Scott & Linton

Hercules Linton (1 January 1837 – 15 May 1900) was a Scottish surveyor, designer, shipbuilder, antiquarian and local councillor, best known as the designer of the Cutty Sark and partner in the yard of Scott and Linton which built her.

He was born in Inverbervie, the Mearns, Scotland. On his nineteenth birthday in 1855 Hercules Linton was apprenticed to Alexander Hall and Sons who at the time, were the leading shipbuilders in Aberdeen and whose schooner Scottish Maid (1839) with its sharp bow and entry helped coin the term Aberdeen Bow. Linton progressed through his apprenticeship and eventually rose to a senior position at Alexander Hall and Sons.

Eventually he left Alexander Hall and Sons to become a Lloyd's Register Surveyor based at the Lloyds offices in Liverpool and subsequently moved to the Liverpool Underwriters Registry where from early in 1862 he was assisting John Jordan who was the Chief Surveyor. It is thought that he left the Liverpool Underwriters Association in May 1864 but still associated on a free-lance basis.

In May 1868, Linton entered into a shipbuilding partnership with William Dundas Scott to form the firm of Scott & Linton, shipbuilders of Dumbarton, on the River Leven near its junction with the River Clyde.

Approximately £600 of the £1200 capital to set up the business was provided by Scott’s father. The rest was a borrowing against Linton’s life insurance policy and some cash. Hercules Linton managed the design and shipbuilding and William Scott managed the counting house and engineering.

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