TIMES PAST Big boats, little yachts tell story of the Clyde
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.
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. 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 Craftbuilt 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.”
Can any Times Past readers shed some light on Clyde Craft, or Bull’s Metals? We’d love to hear from you.
HERE at the Glasgow Times, we know the tales of ordinary people paint a picture of what life was really like for the men, women and children of the city over the decades.
We want to hear them, for our great new Times Past series, All Our Yesterdays. Each week, we will cover a theme connected to Glasgow’s ‘good old days’ – it could be the parks and gardens, transport, dance halls and cinemas, or something completely different.
We’d love to hear your stories and see your old photos – all you have to do is write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, Print Centre, 125 Fullarton Drive, Cambuslang G32 8FG or email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk