Ship building and coal mining Once famously hailed as the `` Largest Shipbuilding Town in the MISC@1 , ships were built on the Wear from at least NUMBER@1 onwards and by the mid-eighteenth century ORGANIZATION@1 was one of the chief shipbuilding towns in the country .

Traditional industry Once called the `` Greatest Shipbuilding Town in the MISC@1 , ships were built on the Wear from at least NUMBER@1 onwards .
