Plain sailing
Yorkshire has a long history of shipbuilding and Whitby-based Parkol is a marine engineering firm carrying on this tradition. Phil Penfold reports. Pictures by James Hardisty.
Yorkshire has been at the heart of maritime history for thousands of years. Sailing – whether for short distances, or epic voyages – has always been at the core of the development of civilisation. Our ancestors quickly learned that they could travel far more quickly on the sea than they ever could through the dense woodland that covered much of the county, whether for fishing, trade, or even war. And, if the trees hindered getting speedily around on land, they were handy when it came to making boats. The Romans built several beacon points along our coastline – Filey’s was discovered quite by chance in the 19th century – and then the Vikings came over the horizon and found that they could not only beach their longboats on our sand and shingle, but actually navigate them up our wide rivers, and strike right at the heart of communities.
Over the centuries, Yorkshire has been at the heart of building boats in this country and the ingenuity and innovation that underpins it is still alive in Whitby today, where you can find one of the most successful shipyards in Britain.
In a competitive world, where nearly all the great UK shipbuilding institutions of the past have gone, Parkol Marine Engineering Ltd is thriving, and is, with around 80 permanent workers on its payroll, one of the biggest single employers in the area. Better yet, that workforce includes several apprentices, learning their trade in several fields that contribute to the production of some of the best boats around.
Parkol was formed in 1971 (starting out as a fiveman repair business), so this year will see them celebrating – though they’re not quite sure how they’ll mark the anniversary, as yet – their 50th year in business.
Parkol designs, builds and maintains all sorts of vessels, and works with different materials from steel to traditional wood. Sally Atkinson, Parkol’s project manager and daughter of the firm’s managing director Jim Morrison, believes the business has thrived for a number of key reasons. “The way that you survive these days in a highly competitive market, is by blending three things. The first is tradition, the second is innovation, and the third is diversity,” she says.
Parkol started small, doing welding jobs and repairs on traditional cobles. It was basically a boat repair company, set up by Ken Parker and the late John Oliver – hence the company. It was initially based at Spital Bridge, but home these days is at Whitby’s Eskdale Wharf.
In 2017, they expanded to have a second yard, in Middlesbrough, due to demand for their services.
The first new boat built was the Jacqueline Anne, which slid gracefully into the waters in
1997. She has been followed by many others since. “We’re now capable of building steel or aluminium hulls that are up to 50 feet long, and that’s quite a sizeable boat,” says Atkinson.
There have been – to date – 45 ‘new builds’ in all. “We build just about everything you can think of, from trawlers to pilot vessels and pleasure craft.
Our MD tells everyone ‘We never stand still’, and he’s absolutely spot on.”