Teare and Sons on the Quay in Peel was founded in about 1866 by John Teare a Peel rope maker. Teare and Sons was a ships chandlers and sailmakers (the sailmakers being run by John’s son William Edward) supplying the fishing fleet with all types of ropes, paint, galvanised buckets, mops, etc as well as making and repairing sails and finishing fishing nets.
Around 1850 Robert Corrin had installed the first net making machines in Peel and the fishing fleet was increasing in size due to improved herring catches and the development of the Irish fishery off Kinsale. Teare and Sons prospered during this time of rapid growth and the family invested in Manx built boats. Between 1850 and 1914 they had shareholdings in around 24 fishing boats and 11 trading schooners. But shareholding in boats was not without its risks and in 1898 the smack Bee Hive was wrecked off Cambelltown, in 1899 the schooner Lily Miles was wrecked on Longstone Rocks and the schooner Phoebe was run down by the steamship Duke of Lancaster in Belfast Loch in 1900 – it was not insured.
The fishing catch and Manx fishing industry declined very quickly after 1890 and in 1900 the companies bank, Dumbells Bank, crashed. Suppliers would not give credit to Manx companies and many boat owners lost everything but Teare and Sons managed to survive. Fishing boats were still being built in Peel, mainly to be sold to Ireland, but in this poor economic environment many young men left the island looking for work and key skills were lost.
Eventually in around 1920, after the death of William Edward, Teare and Sons was sold to his cousin John Teare and his son Freddie, both sailmakers in Peel. The business continued until 1964 when Freddie Teare, the last sailmaker in Peel, died and Teare and Sons, The Quay, Peel closed after 100 years in the same family.