Andrée was an engineer originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, and lived for a few years in USA before moving to Turku 1898.

First he had worked for Turun Rauta-teollisuus Oy until 1905 and then he started selling boat engines in department store Wiklund.

The boat hulls were purchased from other boatbuilders, such as Turun Veneveistämö, and they were equipped with American Fay & Bowen engines.

The business developed rapidly, and already in 1907 the men bought a lot for larger premises in Aura riverside close to Korppolaismäki.

The risk proved profitable; During the first two operating years the company produced 120 boats and sold 367 engines of different makes.

Andrée and Rosenqvist started producing own engines, which they had been planning for a long time before.

[1] After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 the Imperial Russian Navy needed urgently steam and combustion engine propelled cutters.

The largest order of the Russian Navy, 24 motor cutters of 18 metres long, came most likely in early 1916.

In 1918 the government of the newly independent Finland took possession of the Russian navy vessels, including 70 cutters of various sizes, of which 20 were handed over to Soviet Russia after according to Tartu peace treaty.

This led to excessive smuggling of alcohol from Estonia, Sweden, Poland and other countries, and therefore to a growing need of fast and high-quality boats, such as Andrée & Rosenqvist produced.

Famous smugglers' names, such as Algoth Niska, are marked on the order books, but also the Finnish Customs bought several speedboats respectively.

[1] The company received significant orders from Soviet Union for Andros T engines in years 1925 and 1927.

The engines were not only for marine use but they were used as power source for several other applications, such as pumps, compressors, generators, locomotives and motor ferries.

The main owners and Wärtsilä reached an agreement and Andros was sold on 1 September 1939, the same day that the Second World War broke out.

Wärtsilä Crichton-Vulcan continued the production with parts made in stock until the last engine, serial number 4 409, was produced in 1958.

[1] Andros was later nearly forgotten, until Swedish Hans Værnéus and his son Anders started to investigate the history of an Andrée & Rosenqvist made boat that had been in the family for decades.

In 1987 the investigation lead to Wärtsilä Turku shipyard files where they found the Andros archive that had been thought to be destroyed in fire in 1939.