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Most of the pictures in the following galleries are my own. Some have come from friends and and a few are public domain or UK Crown Copyright. If any are inappropriately credited please let me know and I will alter the credit or remove them. Feel free to copy and use them for personal / not for-profit use. Please ask for any other use - agreement will normally be the result (e-mail: stuart.cameron7@ntlworld.com). The photos are not for sale.

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Slideshow

Galleries

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 - the Last Great Clydebuilt liner : The Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, the most famous ship in the World, was launched from the shipyard of John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Scotland on 20th September 1967. Some of the first group of photographs in this set are from a remarkable collection taken by the late Mr William Davies of Glasgow in September 1967. It was almost 21 years after the new ship departed from the Clyde before she returned to the Clyde (in 1990). She returned on a few other occasions and, in 2007, forty years after her launch, the ship returned to Greenock Ocean Terminal on the Clyde on 20th September 2007 to celebrate the anniversary. After a gala day of events, including a 40th Birthday Fly-past Salute by the Red Arrows, the ship departed from Greenock at 18:00 hours. Many thousands of Clydesiders gathered to watch the last of the classic Clydebuilt liners depart. A set of images were taken from a vantage point aboard the veteran motor ship Balmoral which escorted theliner from Greenock to Innellan. 20th September 2007. Just over a year after her 40th anniversary vist to the Clyde, the liner returned to the river of her creation for the very last time as a few weeks later she made her last ever voyage, to the city of Dubai where she was to be converted to a static luxury hotel. Despite extremely poor weather through the majority of the summer of 2008 on the Clyde, the day of the last great Clydebuilt liner's final visit was a miraculously fine autumn day and tens of thousands of people lined the shores of the Firth of Clyde, aware that another chapter in the long maritime history of the Clyde was about to end. Some of the return visit pictures are by Tom Dunlop.

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 - the Last Great Clydebuilt liner

The Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, the most famous ship in the Wo ...

Updated: Dec 22, 2010 5:17pm PST

Liner and Cruise Ship Visits to the Clyde : Some pictures scanned from prints. .

Liner and Cruise Ship Visits to the Clyde

Some pictures scanned from prints. .

Updated: Mar 30, 2009 3:11pm PST

Type 45 Destroyer Construction on the Clyde : Six new Type 45 Destroyers under construction at the BAE Systems shipyards at Scotstoun and Govan on the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Type 45 Destroyer Construction on the Clyde

Six new Type 45 Destroyers under construction at the BAE Systems shipy ...

Updated: Mar 27, 2012 4:06pm PST

Amsterdam Visits : Random scenes from the Dutch capital

Amsterdam Visits

Random scenes from the Dutch capital

Updated: Aug 20, 2009 2:56pm PST

Bay Class RFA Ships - Clyde Shipyard Views : Views of the three of Royal Fleet Auxiliary's new Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary) vessels at BAE Systems Clyde shipyards

Bay Class RFA Ships - Clyde Shipyard Views

Views of the three of Royal Fleet Auxiliary's new Landing Ship Dock (A ...

Updated: Feb 06, 2007 12:36pm PST

Clyde Shipping in 1982 : Shipping on the River Clyde in 1982

Clyde Shipping in 1982

Shipping on the River Clyde in 1982

Updated: Sep 23, 2006 2:22am PST

Norwegian Views & Ships : Views taken during visits to Stavanger, Haugesund, Trondheim and Oslo between September 2005 and August 2006

Norwegian Views & Ships

Views taken during visits to Stavanger, Haugesund, Trondheim and Oslo ...

Updated: Sep 08, 2006 11:08am PST

Republic of Korea : business trips to the City of Changwon on the southern coast of South Korea

Republic of Korea

business trips to the City of Changwon on the southern coast of South ...

Updated: Nov 26, 2007 1:54pm PST

Queen of Scots on the Clyde : The varied Clyde-based years of a little motorship from England

Queen of Scots on the Clyde

The varied Clyde-based years of a little motorship from England

Updated: Jan 20, 2007 9:45am PST

Paris in Wintertime - with PS Princess Elizabeth : An off season visit to the French capital and its emigrant British paddle steamer in the 1995

Paris in Wintertime - with PS Princess Elizabeth

An off season visit to the French capital and its emigrant British pad ...

Updated: Oct 14, 2006 3:50pm PST

Glasgow's Parks : The name Glasgow derives from a old term meaning 'Dear Green Place'. The city possesses many fine parks only Glasgow Green and Kelvingrove Park depicted at present - others to follow

Glasgow's Parks

The name Glasgow derives from a old term meaning 'Dear Green Place'. T ...

Updated: Nov 12, 2006 10:51am PST

The Younger Botanic Gardens : A visit to the Botanic Gardens at Benmore in the Eachaig valley near Dunoon in Scotland during the rhododendron season.

The Younger Botanic Gardens

A visit to the Botanic Gardens at Benmore in the Eachaig valley near D ...

