The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
BRING THIS SHIP HOME
Michael Alexander speaks to two Dundee ship enthusiasts who believe the time is right for a magnificent model to return to the city of its birth, which, in turn, would celebrate the work of the former Caledon shipyard
Hidden from public view in the Smithery Store at the Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent is a spectacular shipyard model of Alfred Holt’s Caledon-built cargo and passenger liner TSMV Glenearn. More than 12ft long and built in Dundee by Caledon model maker William Gateshill, the model represents two Dundee-built ships regarded by many as the most significant vessels ever constructed on the shores of the Tay.
Both the Glenearn (built 1938) and her sister Glengyle (1939) were requisitioned by the Admiralty on the outbreak of war in 1939.
Both ships were converted into Landing Ships Infantry (Large) and at least one played a critical role in every major amphibious operation of the Second World War.
They rescued thousands of Allied servicemen from captivity or worse in Greece and Crete.
Glengyle ran the Luftwaffe and U-boat gauntlet to bring desperately needed supplies to the besieged island of Malta, and Glenearn was at the forefront of the D-Day landings in 1944.
Post-war, they provided the template for much of Alfred Holt’s fast general cargo and passenger fleet prior to the containerisation revolution.
But is it time for this magnificent model, which was loaned to the National Maritime Museum in 1947 and which has been in storage there for decades, to make a longoverdue return to Dundee?
Dundee historian Dr Andrew Jeffrey and former Caledon manager John “Jack” Reilly think so.
They have been campaigning for the model to be brought back to Dundee to help promote the history and heritage of Dundee’s Caledon yard, which closed in 1981, and to showcase the remarkable history of these vessels.
Through their persistence, Chatham Historic Dockyard staff have made it clear to them the model could be made available to an “accredited institution” in Dundee on a free 30-year lease.
The only costs likely to be incurred would be transport from the south of England and a minor conservation issue.
However, in correspondence sent to Jack from Dundee City Council’s promotion and development team, the Dundee local authority has rejected the offer on the basis that they are unable to meet museum standards for storing the model anywhere in the city.
Andrew Jeffrey believes it will be a “crying shame” if the model does not return to Dundee, and both he and Jack believe now
is the time to try to secure a “public head of steam” for their proposal.
“Is this Dundee’s Stone of Scone moment? It’s too good an opportunity to miss,” says Andrew.
“It’s just so much part of Dundee’s heritage. “Any time I’ve done talks on this, people say ‘why is the model not here? Why is it in storage in Greenwich?’ And that’s lay people – not enthusiasts like us.
“The bottom line is it’s there and it’s available. It really should come home for its final voyage.”
Andrew had seen photos of the Glenearn model and a newspaper cutting from 1947 where Caledon model maker William Gateshill was repairing it.
It was while involved with a ship models project at the McManus a few years ago, however, that he went to see the model at Chatham for himself.
“When I walked into the room my jaw just dropped,” he recalls.
“At 12ft 6in long, it’s huge and immensely detailed.
“This model is without question the most significant ship ever built on the shores of the Tay.
“The reason for this – and other people agree – is that she was very advanced for her time – a very strong and fast ship, and she was earmarked by the Admiralty in 1939 when she was still on the stocks.
“She was taken up at the start of the war as a stores-carrier.
“But they very quickly realised this fast ship had a lot more potential than that.”
Andrew explains that the model represents two ships – the Glenearn and the Glengyle.
But the Glenearn was the “granddaddy of them all”, he says, including the landing of the first wave at Sword Beach on D-Day.
The story begins in 1935 when Liverpool shipping line Alfred Holt took over the ailing Glen Line and immediately set about modernising the Glen fleet.
Alfred Holt also had a large shareholding in Dundee’s Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering Co.
In March 1937, Holt ordered three large twin-screw motor vessels. It was the most valuable single contract ever awarded to the Dundee yard.
The three Dundee-built Glens – namely Glenearn, Glengyle and Glenartney – were to join a fleet of eight sisters on Holt’s twicemonthly service to Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and China.
Recognising their importance before the first had even been completed, the Caledon directors commissioned their model maker William Gateshill to make two large models of Glenearn in 1938. Each model cost £500 and took around eight months to build.
