Malcomson's Neptune Shipyard

The founder of the Malcomson business empire was David Malcomson, who came to Clonmel as a boy in 1774, David was involved in cross channel trading in corn and cotton.

He married Mary Ffennel of Cahir Abbey and their sons Joseph, Joshua, John and William became involved in the family business. The Malcomsons were astute entrepreneurs and became aware of streamer developments.

In 1836 they founded the Waterford Steam Navigation Co. By February 1843 they opened a repair yard on the Park Road, known as the Neptune Iron Works for their growing fleet of ships. Joseph took charge of the Iron Works; his wide ranging shipping interests gave him first-hand knowledge of the technical revolution that was happening in iron ship building. 40 steamships were built in Neptune's yard between 1846 and 1882, several of them were large trans-atlantic ocean liners.

The Malcomsons were reputed to be the largest steam-owners in the world in the 1850s and 1860s. With in twelve years the Neptune Shipyard had a workforce of 300 men under the leadership of master shipbuilders John Horn.

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