The story
John Scott founded the company in 1711. He built herring busses and small craft. He was succeeded by his son William Scott (1722–1769) and another son. In 1765 they built their first square-rigged vessel. William's son John (1752–1837) expanded the shipyard to a major shipbuilding company.
The Scott family took over the Greenock Foundry in 1790. In 1791, Scott & Co. built Brunswick, of 624-ton (bm), for the Newfoundland trade. She and Caledonia, built in 1794, were the largest ships built in Scotland in their years. They marked the beginning of increased activity by Scott & Co., particularly with respect to large, ocean-going ships.
C. G. Scott started building at Cartsdyke Dockyard in 1850, as Scott & Company.
John Scott (II) and Robert Scott bought the adjacent yard of Robert Steele & Company in 1883, to create the Cartsburn Dockyard, which was laid out for naval shipbuilding. By 1900, John Swire & Company were major shareholders and Henry Scott was a director of Swire Scotts. In 1900–1901, he specified and oversaw construction of Swire's Taikoo Dockyard in Hong Kong.
In 1925, Scotts took over Ross & Marshall's Cartsdyke Mid Yard. In 1934, they exchanged their Cartsdyke East yard for Cartsdyke Mid yard with Greenock Dockyard Ltd. In June 1965, the Company took over Scott's & Sons (Bowling) Ltd, and in December 1965, Scott's merged with the Greenock Dockyard Company and the Cartsburn and Cartsdyke Dockyards were fully integrated in 1966. In 1967, the Company merged with Lithgows to form Scott Lithgow Ltd, operating as Scotts Shipbuilding Co (1969) Ltd. Scott Lithgow Ltd was absorbed into the nationalised British Shipbuilders in 1977.
Cartsdyke Shipyard was closed in 1979 and Cartsburn in 1984. In 1983, the Scott Lithgow company and yards were sold to Trafalgar House. No further shipbuilding was undertaken and the 270-year-old Scott shipbuilding company finally ceased trading in 1993. Between 1988 and 1997, the Cartsburn and Cartsdyke shipyards were gradually demolished and redeveloped as insurance offices, computer warehouses and fast food restaurants.
In 2011, Greenock's McLean Museum and Art Gallery celebrated the tercentenary of Scotts' foundation.
From Wikipedia’s article on Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4