Sparrows Nest, Whapload Road, Lowestoft, NR32 1XG  Tel 01502 561963 

Update Jan 2012

 

 

 

To find us click this link to Google Maps, then enter NR32 1XG

 

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Michael Page's aerial picture of the 'Brooke Peninsular' in Lake Lothing at Lowestoft sets the scene for one of the town's great maritime enterprises, that of Brooke Marine Ltd. The story began when John Walter Brooke, a young master founder from Yorkshire, purchased a small iron and brass foundry at Lowestoft in 1874. Hard work brought prosperity with a move into engineering and the design of successful petrol engines for boats, some 7,000 were built between 1902 and 1938 including the well known four cylinder Brooke 'Empire'. We have an example at the Museum. 

In 1940 Harry L Dowsett acquired the company and changed the name to Brooke Marine Ltd., and from 1939 until 1945 the company was under Requisition to the Admiralty.   This was a period of intense activity with one craft built and commissioned for every week of hostilities including launches, MGBs,  MTBs and Landing Craft for the Royal Navy and Coastal Command. It became the main base for Coastal Forces between the Thames and the Humber, in which role it carried out over 2,500 repair contracts. In addition to this, with other companies in the Group, 1,500 pre-fabricated vessels were manufactured for the war in Burma.

Brooke Marine's shipyard on the south side of Lake Lothing, shown above, was built in 1954 to cope with steadily increasing demand.  This new yard could accommodate vessels  of up to 5,000 tons or 420 ft in length overall and in 1967-1968 its facilities were again extended to meet the demands of developing technology. Prefabrication methods were used whenever possible, together with mechanised handling and it was possible to find ten vessels under construction simultaneously.

One of the first contracts was a £7,000,000 order for twenty trawlers of very advanced design. It was the first contract of any size between the USSR and the UK after WW2 and the first time that Russian ships had been built abroad following the 1917 October Revolution. The MT Pioner, Ship No 241 pictured below and built in 1956, was the first completed from this order. They were fitted with a Pye Marine Fishfinder, also designed and built at Lowestoft. 

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