On the river where they used to build the boats…
Aside football, a huge interest I have is in history. A story I came across in a book I was reading about the Second World War was that of a chap called Robert Cyril Thompson. The Thompsons name may ring a bell for few people and probably for many of the older generations as the Thompson name was synonymous with shipbuilding in Sunderland. Born in 1907, Cyril was educated Cambridge and served an apprenticeship at the Lang shipyard before moving into the family business.
By the 1930s he was the joint managing director of Thompson and Sons. During the economic downturn of 20s and 30s the company worked on a prototype ship which was cheap to build and cheap to run. Following the success of a prototype ship another 7 ships soon followed and then an 8th which a superior version to its predecessors which was launched in 1939. The work of Cyril and the company hadn’t gone unnoticed and the need for efficient and cheap merchant ships was a necessity in the war effort. German U-boats were doing their very best to interrupt the supply of arms and goods coming from North America.
It’s been estimated that approximately 3,500 Allied merchant ships were sank in the Atlantic during the war along with over 14 million tons of cargo. While the battle of the Atlantic died down as the war progressed, its the equivalent to losing nearly 600 merchant ships a year. In comparison, in 2024 it was reported that 27 cargo ships sank or were deemed a total loss. While a lot has improved in terms of ship safety and there isn’t much world war on these days, it just demonstrates the need and necessity for easily replaceable ships. The reality was the British shipbuilding industry couldn’t keep up with that kind of demand on top of the Royal Navy demands as well.
A solution was needed to fill the gap in supply and it was found in the United States of America. While the USA hadn’t officially entered the war in 1940 (and wouldn’t for a further 2 years) they were providing arms, supplies and goods on what was called the Lend-Lease Act. I won’t bore you with the details but for context it’s a similar concept to what has happened with the war in Ukraine. We will supply you now, you can pay us later. For an even more simplified explanation, it’s Klarna for War times. This situation allowed America to stay directly out of the war while also making sure war didn’t reach their shores.
While supplies and goods were very useful, they needed a way to transport them. Word of these economically superior ships built on the Wear reached the highest offices and Cyril Thompson was invited to London to meet with the Admiralty. He was persuaded to head to America and to ask for merchant ships to built to his designs. A small group of engineers headed to the states to help support in the designs and build of these ships. There was a small problem however, ships were also needed by the Soviet Union, China and other nations. American Shipyards on the east coast were just not big enough or designed for this kind of operation. So Cyril also helped design and redesign layouts of shipyards all along the east coast of the USA. A variation of Cyril’s original design was built in Sunderland and sent over the Atlantic to act the template for the production of these new ships.
The first American built ship was launched in 1941 and by 1943 at least 18 Shipyards were building the ships originally designed and engineered in Sunderland. I suppose the moral of this article is to never underestimate or underplay our city’s impact on the world. Our city by the sea. There’s been rumblings over the last few years of bringing shipbuilding back to Sunderland and while it’s a lovely thought, the world has moved on and it just wouldn’t be possible or sustainable but when the world needed us, we stepped up.
Cyril had quite the wartime experience when I’ve read his story. He was on a ship which was torpedoed and he ended up floating for hours on a lifeboat waiting to be rescued. By 1943, Cyril was serving in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer and earned his way up to a Flight Sergeant and served in Italy. After the war he returned to the shipyards.
I remember first reading about Cyril Thompson in James Holland’s brilliant book ‘The War in the West’ which details an almost day by day account of the Second World War between 1939 and 1941 and about week or so later, The Lake Poets Shipyards song was on my Spotify while driving somewhere. I remember getting a little choked up hearing the lyrics and as I write this I can feel a little lump in the throat. It just makes you proud of the deep history in our roots. This city has always pulled together and managed the best of times and the worst of times and in the middle of all has been Sunderland AFC. While there has been no football connections in this article, I’d like to think it encapsulates what it means to be from Sunderland.
Cyril’s story is inspiring and isn’t known about enough in my humble opinion. I class myself as very very very amateur historian. I pick up bits and pieces of stories and see what I find. Cyril’s story was a hidden gem for me. I had to do some digging to find more information on him and I’m assuming it’s true, most of the information I’ve provided has 2 sources but that’s history I guess. I hoped this article has given you a bit of pride or restored some pride or just given you a little smile. Whether you are from Sunderland or support Sunderland, just know, you are one of the lucky ones.
