The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Seamen enable ship debate
A plea to “bring the Glenearn home” has been delivered a broadside by an experienced Dundee seafarer.
Captain John Watson reckons a campaign to prominently display a model of the Dundee, 1938-built Second World War supply and landing ship Glenearn on its home shores should by rights be considered a non-starter.
Referring to a Courier story published last Thursday that related a donation by the Fraternity of Masters and Seamen in Dundee to the city that included its ship models, the Broughty Ferry man writes: “As its archivist I was much relieved that the Fraternity had secured the future of all that was donated for future generations to enjoy.
“Earlier this month a couple of articles appeared in your paper regarding the magnificent model of the TSS Glenearn, built in the Caledon Yard in 1938 and currently residing in the historic dockyard premises at Chatham.
“A statement made that it was ‘deplorable’ (that) the city could find no room for her in the city’s museums, even though it could have been made available under lease conditions, caused me some difficulty.
“I have sympathy with those who promoted the idea and I am very much aware of the history of that ship but am a realist and absolutely defend the Leisure and Culture’s response to the request and not bring the model to Dundee.
“During its existence the Caledon Yard built 507 other ships as well as 20 barges and about 34 launches. There will be models of many of them scattered, probably all over the globe, each with a tale to tell.
“None more so perhaps than the only aircraft carrier – HMS Activity – built on the Tay that escorted convoys in the North Atlantic from about 1943 on. There may well be a model of her somewhere.
“The model of the Glenearn is being held in state-of-the-art storage conditions in Chatham and her only relevance to Dundee’s maritime past is that she was built here. So let her enjoy her comfortable retirement there as a wonderful relic of Alfred Holt’s Blue Funnel Line that was Liverpool-based and gave the Caledon Yard a lot of work over the years.”
Capt Watson adds: “Perhaps sometime in the future a new maritime museum could be established around Victoria Dock’s dry dock with the Unicorn at its centre piece, and then Dundee’s Maritime past could be properly displayed. Maybe a case could then be made to have the model of the Glenearn, along with many others, displayed to boast about Dundee’s substantial role in the maritime world of the past.”