The Changeover from Wood to Iron Shipbuilding in Sunderland, C. 1850- C

The Changeover from Wood to Iron Shipbuilding in Sunderland, C. 1850- C

Accounting Historians Notebook Volume 29 Number 2 October 2006 Article 1 October 2006 Accounting and technological change: the changeover from wood to iron shipbuilding in Sunderland, c. 1850- c. 1875 Tom McLean Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aah_notebook Part of the Accounting Commons, and the Taxation Commons Recommended Citation McLean, Tom (2006) "Accounting and technological change: the changeover from wood to iron shipbuilding in Sunderland, c. 1850- c. 1875," Accounting Historians Notebook: Vol. 29 : No. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aah_notebook/vol29/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Archival Digital Accounting Collection at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Accounting Historians Notebook by an authorized editor of eGrove. For more information, please contact egrove@olemiss.edu. McLean: Accounting and technological change: the changeover from wood to iron shipbuilding in Sunderland, c. 1850- c. 1875 The Accounting Historians Notebook Vol. 29, No. 2 © Academy of Accounting Historians October 2006 Accounting and technological change: the changeover from wood to iron shipbuilding in Sunderland, c. 1850 ‑ c. 1875 by Tom McLean, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne Between c.1750 – c.1850 the the construction of the hulls of world wood shipbuilding industry ships (Clarke, 1986). The current was marked by a series of competi- paper examines the role of account- tive shifts, from Dutch leadership ing information in shipbuilders’ prior to 1800 (Unger, 1978) to Brit- decisions to replace wood by iron ish, French and American struggles as the primary material of hull con- for dominance through to the 1850s struction and thus bring about tech- (Slaven, 1980). The British indus- nological and organisational trans- try was cushioned by rising trade, formations of the industry. but beset by poor ship design and The context heavy duties on the necessary tim- ber imports (Jones, 1957). How- Essentially, the demand for ships ever, pressure from shipowners led is the outcome of a complex set of to improvements in British ship relationships between the volume design and Britain survived as a and pattern of trade, freight rates, leading player in the world wood the size, speed and age of existing shipbuilding industry, albeit as a fleets and technical advances in relatively high cost producer given that British ships were about 25 per In This Issue: • Page 1: Accounting and tech- cent more expensive than their nologiocal change: the change- American counterparts (Jones, over from wood to iron ship- 1957; Slaven, 1980). From the building in Sunderland, c. 1850- 1850s onwards, there was a techno- c. 1875 logical revolution in shipbuilding • Page 9: Social Security: From Then to Now; 70 Years of as iron began to replace wood in Growth The Accounting Historians Notebook, October 2006 1 Published by eGrove, 2006 1 Accounting Historians Notebook, Vol. 29 [2006], No. 2, Art. 1 THE ACADEMY OF THE ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING HISTORIANS HISTORIANS NOTEBOOK Administrative Coordinator: Editor: Joann Noe Cross Tiffany Welch College of Business Administra- Academy of Accounting Historians tion Case Western Reserve University University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Weatherhead School of Oshkosh WI 54901 Management Fax: (920) 424-7413 10900 Euclid Avenue E-mail: crossj@uwosh.edu Cleveland, OH 44106-7177 Assoc. Editor: Elliott L. Slocum Phone: (216) 368-2058 School of Accountancy Fax: (216) 368-6244 Georgia State University e-mail: twelch001@gmail.com P.O. Box 4050 Atlanta GA 30302 Journal of Accounting Historians: Fax: (404) 651-1033 E-mail: accels@langate.gsu.edu Ms. Becca Hayes The University of Alabama HOME PAGE Culverhouse School of Accoun- http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/ tancy aah Box 870220 Web Administrator: Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0220 Jon Lee, Rutgers University PH: (205) 348-6131 jonlee@raw.rutgers.edu Fax: (205) 348-8453e-mail: Secretary: rebhayes@gmail.com Sandy Welch 210-497-1806 swelch@utsa.edu (Continued from page 1) neers to such an extent that Great construction (Jones, 1957; Pollard Britain was not only the world’s and Robertson, 1979; Slaven, leading shipbuilder “but for some 1980). Shipbuilding is a capital time practically monopolized” goods industry par excellence (Pollard and Robertson, 1979, (Slaven, 1980), subject to violent p.12) iron shipbuilding. In 1862, swings in the demand for its prod- Britain’s iron shipbuilding equaled ucts, and, given this, the prospect its wooden tonnage for the first of bankruptcy always loomed large time and then moved inexorably for the shipbuilder during the nine- ahead (Clarke, 1986, p.1). Never- teenth century (Todd, 1985). By theless, within Britain there were the mid-1850s, British shipbuilders regional variations in the rate of had