 This earned him a reputation as a shipbuilder, which furthered his career, as did his co-operation on hull design with Thomas Assheton Smith, for whom he built the "Menai" (400 tons and 120hp) followed by several more steam yachts.In 1828 he established Glasgow's Vulcan Foundry.Many of Scotland's most esteemed shipbuilders apprenticed under Napier, including James and George Thomson, who founded the J & G Thomson shipyard (now known as John Brown & Company), and John Elder of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.