Ships and shipping

“I was intrigued by the news item in

The Courier regarding the proposed riverside leisure park development at Kinfauns, which is planned to incorporate exhibition space and related facilities based on a general theme of transport,” emails Perth Harbour chronicler John Aitken.

“The report mentions several modes of transport but does not appear to include ships and shipping, although the River Tay flows fairly close by.

“The story of Perth’s river highway and the fact the quays are situated approximately 30 miles inland from the North Sea generates much interest. Its history goes back over many centuries and its shipbuilding past is impressive, with between 400 and 500 ships launched into the Tay mainly in the 1800s.

“For example, the Union, a double-hulled vessel with a paddle in the middle, was the first ‘Fifie’ and was launched by a Mr Brown in 1821, to be followed two years later by an improved version named George IV. In 1836, a Mr Mcfarlane made a brief entry with the Eagle, reputed to have been the first iron steamer built on the east coast of Scotland. Heavy rain prior to the launch made the ground into a quagmire and it took two days to coax the ship into the Tay.

“The Duke of Atholl entered the shipbuilding industry providing larch timber from his estates in north Perthshire, having the schooner Larch built at Perth. The Stevenson Plan of 1834 was an example

of progressive harbour engineering and, had it been fully implemented, would have given Perth a ship canal plus two docks with adjoining warehouses.

“The local sandboat fleet served the construction and horticultural industries over a wide area of Scotland for many years with interesting vessels from a variety of backgrounds. Material extracted from the Tay is contained in a wide miscellany of projects in the surrounding area.

“A few of the paddlers engaged in pleasure sailings along the Tay to Dundee and intermediate landings in between went off to war along the shallow rivers in what was Mesopotamia in the First World War.

“Messrs Thomas Graham & Sons built the largest ship to be built at Perth, the Mary Gray. The family named it after their mother. When the Mary Gray was freighted to Perth with timber from America she was too deep-draughted to travel the last few miles and had to anchor off Inchyra to be lightened.

“When the tides were right, perhaps ships could be seen passing from a conveniently placed viewing gallery, thus bringing such an exhibition to life.”