■ Dangerous deliveries

COMPLETED in 1958 by the Ardrossan Dockyard Ltd, the 708 grt Glasgow registered coastal cargo vessel Lady Roslin was one of a small number of such ships operated by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) specifically to carry explosives.

There were strict regulations to be observed carrying such a cargo and often they would be loaded at Irvine, near the ICI factory, for trans-shipment to large ocean going vessels who would often be anchored in safe designated areas where the transfer of such cargo was permitted.

Lady Roslin was powered by a five-cylinder British Polar diesel engine and from time to time was overhauled on the Port Glasgow slipways of James Lamont & Co.

By Capt Murray Paterson.