One model was to be retained by the shipyard and it was still there, outside the boardroom, when the yard closed in 1981. Sold off by British Shipbuilders, it subsequently found its way to an American collection and was sold at Bonham’s in New York in 2010 for almost $100,000.
The other model, originally intended for Alfred Holt’s Liverpool HQ but never making it there due to the war, was loaned to the National Maritime Museum where it has been since.
However, it’s the story of the Glens themselves – described as “the finest ships ever built for the Far East service” – that makes the models so significant.
“Launched on June 29, 1938, Glenearn had completed just two voyages when she was requisitioned by the Admiralty in October 1939, initially as a fast stores-carrier,” says Andrew.
“In 1940 she and her newly-launched sister Glengyle were converted into infantry assault ships and fitted with 14 landing craft.
“On the night of April 19-20, 1941, Glenearn and Glengyle made the first ever Commando assault from specialised ships at Bardia, Cyrenaica. Two days later, Glenearn and Glengyle joined Operation Demon, the evacuation of British and Imperial forces from Greece.”
Andrew explains that Glengyle evacuated 3,000 troops to temporary sanctuary at Suda Bay in Crete. Glenearn was subjected to repeated enemy air attacks, suffering two direct hits, one of which started a serious fire, but still managed to rescue no fewer than 5,100 British and Imperial personnel.
Another air attack off Nauplion on April 26 unseated her machinery and she had to be towed 500 miles to Alexandria.
Glenearn was bombed again in Suez Bay while waiting to go to Colombo for repairs.
Glengyle, meanwhile, had assisted in the evacuation of 6,000 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from Crete and on June 8, 1941, took part in the invasion of Syria at Litani River.
In January 1942, Glengyle and a strong naval escort made a daring high-speed dash from Alexandria with urgently needed supplies for the besieged island of Malta. The island fortress was perilously close to starvation and the Spitfires defending its airspace were rapidly running out of both fuel and ammunition.
Glengyle was next involved in the ill-fated 1942 Dieppe landing, then the Operation Torch landings in Vichy, French North Africa. She went on to play a leading role in Operation Husky, the Allied landings in Sicily in July 1943 and at Salerno and Anzio in Italy.
Significantly, however, it was the repaired and refitted Glenearn that came into her own as the command landing ship for the D-Day landings in June 1944.
Glenearn carried Royal Marines clearance divers and assault companies of the 1st South Lancs and 2nd East Yorks regiments, the first wave to land on the Queen White sector of Sword Beach at the eastern end of the Normandy beachhead.
A and C companies of the 1st South Lancs from Glenearn were first to go ashore on Sword along with the amphibious Sherman tanks of the 13th/18th Hussars, taking heavy casualties from enemy machine guns and mortars.
Glenearn ran a ferry service for several weeks after D-Day, bringing in reinforcements and supplies and repatriating the wounded, before being transferred to join Glengyle, by then serving in the British Pacific Fleet.
As the two ships were returned to their owners in 1946, Field Marshal Montgomery wrote of the “superb gallantry and devotion to duty of those who served in ships like the Glengyle, whose ship’s company are a shining example of what can be done by human endeavour in time of war”.
Glengyle was scrapped in 1971 while Glenearn, having survived a bombing attack by communist Chinese aircraft off Formosa in 1950, met her date with the scrap yard in 1970.
The surviving model, however, is the next best thing to the ships themselves.
“The bottom line is that these two ships had an extraordinary wartime record which
NOTHING ELSE THAT WAS BUILT IN DUNDEE COMES CLOSE, AND THIS MODEL IS, IN A WAY, ALL WE HAVE LEFT OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SHIPS EVER BUILT ON THE SHORES OF THE TAY
was referred to by Montgomery in his memoirs,” says Andrew.
“Nothing else that was built in Dundee comes close and this model is, in a way, all we have left of the most significant ships ever built on the shores of the Tay.
“So it would be a crying shame if it is not brought home to represent both the work of the yard and the story of these ships – it could be phenomenal.”
