ship-breakern.
/ˈʃɪpbreɪkə/ A person who buys old vessels to break them up for sale. Also, a firm or company engaged in the business of breaking up old vessels.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > ship-breaking > [noun] > person
ship-breaker1819
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > ship-breaking > [noun] > company engaged in
ship-breaker1935
1819 Post Office London Directory 84 Cristall, Joseph, Sail-maker, Ship breaker, and Dealer in Ship-Stores.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. iv. 90 On Quilp's Wharf, Daniel Quilp was a ship-breaker.
1888 Dict. National Biogr. XIII. 101/2 A ship~breaker, having yards at Rotherhithe, Penzance, and Fowey.
1935 Sun (Baltimore) 21 May 12/6 The sale of some of the big outdated ocean liners to shipbreakers (that's the name for companies that take old ships apart with hammers and acetylene torches).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
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n.1819