J. & W. Francis, shipbuilders of Milford, operated from 1888 in Pembroke Dock. Like the Royal Dockyard, a number of Pembroke Dock's private shipbuilding ventures had started in Milford.

G.S. Dickman recounts the early story of P. Hancock, shipbuilders. The company moved from Milford to Pembroke Dock around 1920, building fishing smacks including the Arravale. Hancock's built more than a dozen small ships for the Admiralty during World War II. Later, Hancock's built the new ferryboats Cleddau King and Cleddau Queen, and continued until c. 1979.