Robert Steele & Company was a shipbuilder based in Greenock, Scotland, formed in 1815 by Robert Steele (1745-1830) and two sons. It followed dissolution of an earlier shipbuilding partnership between Robert Steele and John Carswell, known as "Steele and Carswell."[1]
The first vessel the company built was the three-masted barque Rebecca.[1] The company was one of the shipbuilders credited with the development of the four-masted barque along with Alexander Stephen and Sons.[2]
The company built twenty China tea clippers, many of which won China Tea Races.[1]
The following are some of the Tea Clippers built by Robert Steele and company:
| Vessel Name | Material | Owners / Agents | Date Built | Period Owned | Net Tonnage | Length Overall (feet) | Breadth (feet) | Depth(feet) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ariel | Composite | Shaw, Lowther & Maxton | 1865 | 1865-1872 | 853 | 197.4 | 33.9 | 21 |
| Chinaman | Composite | 1865 | 668 | |||||
| Ellen Rodger | Wooden | Alexander Rodger &Co | 1858 | 1858-1866 | 585 | 155,8 | 29.4 | 19.5 |
| Falcon | Wooden | Phillips, Shaw & Lowther | 1859 | 1859-1900 | 794 | 191.4 | 32.2 | 20 |
| Guinevere | 1862 | 647 | ||||||
| Kaisow | Composite | Alexander Rodger | 1868 | 1868-1891 | 820 | 193.2 | 32 | 20.3 |
| Kate Carnie | Wooden | Alexander Rodger & C. Carnie | 1855 | 1855-1889 | 576 | 148.4 | 26 | 19 |
| King Arthur | Iron | 1862 | 699 | |||||
| Lahloo | Composite | Alexander Rodger &Co | 1867 | 1867- 1872 | 799 | 191.6 | 32.9 | 19.9 |
| Min | Wooden | Alexander Rodger &Co | 1861 | 1861-1891 | 629 | 174.5 | 29.8 | 19.3 |
| Serica | Composite | James Findlay | 1863 | 1863-1872 | 708 | 185.9 | 31.1 | 19.6 |
| Sir Lancelot | Composite | John McCunn | 1865 | 1865-1895 | 886 | 197.6 | 33.7 | 21 |
| Taeping | Composite | Alexander Rodger | 1863 | 1863-1871 | 767 | 183 | 31.1 | 19.9 |
| Titania | Composite | Shaw, Lowther, Maxton &Co | 1866 | 1866-1910 | 879 | 200 | 36 | 21 |
| Wylo | Composite | Killick Martin & Company | 1869 | 1869-1886 | 829 | 192.9 | 32.1 | 20.2 |
| Young Lochinvar | 724 |
From 1854 the company started building iron ships, such as Irish ferry, ss Mangerton, an 1855 Robert Steele steamship,[3] which struck wooden barque Josephine Willis in 1856
