Paterson, James Venn

James Venn (J.V.) Paterson was born in Glasgow, Scotland June 17, 1867, the son of Robert Paterson, a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Marion Gunn. He had two sisters, Catherine (Kate) and Isabel and one brother William Romaine (Willie). He attended Albany Academy, Glasgow, where he received an education in classics and mathematics and then entered the University of Glasgow. At the University he studied mathematics and naval science, graduating in 1888. While at the University and for a time thereafter, he served as an apprentice at the Linthouse shipyard at Govan and at the Meadowside shipyard at Patrick, Scotland.

In 1891, Paterson was appointed draughtsman in the Naval Works of Southampton where he eventually became chief draughtsman. There he began an association with the great naval architect Sir John H. Biles. Upon Biles' recommendation, Paterson was appointed to a more prestigious position as consulting naval architect to the International Navigation Co. of New Jersey, chief operators of two trans-Atlantic lines, the Red Star and the American lines.

In 1892, Paterson came to the United States to stay when, in his position as naval architect, he supervised the construction of two steamers, the "St. Louis" and "St. Paul." In addition to supervising ship-building projects, Paterson's position with the International Navigation Co. afforded him with the opportunity to design and invent. He invented an expansion joint to relieve the stresses in the superstructure of large vessels, and he also designed the means by which a ship's superstructure could be incorporated into the ship's actual structure, thereby relieving the main stresses of the hull.

Paterson remained with the company (by then the International Mercantile Marine Co.) until 1906. At that time, he became general manager of the Moran Company, a shipbuilding enterprise in Seattle, Washington. When the Moran Company was taken over by the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Co. in 1912, Paterson became the new corporation's president. In 1916 when the company was sold to the Todd Shipyards of New York, Paterson retired to pursue independent contracts building submarines in Vancouver, B.C. and for the Russian Government.

Paterson was a member of the U.S. Naval Construction/Consulting Board, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Naval Architecture, and the Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders of Scotland.

Paterson married Marie Josephine Vandeventer of Matawa, New Jersey in April 1898 and had two sons Robert Vandeventer Paterson and James Venn Paterson, Jr. He died May 19, 1947 in Seattle, Washington, on month before his eightieth birthday.

Sources:

Bradford, Gershom. 1972. The mariner’s dictionary. Massachusetts : Barre Publishers.

Newell, Gordon R., and H. W. McCurdy. 1966. The H. W. McCurdy marine history of the Pacific Northwest: an illustrated review of the growth and development of the maritime industry from 1895, the date of publication of the last such comprehensive history (Lewis & Dryden's marine history of the Pacific Northwest) to the present time, with sketches and portraits of a number of well known marine men. Seattle: Superior Pub. Co.

White, James Terry. 1967. The National cyclopaedia of American biography being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms.

Who was who in America. 1950. Chicago: A.N. Marquis Company.

From the guide to the James Venn Paterson papers Mss 0059., 1886-1949, (DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University)