They towered over the people who sweated blood and tears to build them, great monoliths of the sea which rose from the banks of the Clyde and ruled the waves.
On an immense scale that’s difficult to imagine now, every bolt was hammered into place, every screw, nut and nail touched by human hand, worked out from plans drawn up in nearby offices and with their plush innards carefully crafted and then polished by squadrons armed with mops and buckets.
From the office staff who organised the wages to the welders with their torches, Clyde-built ships took to the waves with ‘made in Glasgow’ stamped across their bows – if not in shimmering white paint then at least in the perspiration that dripped from workers’ brows.
Now a compelling insight into the business of shipbuilding has emerged among hundreds of photographs stored by the National Records of Scotland and published in an online exhibition.
Selected photographs from the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) collection have been gathered as the 50th anniversary looms of the remarkable workers’ battle to save 8,500 jobs from the axe.
The shipbuilding consortium, created in 1968 and including the five major shipbuilders of the Clyde, entered liquidation in 1971. The move enraged workers, and came despite a full order book and forecasted profits.
However, a cash flow problem had led to the UK government turning down a loan request, plunging the consortium into crisis.
That sparked fury, leading to one of the most significant industrial actions of the 20th century, a mass ‘work in’ and the remarkable, rousing speech by shop steward Jimmy Reid.
He urged workers: “We are responsible people and will conduct ourselves with dignity and discipline. There will be no hooliganism. There will be no vandalism. There will be no bevvying, because the world is watching us.
“We are not wildcats. We want to work ... we don’t only build ships on the Clyde, we build men. They have taken on the wrong people, and we will fight.”
Edward Heath’s Tory Government eventually caved in, the yards saved and the consortium reconstructed. But the glory days of Clyde-built vessels dominating the waves, were well gone.
The photographs span over a century from the 1880s to the end of the 1980s with most from one of the most famous shipyards in the world: John Brown & Co.
Among familiar shots that show the mammoth task of building what would become the world’s most famous liner, The QE2, are dozens which offer a fascinating insight into the way other ships were built, their interiors lavishly furnished and the crowds that waved them off on their unforgettable first voyage.
According to National Records of Scotland archivist Veronica Schreuder, the UCS photographic collection is unique in portraying an industry of national importance in the UK, and records the memories of an industry which is now a shadow of its proud past.
“For so many people, their employment was lost. But also, all those different skills that were used to produce and create these grand ships was also lost.
“These pictures are something tangible of those times.”
The photographs reveal the inner workings of keels under construction, their vast skeletal innards waiting to be encased in tons of steel.
Others, like the breath-taking image of the Canadian Pacific Line ocean liner the RMS Empress of Britain which shows her pin-sharp bow almost touching the windows of offices at John Brown & Co. are a reminder of the sheer scale of one of the world’s biggest shipbuilding industries.
While some show a side to the Clyde that is sometimes overshadowed by the immense bulk of the ships – beautifully designed interiors, crafted by hand using the finest of materials.
“You can imagine sitting in the Verandah café on the Promenade Deck of the SS Avila Star,” says Veronica. “Or the passengers dropping off their children to the Cabin Nursery, on the Boat Deck of Canadian Pacific Line liner SS Duchess of Bedford.”
For older offspring, the QE2 featured a rather funky teenagers’ area with clashing colours and café style seats.
Meanwhile the post-war Cunard Line’s RMS Caronia oozed style, with plush first class cabins and a stylish passenger lounge.
Many photographs show the finished vessels as they make their way out on sea trials, or polished and buffed as they prepare for their first passengers.
Behind the scenes, however, were thousands of workers with individual trades and often in different locations eventually coming together in a giant conveyor belt of construction, adds Veronica.
“It was very much a composite picture,” she adds, “with workmen on site building and specialist joiners offsite that would make things like the ballroom interiors and bring them to the shipyard to fit to the ship..
“People were very territorial over their jobs.”
For those working on the interiors of cruise ships, there would be the juxtaposition of spending days perfecting the opulent facilities and going home to basic homes and few luxuries.
“It was very much how the other half lived for many,” she adds. “The people who built these were living on the breadline with one toilet between ten families. They were never going to experience sailing on these ships or even buying a ticket for a trip on board.
“It must have been hard for some looking at what they would never have.”
As the industry declined and contracted, the UCS records were acquired for the nation while other collections of photographs and documents from shipyards on the upper and lower Clyde, Ayrshire Coast and the Estuaries of the Forth and Tay were also gathered.
Many of the photographs would have been commissioned by shipyard management to show vessel owners and insurers how construction was progressing, or to use to highlight Clyde skills to new customers.
“Browsing through the images, you can get a real sense of the atmosphere of the shipyards, the noise and how hands on the shipbuilders were.
“It’s interesting that many of the ships featured in the collection went on to be used in the war and were torpedoed and destroyed. These great pieces of engineering and craftsmanship were sunk and so many lives lost.
“The photographs are a beautiful record of the ships and a monument to them and the people who built them.”
Read more about the UCS collection at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/our-records-upper-clyde-shipbuilders-collection
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