Many ships were built in the creeks and on the beaches of Anglesey. The small sloops and smacks were used to carry any cargo - lime, slates, stone, coal, salt, wine, dairy products household goods, livestock etc. You name it, they carried it. Roads were non existant or unusable so the sea was the main means of transport. Copper had been mined on Anglesey since Roman times and transported to main centres by these small craft.

In the 18th Centuary it became more organised and the mine owners and managers started buiding or investing in their own ships. The ore was partially smelted then transported to Swansea or Liverpool. Amlwch was one of the main loading places but was not really a harbour then. Lewis Morris, the famous cartographer, who charted the coast of Wales in 1748 did not bother with a plan of the port as he considered it to be no more than a creek.

In the 18th Centuary it became more organised and the mine owners and managers started buiding or investing in their own ships. The ore was partially smelted then transported to Swansea or Liverpool. Amlwch was one of the main loading places but was not much of a harbour then. Lewis Morris, the famous cartographer, who charted the coast of Wales in 1748 did not bother with a plan of the port as he considered it to be no more than a creek.

Towards the end of the century a Harbour Act was passed which required that the creek be widened and deepened. This was the start of the modern Amlwch port.

During the 19thC one of the main shipbuilders in Amlwch were the Treweek family who originated from Cornwall but came to work as mine managers. Then came Capt. William Thomas who built, owned or managed many schooners and ketches. He had dealings with another William Thomas who ran a fleet of large square riggers out of Liverpool. Capt Thomas's descendants continued the business changing to iron and steel auxiliary sailing ships and finally steam coasters which they built and owned up to the 1950s. Capt. Thomas also had a yard at Duddon in Cumberland and there were other close ties between the two areas. Shipowners from Millom and Barrow had schooners built in Amlwch and local men sailed on the vessels of both ports.

Bryan Hope has written a book about Amlwch's early industries called "A Curious Place" and is currently working on a book about Capt William Thomas and Sons. Several of the local vessels sailed on, well into the 20th century.

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