Among the older Swiss marine engineers, the mere mention of the Doxford engine brings a wryly grin often commented on as "just an English engine". One should not forget that a Swiss engineer was at the forefront in the development of the opposed-piston engine.

The company was founded by William Doxford in 1860 as a shipyard in Pallion, Sunderland on the River Wear in North East England. Initially wooden sailing ships were built, and in later years, with the evolution of shipbuilding naval vessels were constructed together with steam engines and boilers from 1878.

In 1882 after the death of William Doxford his four sons William Theodore, Alfred, Robert and Charles Doxford continued to run the business. On January 1, 1891, the company was converted into a stock corporation and was named William Doxford and Sons Ltd. Iron Shipbuilders and  Marine Engineers. By the First World War, the shipyard had become well known with its so-called turret deck ships and self-discharging systems.

The TURRET CHIEF an example of a turret decker
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turret_deck_ship)

The Swiss mechanical engineer Karl Otto Keller from Zurich (1877 - 1942) emigrated to Great Britain in 1903 and worked for Doxford from 1905. It is not known whether, it was due to the arrival of Keller, that the company in 1906 considered the future construction of diesel engines. After a three year period the Doxford discontinued this diesel engine project and Karl Otto Keller left the company. Karl Otto Keller returned to Doxford in 1911 being hired as Chief Engineer, a position he held until his death in 1942. His long-time assistant William Purdie (1888 - 1971) became his successor and in 1944 general manager of the company.

The pre-World War 1 period saw the experimentation of diesel engine concepts but the onslaught of the war delayed any further development and it was only in 1921 the breakthrough came. This occurred when the large freighter YNGAREN (9300 dwt) was delivered to a Swedish shipping company. The YNGAREN was the first single-screw motor ship in the world and was powered by a 4-cylinder Doxford opposed-piston diesel engine. This crosshead machine still had an open crankcase, similar to a steam engine. During the Keller era, diesel engines with a total output of approximately 2,000,000 HP were manufactured. In the 1930s, the yard also pioneered in welded hulls, an idea that most likely contributed to the construction of the Liberty Ships in the United States a few years later.

YNGAREN from the shipping company A/B Transatlantic Göteborg in Sydney Australia
Source: Trove Australia National Library via Gordy

Diese Kreuzkopfmaschine hatte noch einen offenen Kurbeltrieb, ähnlich einer Dampfmaschine. Während der Ära von Keller wurden Dieselmotoren mit einer Gesamtleistung von ungefähr 2'000'000 PS hergestellt. In den dreissiger Jahren leistete die Werft auch Pionierarbeit mit geschweissten Schiffsrümpfen, eine Idee die in den USA einige Jahre später höchst wahrscheinlich zum Bau der Liberty Frachter beigetragen hat.

The general arrangement of a Doxford engine, with the scavenge air ducts marked in blue and the exhaust gas trunks in red
(Source: A.D. van Eijk / N.V. Wilton-Fijenoord / Wm. Doxford & Sons, Sunderland)

After the Second World War until 1966, the shipyard built 123 ships. After the successful LB-Doxford engine of the forties and fifties, the Doxford P-type engine followed. A medium-speed engine, the Seahorse, with the same working principle was developed from 1970 to 1975. Apart from a test machine, however, no Seahorse was built and sold. However, the Seahorse engine was in some ways the basis for the last model, the Doxford J-type engine, which was built in configurations up to 9 cylinders. The last engine was delivered in 1980 and installed in the bulk carrier CANADIAN PIONEER.

CANADIAN PIONEER from the Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Source: © Unknown / © SwissShips-archive

The Doxford family had sold the company in 1919 and a varied history began with several takeovers. In the 1980s, overcapacity in shipbuilding in the EU countries was severely reduced and Doxford was one of the victims. The company was finally closed in 1988. The Doxford-Park shopping centre now stands on the former shipyard area, see also: http://www.doxford-engine.org.uk/

In the Netherlands a total of 26 Doxford engines were built under licence. 24 were built by the shipyard N.V. Wilton-Fijenoord in Rotterdam and 2 by the shipyard NDSM (Nederlandse Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij) in Amsterdam for their newbuilding vessels. The picture shows the testbed of WF in Rotterdam-Schiedam. Also in the United States Doxford engines were built under licence
(Source: A.D. van Eijk / N.V. Wilton-Fijenoord)

The following 3 Swiss flagged vessels were propelled by Doxford opposed-piston engines:

The ANUNCIADA had an original main engine built by WM Doxford and Sons, Pallion, Sunderland and the other two ships had main engines built under license. The engines of these three ships above probably had different cylinder diameters, which would explain the large differences in performance, unfortunately we do not have this information.

Finally, it must be mentioned that Sulzer Brothers, Winterthur also built such diesel engines, but only models of very low power, e.g. SAENTIS had an emergency diesel generator, type ZG, with an output of 32 HP.

Sources:

• A.D. van Eijk
• http://www.doxford-engine.org.uk/

SwissShips HPS in July 2020