Two brothers — James and George Thomson, who had worked for the engineer Robert Napier — founded the engineering and shipbuilding company J&G Thomson. The brothers founded the Clyde Bank Foundry in Anderston in 1847. They opened the Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard at Cessnock, Govan, in 1851 and launched their first ship, , in 1852. They quickly established a reputation in building prestigious passenger ships, building for Cunard in 1854 and the record breaking in 1867. Several of the ships they built were bought by the Confederacy for blockade running in the American Civil War, including the CSS "Robert E. Lee" and the "Fingal" which was converted into the ironclad "Atlanta".