Ferdinand Schichau

Who was Ferdinand Schichau?

Ferdinand Gottlob Schichau was a German mechanical engineer and businessman.

Schichau was born in Elbing, West Prussia to a smith and iron worker. He studied engineering in Berlin and visited the Rhineland and England. In 1837 he started his own company in Elbing. He also built a shipyard in Pillau near Königsberg.

The Schichau-Werke became a large industrial complex, which employed several thousand people. Schichau made hydraulic presses, industrial machines and steam engines. For his workers he erected a large living quarter section in Elbing. The Borussia, constructed by him, was the first screw-vessel in Germany.

Schichau gained an associate when his daughter married around 1873 Carl H. Ziese the constructor in 1874 of the first compound steam engine to be integrated in a German gunship.

The company had so many orders that it became necessary to construct another large shipyard in nearby Danzig as well. In 1896 Schichau employed about 4,000 labourers his private assets were appraised at 30 million German gold mark. Schichau died in Elbing on 23 January 1896, his son in law continued to lead the company till his own death in 1917. Ziese's only daughter, Hildegard, married Swedish Engineer Carl Carlson.