, other merchant ships and lighters. It had also become licensees for the Isherwood system of longitudinal framing.

Richardson, Duck's ships in 1911 included the cargo steamer SS Budapest (yard no. 616) which was later renamed SS Kerwood and in 1918 was commissioned into the US Navy as USS Kerwood. In 1912 Richardson, Duck built 12 ships and became a limited liability company.

During the First World War the yard built the Arabis-class sloop HMS Rosemary (yard no. 661) and Aubretia-class sloop HMS Tulip (yard no. 666). It also built a further dozen tramp steamers, eight standard War "A" tramps and a standard "AO" tanker. Richardson, Duck's wartime merchant orders included SS Farnworth (yard no. 651), SS Plawsworth (yard no. 652) and SS Cardigan (yard no. 653) launched in 1917; SS Kenilworth (yard no. 662), SS War Vulture (yard no. 671), SS War Ostrich (yard no. 672) and SS War Anglian (yard no. 673) all launched in 1918 and SS Clearton (yard no. 677) launched in 1919.

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