Yards that revolutionised global travel

CLOSURE of the Ferguson Marine shipyard at Port Glasgow would be another nail in the coffin of the once-mighty Scottish shipbuilding industry.

Dating back centuries, the Clyde shipyards were once a bustling hive of activity and the bedrock of Scotland’s economy.

In their heyday, when Glasgow was still the second city of the British Empire, the yards employed tens of thousands of workers who made some of the most advanced ships in the world.

Many, powered by steam, have been credited with shaping modern history, and by the 1900s a fifth of the world’s commercial ships were launched on the Clyde. Notable ships built on the river include the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and QE2, as well as battleships such as HMS Colossus and Repulse. Recently, the world’s first dual-fuel ferries have taken centre stage.

In 1812 the first seagoing steamship, Henry Bell’s Comet, was launched, paving the way for steam propulsion in commercial shipping.

It meant trips from Scotland to America that had taken six weeks in 1850 took only one week by steam-powered ships in 1900.

The move revolutionised travel around the globe. It was on the Clyde that the screw propeller was invented, replacing paddles. Later the compound engine, allowing ships to use less fuel, was developed at the Fairfield yard.

The Clyde’s demise began after the Second World War, in the face of growing competition from Asia where new shipbuilding industries worked with more modern equipment.

By the turn of the century, Clyde shipyards also found themselves competing for contracts with European rivals.

And although there is still a naval shipbuilder on the river at Govan, Ferguson Marine today is the Clyde’s last remaining commercial shipyard.