The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
An evocative view
Roderick Stewart has sent in the photograph below and says: “Following recent
correspondence, I enclose an evocative aerial view of Victoria Dock and the Patent Slip, Dundee, taken circa 1966, which shows a great range of historical detail – the Abertay Light Vessel must have been off station for maintenance. In 1971, she became
the first lightship in Europe to be automated and, being reclassified as a ‘light float’, was repainted from red to black. She left the Tay in 1984 and was broken up in 1992.
“The 90-ton steam crane was built in 1874 by James Taylor & Co of Birkenhead and demolished in 1973, a year short of its centenary. The minesweeper HMS Montrose was the sea tender to Tay Division RNR, whose headquarters were in HMS Unicorn.
“Bell & Sime’s timber yard is full and Alexander Stephen’s Panmure shipyard (which later became famous, as the Dundee Shipbuilders Co, for building RRS Discovery) has recently been occupied by Wm. Stewart & Sons (Hacklemakers). The building had not yet been painted, but a close inspection shows my father’s Jaguar and our chief engineer Dougal Steen’s old Bentley parked outside. Peter Gorrie’s famous Reliant is parked across the road.
“The upper section of the Patent Slip (built in 1837 by James Leslie) still has its timber cradle and the Harbour Works Buoy Shop has its derrick for lifting out buoys for maintenance. HMS Camperdown is still a concrete shell in this photograph.”