 Around 1904 John Isaac Thornycroft set up the Hampton Launch Works on the island, an offshoot of the Chiswick boatyard that he had established in the 1860s.This boatbuilding works concentrated on cabin cruisers and speedboats, but the success of Thorneycroft's operations on Platt's Eyot led to the award of contracts from the Admiralty.A new and larger facility was built in Southampton, which became Thorneycroft's principal yard, but the Platt's Eyot yard continued to operate in both World Wars to build small naval craft.