The arms have a history of their own, unlike the situation in most other Companies. In the late 16th century a company of "foreign" shipwrights was founded at Redrith (Rotherhithe) on the south bank of the Thames. Since its impetus and membership most probably derived mainly from the Royal Dockyard at Deptford, it was clearly a rival to the Free Shipwrights of London, centred on the north bank. By 1578 it was prospering sufficiently to petition for a charter from the Crown, which it received in 1612, and in the interim in 1605 it had been made a grant of arms, which form the basis of the present blazon....Read More