Author Description

The Biggest Shipbuilding Town in the World was the proud boast of Sunderland for more than a century. Over the past 100 years ships and engines built on the River Wear have steamed into every major port on earth and earned Wearside a prominent place in maritime history. At its busiest in mid century, the river's many yards built and fitted out ships as though they were working on a conveyor belt. In addition they trained generations of workers in the highly skilled trades that make up the shipbuilding industry. Today, almost all of that has disappeared. The two key industries, shipbuilding and coal-mining were run down with indecent haste, but not without a fight. Few communities have lost so much in so short a time as Wearside. It is therefore fitting, that in this book, we look back at how we used to be.