Norman Nasmyth

“The all-weather lifeboat The Good Hope was joined at Montrose Lifeboat Station in May 1940 by the surf boat Norman Nasmyth (pictured in Craigie a few days ago),” emails John Aitken, author of the recently updated history of Montrose Lifeboats.

“From May 1950, never having been launched on service, she was kept in store until 1965 when she was finally sold off and No. 2 Station closed.

“The new surf boat Norman Nasmyth came from Alex. Robertson’s boatyard at Sandbank near Dunoon where The Good Hope had also been built shortly before. Being in the region of between four and five tons in weight she was lifted off a lorry and lowered into the Wet Dock at Montrose. Being a surf boat and much lighter she had not been delivered in the traditional way.

“Instead of screws she was driven by Hotchkiss cone propellers which were fitted amidships. According to the technical description this method of propulsion “in water it whirled and expelled it” and gave a service speed of seven knots.

“Costing £3,700 she was built from a legacy from Norman J. Nasmyth of Glenfarg, Perthshire after whom she was named (the formal naming ceremony was delayed until after the end of the Second World War).

“Other lifeboats came to Montrose via different routes, for example by rail, via the Forth and Clyde Canal, along the coast under their own power or in the very early days, possibly towed by a Montrose-bound brig or schooner from boatyards in the north-east of England.

“The recent Craigie photograph may have been taken around the 1950s.”