The history of the shipyard goes back to year 1732, when Turku merchants Esaias Wechter and Henric Rungeen founded a repair yard on east bank of river Aura, next to Korppolaismäki.

At the beginning the company focused on repairing and maintaining vessels of the local shipowners, but it also ordered ships from Ostrobothnian shipbuilders.

[5] Foundation of shipbuilding in modern sense took place in 1737, when the owners of Wechter & Rungeen decided to start producing ships.

[5] The company hired from Nykarleby a skilled master shipbuilder, Scotsman Robert Fithie, who had worked before at Djurgården shipyard in Stockholm.

Shipbuilding was discontinued when the Russo-Swedish war broke out; the last vessel produced by Wechter & Rungeen fled from Turku loaded with refugees, escaping to Sweden the advancing Russian troops.

He bought a lot on the west bank of river Aura and built a shipbuilding cradle and a timber storage unit there.

The war which had broken out the previous summer led to Russian occupation of Finland, and although many escaped to Sweden, Fithie stayed in Turku.

[1][5] Eventually, just six units were built, because the Ostrobothnian shipbuilders resisted the project and escaped to Sweden – reportedly, taking Fithie with them.

[5] The war ended with the Treaty of Turku and Russian withdrawal in June 1743,[1] after which Fithie's yard focused on ship repairs.

[1] The very first shipbuilders' strike in Turku took place in 1743; the yard workers complained about low wages and that they were only employed during open water time.

[1][2][5] At first Carl Gustaf Fithie had to struggle with a poor economic situation and compete with Henrik Hasselius, who had started shipbuilding in 1755 and moved in Turku in 1774,[2] to the same place on the east bank where Wechter & Rungeen had operated before.

[1] Despite the increased competition, Carl Fithie had a fairly good order backlog in the early 1770s, and the demand grew during the American War of Independence 1775–1783;[2][5] shipping was then more profitable than it had ever been before in the 18th century.

[2] Carl Fithie perished in 1782 after which his widow sold the company to a consortium formed by Turku merchants and shipowners.

[2] Bremer gave up with shipbuilding in 1794 after buying Teijo Iron Mill; in the same year the Old Shipyard was bought by Erik.

[1] In year 1800 captain Gustaf Adolf Dammert bought the company and sold it on to a consortium[4] of local businessmen, who operated the yard under name Åbo Gamla Skeppswarf, "Turku Old Shipyard".

[4] The demand of vessels was sluggish in the early 19th century; the Finnish War and the subsequent Russian annexation of Finland did not affect the yard.

[1] The hull measurements of Furst Menschikoff differed considerably from those of the contemporary sailing ships; the ratio between the length and width was normally about three and half, but now it was about six.

[1][5] After the death of the master shipbuilder Kjeldman the company wanted to find a replacement for him, who would be up to date about the newest technology.

It would have been challenging to find in Finland a person who is skilled enough, so the company hired Danish shipbuilder Carl Johan Fredrik Jørgensen, who had been educated at the military shipyard in Copenhagen.

[5] In 1850 Furst Menschikoff II was finished, becoming the first ship to be powered by Turku-produced steam engine, made by Cowie & Eriksson.

It was equipped with a Bergsund Engineering Works produced steam powered winch[1] which used a nearly 80-metre long platform lying on 194 wheels.

The wooden structure withstood well the waves and other stress which came outside, but the continuous motion of steam engine loosened the seams and by time weakened the construction so much that the ship had to be decommissioned already after about ten years' service.