Continuing Whitby’s maritime heritage – The Yorkshire Post says

No visitor to Whitby – and there are plenty – goes away without learning a little of the seafaring heritage that has kept the local economy afloat since the days of James Cook. And while boat building as an industry is obviously not what it was, the fact that one of the most successful shipyards in Britain is still based there is a cause for much celebration.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jan 2021, 06:00 BST
Jim Morrison with his son James at Parkol Marine Engineering. (James Hardisty).Jim Morrison with his son James at Parkol Marine Engineering. (James Hardisty).
Jim Morrison with his son James at Parkol Marine Engineering. (James Hardisty).

Parkol Marine Engineering celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, having begun as a five-man repair business. Today, occupying a centuries-old yard on the Esk, it has around 80 permanent staff and is one of the biggest single employers in the area. Among its craftspeople are apprentices who will carry their skills to yet another generation – just as Captain Cook did after learning his trade in the ship owners’ house on Grape Lane that is now a museum in his name.

The latest boat down the Parkol slipway was the 190-tonne trawler Reliance III, and company’s order book is bulging. Long may it continue to be so.

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