William Fairbairn & Sons
William Fairbairn and Sons, was an engineering works in Manchester, England. History William Fairbairn opened an iron foundry in 1816 and was joined the following year by a Mr. Lillie, and the firm became known as Fairbairn and Lillie Engine Makers, producing iron steamboats. Their foundry and millwrighting factory burned down on 6 August 1831 with damage estimated at £8,000. The business survived this event. Shipbuilding In 1830, they built the iron paddle-steamer Lord Dundas, for use on the Forth and Clyde Canal. She proved so successful that the firm built eight more of a larger size within the next two or three years for Scottish canals, two passenger-boats with 40 horsepower engines for the Humber and two for the lakes of Zurich and Walenstadt in Switzerland, which, after being tried, were sent out dismantled. In 1831, they built the Manchester, in 1832, La Reine des Beiges, with engines of 24 horsepower, which went from Liverpool to Ostend. In 1834, they built the , with 40 horsepower. Minerva was sent in pieces to Hull where she was assembled. She then made the voyage to Rotterdam in 33 hours, and steamed up to the Rhine Falls, where she was again dismantled