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Of all the trades involved in the eighteenth century, the Shipwright was supreme. Originally the term covered a wider range of work, including mastmaking and boatbuilding, but by the 1750s these had become sufficiently specialised to be considered separate, highly skilled trades.

The Shipwright proper was responsible for work on the hull and his skills could only be acquired by a long apprenticeship, seven years being the time laid down by the Company of Shipwrights. An apprentice - known as a quarterboy - was indentured to the master Shipwright in a yard, and was put to work with an older, more experienced man, thus at the same time giving him a hand with the heavier jobs. He was prevented from leaving the yard until his time was served he had proved himself competent. He then had the right to call himself a Shipwright capable of commanding a daily wage. Only then could he freely offer his skills elsewhere.

Woolwich had one notable shipwright's apprentice between 1771 and 1778, when Samuel Bentham, brother of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, was indentured to the master Shipwright there. Bentham went on to become an important naval architect. As adviser to the Russian Navy, he developed a type of explosive shell, but as a naval architect he is possible best Known for the Arrow class of sloop used by the British Navy in the French and Napoleonic wars.

By the eighteenth century the design aspects of shipbuilding had been taken over by naval architects. This situation was engendered as much by the size and complexity of the ships as by advances in design techniques, which had remained fairly static since the sixteenth century. However, by this time it had been recognised that the design of any ship of notable performance was a matter of applying scientific principles; the basis of naval architecture as a scientific skill, calling for mathematical knowledge and study of hull shapes and rigs as well as an intimate understanding of the mechanics involved in building a strong hull, had been established.

However, English Shipwrights of the eighteenth century flourished, working for the most part in well ordered surroundings, particularly in the royal dockyard. They were regarded as a strategic body of men, of more importance to the nation than, say, the army or even the crews that manned the ships they so ably built. As early as the reign of Henry VIII, it had become apparent that the wealth and power of the nation lay in its ability to dominate the seas, and that a standing navy was infinitely more crucial than a standing army. Shipwrights already were high in the structure of sixteenth - century society, a position they were determined to maintain, especially in view of the increasing number of merchant ships required as overseas trade grew, particularly with the Far East and North America.

The Company of Shipwrights was instituted in the reign of James 1 and was to become an exceedingly influential body with the right to vie and approve draughts of ships to be built for the king. The Company had a master, two wardens and sixteen assistants. The first master in 1605 was Matthew Baker, followed by Phineas Pett, who was sworn in 1607. Meetings were held at the Kings Head in New Fish Street in the City of London. In 1612 a new charter was approved, incorporating the Shipwrights of England, with Phineas Pett as master. In April 638 it was also established by warrant from the Lard High Admiral that carpenters should not be appointed to ships until they had been examined and licensed at Shipwrights' Hall. By 1700 membership of the Company was 1780, rising to 3776 by 1800.

Among its many recommendations and rules, the Company of Shipwrights saw to it hat sick pay was given to members unable to work due to illness or injury. Sick pay was laid down as 2s 1d per day for a maximum period of six weeks. The Company even went so far in its enlightenment as to lay down superannuation payments for different classes of Shipwrights if they were incapacitated as a result of injury at work or if they had achieved uninterrupted service of thirty years. The sum varied from £20 to £24 per annum.

With the pattern of employment that existed in the eighteenth century, a journeyman Shipwright might work for a number of different yards in close proximity in a single year. One of the reasons for the concentration of yards on the Thames, for example, was that they were able to share the available labour and no yard need employ more me than it actually needed. That this is true of the royal dockyards is doubtful. The muster lists show considerable continuity of service each quarter for Shipwrights and certain other craftsmen and although there were natural fluctuations between years of peace an war, these yards seem to keep consistently high numbers of men other than the ordinary (permanent) staff.