developed a routine process for adoption of the new material and the building of iron ships (Harley, its technology. Sunderland, on the 1973) and by the 1860s had capital- River Wear on the North East ised on their cheap natural re- Coast of England was a centre of sources and pool of skilled engi- shipbuilding activity (Clarke, 1981; 2 The Accounting Historians Notebook, October 2006 https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aah_notebook/vol29/iss2/1 2 McLean: Accounting and technological change: the changeover from wood to iron shipbuilding in Sunderland, c. 1850- c. 1875 Table 1 Iron shipbuilding output (tons) in Sunderland 1853 – 1871, by firm Year Laing Oswald* Pile Doxford Illiff* Thompson Blumer Watson Short 1853 479 1854 577 1855 939 1856 nil 1857 610 1858 3,083 1859 2,003 497 1860 2,573 3,798 1861 6,153 3,903 2,580 1862 5,429 4,115 4,752 1863 6,307 6,081 5,093 1864 6,525 7,974 5,430 2,191 1865 7,681 7,171 4,708 2,212 1866 5,084 6,477 1,533 3,198 965 1867 2,569 3,126 4,853 1,823 1,677 1868 8,097 9,622 7,296 4,071 5,240 1,112 1869 7,058 18,983 8,146 2,122 4,478 1,073 1,790 912 1870 14,502 12,399 10,177 3,724 5,181 2,296 nil 3,750 1871 15,246 15,485 12,926 7,214 6,091 4,384 533 6,118 2610 * Oswald opened a purpose-built iron shipyard; he was a nephew of James Laing and had started his career in wood shipbuilding; Illiff’s was a purpose-built iron shipyard; all other shipyards were converted from wood to iron shipbuilding. Adapted from Clarke, 1986, p. 69 Pollard and Robertson, 1979) and shipbuilding: in Sunderland, ton- by the 1850s claimed to be the nage output of iron shipbuilding greatest shipbuilding town in the did not overtake that of wood until world (Smith and Holden, 1953). 1868, significantly later than the However, this claim was based on national changeover date of 1862 the town’s wood shipbuilding in- (Clarke, 1986). Moreover, within dustry. In the 1850s Sunderland Sunderland itself there was consid- had between sixty to seventy ship- erable time variation between firms yards; the shipyards were generally in the adoption of iron shipbuilding very small-scale, each employing (Table 1). about 30 men, industry entry and The current research analyses exit costs were minimal, land the roles of personality, business prices were low and labour forces environment and accounting infor- flexible (McLean, 1995). At a com- mation in order to explain this petitive advantage in terms of variation, focusing on two particu- wood shipbuilding, Sunderland lar firms, Laing and Doxford, these lagged behind the national average firms being selected for research on in the rate of changeover to iron (Continued on page 4) The Accounting Historians Notebook, October 2006 3 Published by eGrove, 2006 3 Accounting Historians Notebook, Vol. 29 [2006], No. 2, Art. 1 (Continued from page 3) given that metal‑workers were paid the basis of the availability of ar- on piece‑work while wood-work- chive material (Note 1). The re- ers were paid on time‑rates. These mainder of this paper is organised cost advantages made iron rather into five sections: first, wood and than wood ships increasingly at- iron shipbuilding are compared; tractive to shipowners and iron second, an analysis is made of the shipyards were developed to meet development of the Laing and Dox- the changing demand (Clarke, ford shipyards; third, there is a con- 1966, 1981, 1986, 1988). The ap- sideration of the role of accounting plication of new materials and information for decision‑making in technology changed much in the shipbuilding; fourth, there is a dis- shipbuilding industry; whereas cussion of the material presented in shipwrights and other wood- the paper; and, fifth, conclusions workers had naturally dominated are drawn. the wood shipbuilding industry, Wood and iron ships compared “overwhelmingly, in Britain, the men who built the first iron ships Between c.1850 – c.1875, wood were from a mechanical engineer- ships could generally match iron ing background” (Clarke, 1986, ships in terms of size, quality, p.47). However, in Sunderland vir- speed and technical specification. tually all of the men who set up the However “in Britain by the end of new iron shipbuilding yards during the 1850s it is probable that iron the current research period were ships could generally be built more from a background in wood ship- cheaply than wooden vessels” building (Table 1). The develop- (Clarke, 1986, p.47), mainly be- ment of the Laing and Doxford cause British iron was a cheaper shipyards, the subjects of the cur- raw material than imported wood. rent research, are examined in more In 1861, the Sunderland Herald detail in the next section. noted that “iron vessels, with a full East India outfit, can be purchased The Laing and Doxford at prices varying from £15 to shipyards £l5.15s.0d per ton; while a wooden In 1792, Philip Laing abandoned vessel of the same class could not the profession of medicine to be- at present be laid down in any of come a partner in his brother’s the (Sunderland) yards .

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