By 2008, local historian Brian Masterman had completed his manuscript for a book recording the history of shipbuilding in the port town of Goole, Yorkshire. It was to be called simply Goole Shipbuilding. Rather than publishing his book as a whole, an alternative option was to have Goole Shipbuilding appear in the annual journal of the East Yorkshire Local History Society, East Yorkshire Historian. It was to be published in four parts across four journals. This, the fourth and final part by Brian, appeared in Volume 12 published in 2011. 

After the depression years which had seen Goole’s shipyards and their workers struggling through a shortage of orders to keep them busy, this part of Brian’s narrative begins in 1937 with more positive news. The launch of a motor coaster, a type of vessel already built by Goole Shipbuilding and Repairing Company in small numbers, marked a milestone as she was for a local owner and was the first to be also registered in Goole. The impressive Bluebird, a motor yacht for the famous Sir Malcolm Campbell, was launched in 1938. During the wartime years shipyards throughout the country were kept busy and Goole’s were no exception. This bonanza of orders continued for some years after the war but it was not to last. Goole would see nationalisation and changes of ownership before the last ever vessel was launched in October 1987 ending Goole’s 161 years of shipbuilding industry.

Masterman, Brian. (2011) Goole Shipbuilding Part IV. The East Yorkshire Historian. Vol 12. Pages 27 – 55.