Ferdinand Schichau (Danzig)

The shipyards of this firm - works established by Ferdinand Schichau in the year 1837 in Elbing, and those established by him in 1891 at Danzig - take rank among the foremost establishments in Germany which are engaged in the construction of warships. This is the unique and largest shipbuilding yard in Germany which was not a limited company, but remained in private hands. The Schichau works were founded in 1837 by Ferdinand Schichau at Elbing, and was later owned by his son-in-law, Geheimrath Zeiss. Ferdinand Schichau was a man whose abilities may not unjustly be compared with those of Alfred Krupp, founder of the works of that name.

Ferdinand Schichau (1814-1896), German engineer and shipbuilder, was born at Elbing, where his father was a smith and ironworker, on the 3O January 1814. He studied engineering at Berlin and then in England, and returning to Elbing in 1837 started works of his own, which from small beginnings eventually developed into an establishment employing some 8,000 men. He began by making steam engines, hydraulic presses and industrial machinery, and, by concerning himself with canal work and river or coast improvement, came to the designing and construction of dredgers, in which he was the pioneer (1841). Henceforward the works developed more and more in the direction of shipbuilding, and began with building dredges, which were later one of the specialities of the firm.