E0117 The Dry Dock, Sandquay, 1938/1939

This photograph shows the George Philip & Son Shipyard at Sandquay with the floating dry dock in the foreground. Philip & Son had two major yards, one on each side of the Dart, and were the major employer in Dartmouth, then an industrial heavyweight town.

You can orient yourself in this picture today. To the left (South) of the shipyard is the newly reclaimed and grassed Coronation Park, created under the Dartmouth Corporation Act 1982 for public recreation, and owned in turn by the predecessor organisations to South Hams District Council. The Floating Bridge, the pub, abuts the river and the slipway for the Higher Ferry. The upper right hand quarter of the picture shows the extensive parkland grounds of the Britannia Royal Naval College. College Way has not yet been constructed. That was built in the late 1960s.

Philip & Son had a substantial business relationship with Trinity House for the building and refurbishment of Lightvessels. In latter times it maintained deep sea trawlers, but the shipbuilding and ship repair business ceased and it is, in 2012, a major yacht marina, with hotel and housing developments planned. The last vessel built there was British Steel, launched on 19 August 1970 for Chay Blythe's reverse solo circumnavigation in 1970/71.

Philip & Son no longer exists at all on the Dartmouth side of the river. Today it is a marina development of a hotel, homes and a set of marina pontoon berths.

This picture is part of the picture archive of Dartmouth Museum and is represented in restricted quality and size. The full picture can be viewed when you visit the Museum. The code in the heading is the catalogue code in our archives. Many of the pictures in the Dartmouth Museum Archives are available for purchase.

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