Metalworkers were employed for a variety of metal construction and repairs for the large merchant companies such as Ásgeirsverslun and Tangsverslun in Ísafjörður, Gramsverslun at Þingeyri or Pétur Thorsteinsson at Bíldudalur. The advent of the motorboats brought a profession of engineers and mechanics. The first engineering workshop in Ísafjörður, which was the first in Iceland, was founded by a Dane, J. H. Jessen, who came from the Möllerup factory in Esbjerg to fit an engine in the boat, Stanley in the autumn of 1902. Jessen married in Ísafjörður and started an engineering workshop at Norðurvegur. He took on many apprentices who subsequently became innovators as engineers and mechanics. In 1928, Bergsveinn Árnason and a number of other tradesmen founded the engineering workshop Vélsmiðjan Þór, which for decades was the town's largest metal workshop. The Association of metalworkers in Ísafjörður was founded on 31 December 1940 by ten metalwork tradesman from the town. There are now four engineering workshops operating in Ísafjörður.