Lists' Shipyard

From The Muniment Room, a resource for social history, family history, and local history.

Plan from Lease of shipbuilder's yard at Fish House to James and Daniel List, 1813

The shipyard used timber grown on the Fleming Estate. For instance, in 1835 Daniel List purchased 549 ft of Elm from Quarr Wood. Source: Account of Oak, Ash, and Elm Timber sold in 1835

In 1809, the brothers James List (1774-1825) and Daniel List (1781-1868) took a lease from the Fleming Estate of the shipbuilding and timber yards at Fish House^[2]. Previously, this yard had produced a number of small-scale vessels.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Lists’ yard built seven ships for the Navy, including the frigate HMS Magicienne in 1812. The yard might have employed up to 100 people, with shipwrights, as well as sawyers, carpenters, and metalworkers. Some of the timber for the ships came from the plantations on the Fleming Estate.

In 1813, Daniel and James List took a new lease from the Fleming Estate^[3]. After the post-war slump, the Lists' business continued to thrive, and between 1814 and 1852, some 31 ships were constructed at Fish House. The brothers also acted as coal merchants. They leased Fishbourne Farm and Gawn's, and rented Grey's farm.

In 1824, Daniel List built the yacht Falcon for Lord Yarborough^[4].

James List died in 1825, in an accident at the yard. By 1828, Daniel List was in partnership with his brother’s son-in-law, James Brain^[5]. In 1837, Brain and List took a new lease on property at Fish House^[6].

In 1843, the yard completed the Syren for John Barton Willis Fleming, a 160 ton schooner that was made entirely of timber cut on the Fleming Estate.

Daniel List retired around 1850, after which the yard closed. He died in 1868.