John Okill

Who was John Okill?

John Okill was a pioneering and successful 18th century shipbuilder from Liverpool, England. Not much is known about his early life, though by the time he was 50 years old, he was a leading citizen of the town, having undertaken the roles of timber merchant and shipbuilder.

His yard was on the south of the Salthouse Dock, Liverpool, and over the years he would build many coasting brigantines and sloops in alliance with William Marsh.

By 1739 his reputation an accomplished ship builder got him the first of many commissions by the Royal Navy to build ships of the line. The first was the "Hastings", a ship of 44 guns and weighing 682 tons. He would build another eight ships between 1740 and 1758 for the navy.

His shipbuilding company saw several other partners over the years: by 1758 the firm was "Okill and Rigg", and in 1768 it became "Okill & Sutton".

In addition to shipbuilding John Okill was also a Liverpool member of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, formed in 1750. Though many of the other merchants traded in African slaves, Okill's was the only firm to take no part in the slave traffic, which instead "traded in wood and teeth".