The company started building wooden barges miles from the sea and evolved to pioneer fully welded steel ships of a single design.

Before 1858, Richard Dunston owned a boatyard at Torksey on the Foss Dyke, but in that year he sold the yard, and established a new one at Thorne, on the north bank of the Stainforth and Keadby Canal.

This developed into a profitable sideline, supplying ropes to many local industries, and other items to chandlers based at Hull and Grimsby.

While repairs to existing hulls were a major part of the output of the yard, vessels capable of carrying up to 80 tons were built, for use on the Humber and its connecting navigations.

By the end of the nineteenth century, boat sizes had standardised somewhat, with most craft being either Sheffield-sized keels with square rigging, or larger Humber sloops.

During the Second World War they designed the all-welded steel TID class tug, and built 159 of them, 152 at Thorne and seven at Hessle,[9] with one completed ship leaving the shipyard at six-day intervals.

[7] Following this, the yard built a variety of vessels, including four Clyde car ferries, a low air draft dry cargo ship, gas tankers and naval tugs.

The brief that they issued was "to design, organise and start work immediately, towards achieving, in the shortest possible time, delivery of one tug per week using within the process, little or no shipyard labour."

Dunston's were awarded the initial contract, because they had pioneered the use of electric arc welding of hulls, a process which was much quicker and less labour-intensive than using rivetting.

When a complete set us sections was available, they were moved to the construction area, and placed on carefully placed keel blocks, which remained in position for the duration of the project.

[18] It proved easy to produce a hull in seven days, and Dunston's created a second construction berth, allowing two ships per week to be launched.

In order to test its operation, a voyage back to Thorne was made, from where it towed the next hull to Hessle before final delivery.

After testing of a model in a tank, minor changes to the shape of the bow were made, and an aerofoil-shaped fin was added to the stern, similar to that used on the tugs.

[23] The design included a double-skinned hull, to reduce the risk of leakage of petroleum spirit, as they were intended to land on flat beaches.

They completed 12, and although their original order was for 24, the success of the D–day operation and the laying of pipelines to carry fuel from England to France, known as PLUTO, resulted in there being less need for tankers.

The tankers were fitted with 220/270 hp oil engines, enabling them to travel at 7.5 knots, which was considered adequate for short journeys across the English Channel to French beaches.

Slightly larger 300 hp engines were fitted in the dry cargo coasters, giving them a cruising speed of 8 knots.