by fitter » Mon May 20, 2019 8:32 pm
posted this in North East Engine Marine builders which should have been North East Marine Engine Builders and I would be pleased if you could correct it!
Whilst this isn't directly to do with the North East, it is a result of Doxfords design. Henry Ford , (Ford Motor CO, had two great Lakes bulk carriers built in the very early 1920s by Sun Shipbuilding and D.D. Pennsylvania, (Henry Ford 2 and Benson Ford, named after his grandsons). Sun were one of the first Doxford licencees, if not the first. He was so pleased with them that he had a twin bank Doxford built for a 1914 Pusey and Jones built, steam turbine yacht, Sialia. It was the only one ever built and epitomised Ford's progressive approach to everything. It was a twin bank, four cylinder, which I think should just be called an eight cylinder, with aluminium frames, driving two propellers. He had the yacht lengthened by 21 ft, but the design never lived up to its expectations and he reverted to vacations on the Lakes in one or other of the bulk carriers. When on board he had the Sialia pennant raised. The Sialia was commissioned twice by the American navy before being sold. One of the bulkers had its fore end accommodation removed and made into a lakeside home and is still there today.
I have a couple of photos of the all aluminium twin bank Doxford that Henry Ford specified for his Yacht conversion.