TYNE TUGS AND TUG BUILDERS
A history of Tyne Tugs, their builders and owners

Home

Builders

Engineers

Owners

Tugs

About

Select

Shipbuilder

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

XYZ

Above: Select the required shipyard by using the initial letter of the Surname eg: Eltringham, Hepple or Rennoldson.
KEY BELOW: D / H / P (D = basic dimensions are shown; H = a history is given; P = one or more photographs are available)

Shipbuilder: James Dunn Burdis, North Shields (1860 - 1870)

James D Burdis took over the Low Lights boatbuilding yard and slipway from James Dowey in June 1859.

     Shields Daily Gazette, Saturday, 25/06/1859

My thanks to Kelvin Wilson who has identified the location of the Burdis yard and also provided the following map from the 1860s. Kelvin says "If you look at the 1860s map of the Shields quayside below, the large building just above the word ‘Slip’ is the Low Lights — all of the terrain to the west of it, was a shipbuilder’s yard. That it was owned by Mr Burdis, I know because in researching the socalled ‘dead house’ (a makeshift mortuary for drowned people) that was there from at least 1855 into the 1870s, it is in 1864 referred to being ‘in the shipbuilding yard of Mr Burdis’."

     Above map courtesy of Kelvin Wilson


The following tugs were built by James Dunn Burdis at North Shields:

Yd No Year Ship Name D / H / P
1860 Daisy D / H
1860 Tynemouth D / H
1860 William Hall D / H
1862 Spray D / H
1862 Warrior D / H
1863 Teazer D / H / P
1864 Flying Spray D / H
1864 Jonathan Blacklock D / H / P
1864 Terrier D / H
1864 Terrier
1865 Bulldog D / H
1865 Cupid D / H / P
1865 Gem D / H
1865 Perthshire D / H
1866 Isle of Ely D / H
1866 Teazer D / H / P
1867 Protector D / H
1867 Sliedrecht D / H
1868 Forster Brothers D / H
1868 Sea Belle D / H
1869 Protector D / H
1870 Lightning D / H
----- -------------------- ----------