BIG ships on the Clyde – in particular, HMS Glasgow, the new Type 26 frigate currently being constructed in Govan – have been in the news this week.
So here at Times Past we had a trawl through the archives looking for other dramatic moments on the river over the decades – reminders of the Clyde’s celebrated place in shipbuilding history.
Our main image captures workers building propellers for Swedish warships in 1936. The work was taking place at Bull’s Metal and Melloid Company in Yoker, which made propellers and other castings from bronze, their own ‘Bull’s metal’, melloid and other malleable bronze alloys.
A tin mining dredger enters the Clyde, 1965. Pic: Herald and Times
Much later, the team at Alexander Stephen and Sons at Linthouse, launched the largest tin mining dredger in the world, Bangka I, on the Clyde in 1965. The boat, which cost £3m, was built for the Indonesian State Tin Mining Enterprises and once complete, was towed 9000 miles to Bangka Island off the coast of Indonesia, a journey that would take around three to four months.
Model yacht making in Busby, 1939 Pic: Herald and Times
On a slightly smaller, but no less impressive scale, we also found this lovely picture of some model yacht-making going on at Clyde Craft in Busby in 1939. Very little information exists about Clyde Craft, which built miniature racing yachts. According to English company Pond Yacht Antiques, who recently auctioned a Clyde Craft-built model yacht: “Little is known of the company and it appears that few of their yachts have survived to the present day. One of their yachts called “Jubilee” was supplied to Her Majesty the Queen.”
READ MORE: Story behind enterprising woman who created Glasgow's first tearooms
Can any Times Past readers shed some light on Clyde Craft, or Bull’s Metals? We’d love to hear from you.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here