Joseph Hemsley was a known shipbuilder at Low Southwick from the 1830s to the early 1850s. Mr Hemsley was a Durham born man born in the late 1700s, with his children also working in the shipbuilding industry. In fact, his family lived at Collin Place in 1841 which has helped me ascertain the shipyard was very likely located at this site. He was married at St Peter's, Monkwearmouth, and is the first known generation of builders. His son, also named Joseph, appears to take on the mantle as he is noted as a late shipbuilder, and there's a very good chance he also had a son named Joseph given there is a death notice of Joseph Hemsley's daughter in 1916.

The shipyard constructed at least 16 vessels for merchants on both the Tyne and the Wear, all made of wood and were probably fairly basic. Construction was fairly continuous from 1834 to 1843 with a couple of vessels a year. It appears the 1st Joseph Hemsley may have entered a period of ill health, as in September 1845 a piece in the Newcastle Courant notifies of his death and calls for any debtors to pay towards his wife Alice Hemsley. The yard appears to have laid dormant, or otherwise sub-leased (it was unlikely they owned the land given the tithe award notes Stafford John Esq. owned much of the land in these parts). In 1849, 3 more ships were constructed which were certainly by his son, in his 30s by this stage. The last was the Wentworth Beaumont, a Brig for John Clarke & Charles Dunn in 1850 which was wrecked on the Shannon in 1873.

Though the exact yard cannot be identified, it was certainly along the "New Road", which became Crown Road (also named after a group of shipbuilders). I imagine it was very close to Collin Place given that is where the family settled.