Jack Reilly, who brought out the first edition of his popular book The Caledon Shipyard in 2012, describes the model as “just a work of art”.
The Dundee-born great-grandfather of three and grandfather of six, who grew up in Hilltown, started as an apprentice at Caledon aged 15.
Later he got into the engineering drawing office and then later the design and estimating office.
After a spell at sea as an engineering officer with Royal Mail Lines, he returned to Caledon as assistant chief of the design and engineering department before being promoted to department chief by the age of 25.
In 1972, he was promoted to technical manager, remaining in position until Caledon closed in 1981.
“There are a few models in the McManus which I was involved in getting,” says the 81-year-old, who, in 1992, went on to become director of shipbuilding and head of security at Malaysia Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in the state of Johor, Malaysia, before returning to the UK in 2000.
“But of all the models I’ve seen around the world, this is the most impressive.”
Judging by the feedback to his book, which saw its expanded fifth edition come out last year, and which is for sale at the McManus, he knows there’s huge fascination about the legacy of Caledon and the human tales of those who worked there in the city and beyond.
If there’s to be a sixth edition of his book in future, however, he hopes it’ll include a section detailing how the magnificent model of the Glenearn has finally “come home”.
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Tell us about True Grit Events?
A Along with Caroline MacKechnie I’m a cofounder and director of True Grit Events Ltd. We’re based outside Aberfeldy. True Grit is an event company that delivers a wide range of projects all over the UK.
Q So, Yomp 2022 takes place on June 4. How are you feeling about it? A Super excited. I have been involved in delivering the Yomp since 2011 and every year it blows me away. It’s the biggest challenge event of its kind in Scotland, with over 1,000 people taking part. (The Yomp takes place on June 4 and 5 in the foothills of the Cairngorms with teams hiking 54 miles in 24 hours to raise money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity). I love the atmosphere, camaraderie, banter and support we see between the participants. A few years ago we had a participant complete the event with a prosthetic leg. That is 54 very long miles – absolutely unbelievable determination.
It takes a massive amount of work and planning to deliver the Yomp and we’re looking forward to seeing and working with all the 120 or so staff that help us. They are amazing and really make it all come together on the day. I would also like to thank all the landowners who allow this event to happen. We couldn’t do it without their ongoing support.
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Anything unusual/any highlights this year?
A Every Yomp is different. The 54-mile route crosses farm and forestry land and we need to work with landowners and any issues. This year we had to find a few small diversions around trees fallen from the storms. Importantly, these add more distance to the route. Andrew Barrie from PCKT was a big help in this. We also have The Famous Grouse on board as a sponsor this year which is fantastic.
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A For those that have signed up already – the Yomp will test you, so make sure you are prepared. For those who are thinking about it, just do it, you won’t regret it.
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What would you have done if you hadn’t done this job?
A Planning the stunts for a Bond movie (not doing them).
Q Where in the world are you happiest?
Standing on a deserted golden sand beach, looking out to a crystal blue sea, somewhere secret on the west coast of Scotland.
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A I’m a big fan of Elon Musk. He can be a bit ‘Marmite’. You have to appreciate what he has accomplished. To do what he has done with SpaceX would be an extraordinary achievement alone but that’s just one of the many things he has on the go just now. I can’t understand how he has done it all. He’s also the same age as me which is mind-blowing.
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Who inspires you? First thing you’d do if you won £1 million?
A Buy my mum a house overlooking the sea. She would love that.
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If you could rule for a day, what would be the first thing you would do?
A Turn off all social media for 24 hours and get everyone to talk.
Q Favourite holiday destination?
A Scotland – west coast. Or if we’re going global – anywhere hot with great food and amazing wine.
Q What was the first album you ever bought? A Abba. Super Trouper - a classic.
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What is the best advice you have received, and who did it come from?
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What advice would you give to your younger self?
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A A few years ago I was part of a group that recreated the famous Second World War commando mission, Operation Frankton, in France. We kayaked 100 miles up the Gironde River then walked 60 miles. It was really tough but, of course, absolutely nothing like what the Royal Marines went through during the war. It was a very humbling experience.
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A We can all achieve more than we think we can.
What’s your motto?