The Wigham Richardson shipbuilding company was named after its founder, John Wigham Richardson (1837-1908), the son of Edward Richardson, a tanner from Newcastle upon Tyne, and Jane Wigham from Edinburgh. History The Company was set up with less than £5,000, given to Richardson by his father in 1860. This was enough for him to found the Neptune Shipyard at Wallsend. Its first ship, a paddle steamer called Victoria, was launched on the River Tyne that summer. She was commissioned to carry passengers, carts and livestock between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, and is thought to have cost around £700. At least part of Wigham Richardson's success in the latter part of the 19th century was through the surge in demand for passenger ships, taking emigrants to the New World. In 1903, Wigham Richardson merged with Swan and Hunter specifically to bid for the prestigious contract to build the . Their bid was successful, and she went on to capture the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic - a record she held for two decades. Even today, she is the largest liner ever built on the Tyne. The company flourished, and between 1906 and 1912, no other company in the world could match it in terms of the tonnage of shipping produced. In 1907, for example, 15% of the world's shipping, in tonnage terms, was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson. Wigham Richardson's ships Ships built by Wigham Richardson's Neptune Yard, prior to the merger with Swan Hunter included: Potosi - POTOSI (2) was built in 1900 by Wigham Richardson & Co. at Newcastle with a tonnage of 5300grt, a length of 400 ft 6in, a beam of 50 ft and a service speed of 13 knots. Although built for the Valparaiso service, due to lack of trade, she was sold immediately on completion to the Russian Volunteer Fleet and renamed Kazan. In 1904 she was captured by the Japanese Navy Department and renamed Kasato Maru.It sailed to Brazil, bringing immigrants to the booming coffee plantations, She was acquired by Osaka Shosen K. K. in 1918 who retained her name but later amended it to Kasado Maru.She was converted to a freighter in WW2. In August 1945 she was bombed by the Russians in the Bering Sea. Bathori - A single screw steam schooner, long, built in 1892 for Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Co. She flew