The company was descended from Coulburn Lobnitz & Company, established in 1874, and the adjacent shipyard of William Simons & Co, established in 1860. Coulborn Lobnitz had in turn evolved from the 1847 firm of James Henderson & Son, at Ship dock, Renfrew, which became Henderson, Coulborn & Co. In 1874, Lobnitz took over the business, which was renamed Lobnitz, Coulborn & Co. Both builders specialised in the construction of dredgers and hopper barges. The two companies amalgamated in 1957 as Simons-Lobnitz Ltd. Faced with declining business the Renfrew yard finally closed in 1964,[1] after some 1300 dredgers as well as barges and tugs had been built at the site. One late example survives: SS Shieldhall was built as a Clyde sludge boat in 1954 with reciprocating steam engines, and now operates as a pleasure cruiser on the Solent. Also still afloat is the William C. Daldy a steam tug operating as a pleasure vessel in Auckland, New Zealand, where she sailed from the Clyde in 1935/6.