John Pile came from a family of shipbuilders in Wearside. In 1852 he was invited by Ralph Ward Jackson to establish a shipyard within the docks that Ward Jackson had recently developed in West Hartlepool. Construction work on the shipyard began in 1853 and the first ship, the Mirage, was launched in December 1854. Pile entered into partnership with Joseph Spence in 1859 and in 1863 one of his brothers, Thomas Hunter Pile, began his own shipbuilding business in a nearby yard.

The Pile, Spence business continued to prosper and expand. By 1865 its local assetts included shipyards and dry docks covering nine acres, the West Hartlepool Steam Navigation Company and the West Hartlepool Rolling Mills and Blast Furnaces.

The company came to an abrupt end in 1866, with the collapse of its merchant bankers, Overend Gurney and Company. The liquidators agreed to complete four outstanding contracts and the last of these, the Avon, was launched in 1867. The yards were eventually taken over by Denton, Gray and Company.

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