Updated: Oct 29, 2006 12:17pm PST

MV Southsea on the Clyde in 1987 : A Clydebuilt passenger vessel returns to the river after almost 40 years

MV Southsea on the Clyde in 1987

A Clydebuilt passenger vessel returns to the river after almost 40 yea ...

Updated: Oct 13, 2006 1:43pm PST

A Countess on Loch Lomond : Always a Countess, some images of the little motorship's migration from the Clyde to the bonnie, bonnie banks

A Countess on Loch Lomond

Always a Countess, some images of the little motorship's migration fro ...

Updated: Sep 27, 2006 3:44pm PST

Lake Thun and paddle steamer Blumlisalp : A trip to the westernmost of the two lakes of Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland - the Thunersee or Lake Thun

Lake Thun and paddle steamer Blumlisalp

A trip to the westernmost of the two lakes of Interlaken in the Bernes ...

Updated: Sep 20, 2006 4:01pm PST

Lake Brienz and paddle steamer Lotschberg : A trip to the easternmost of the two lakes of Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland - Brienzersee or Lake Brienz

Lake Brienz and paddle steamer Lotschberg

A trip to the easternmost of the two lakes of Interlaken in the Bernes ...

Updated: Sep 18, 2006 11:24pm PST

Lake Zurich and its steamers INCOMPLETE :

Lake Zurich and its steamers INCOMPLETE

Updated: Sep 05, 2006 3:30pm PST

The Swiss Transport Museum : A visit to the national transport museum of Switzerland in Luzern

The Swiss Transport Museum

A visit to the national transport museum of Switzerland in Luzern

Updated: Aug 18, 2006 6:30pm PST

The Pilatus Mountain Railway and the 'folding' paddle steamer : A trip on the world's steepest cogwheel railway on Mount Pilatus and under Acheregg Bridge on paddle steamer Unterwalden in Switzerland

The Pilatus Mountain Railway and the 'folding' paddle steamer

A trip on the world's steepest cogwheel railway on Mount Pilatus and u ...

Updated: Aug 24, 2006 12:47am PST

Luzern - its Lake and Steamers - Part 2 UPDATED 20_09_2006 : Views from the Vierwaldstattersee (the Lake of Lucerne), Switzerland

Luzern - its Lake and Steamers - Part 2 UPDATED 20_09_2006

Views from the Vierwaldstattersee (the Lake of Lucerne), Switzerland

Updated: Sep 20, 2006 9:13am PST

Lake Leman and its steamers : Views from the Lake of Geneva, Switzerland

Lake Leman and its steamers

Views from the Lake of Geneva, Switzerland

Updated: Aug 16, 2006 12:33pm PST

Luzern - its Lake and its Steamers - Part 1 : Views from the Vierwaldstattersee (the Lake of Lucerne), Switzerland

Luzern - its Lake and its Steamers - Part 1

Views from the Vierwaldstattersee (the Lake of Lucerne), Switzerland

Updated: Sep 05, 2006 3:44pm PST

Scottish Coasts and Shipping in 2003 : A year on Scotland's west coast and lochs.

Scottish Coasts and Shipping in 2003

A year on Scotland's west coast and lochs.

Updated: Jan 06, 2012 5:43pm PST

Paddle steamer Waverley Rebuild Phase II - 2003 : Completion Phase of the £7m heritage rebuild of the World's Last Seagoing Paddle Steamer

Paddle steamer Waverley Rebuild Phase II - 2003

Completion Phase of the £7m heritage rebuild of the World's Last Seago ...

Updated: Aug 09, 2006 6:43pm PST

Stockholm Views and Shipping : Views of the Swedish capital, its steamships and other vessels in its archipelago

Stockholm Views and Shipping

Views of the Swedish capital, its steamships and other vessels in its ...

Updated: Oct 14, 2006 4:33pm PST

Visit to St Kilda in May 1979 : A short pictorial record of a special sailing by the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry Columba from Gourock on the Firth of Clyde to the St Kilda archipelago, which lies in the North Atlantic, west of the Scottish mainland and the islands of the Hebrides. The sailing was organised to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the famous Hebridean shipping company, David MacBrayne Limited.

Visit to St Kilda in May 1979

A short pictorial record of a special sailing by the Caledonian MacBra ...

Updated: May 06, 2008 5:43am PST

Greenock Harbour Works : Construction of the Firth of Clyde (Inchgreen) Drydock, Great Harbour Ship Repair Quay and Molasses Tanker Jetty Tank Farm and Separator Compound in Greenock, Scotland the early 1962-64. Captions are by the contractors as printed on the photographic prints. Thanks to Mr Harry Renfrew for preserving this collection and making them available

Greenock Harbour Works

Construction of the Firth of Clyde (Inchgreen) Drydock, Great Harbour ...

Updated: May 08, 2008 6:16am PST

Lithgows of Port Glasgow, Shipbuilders THIS ALBUM IS INCOMPLETE : This album contains many high resolution images of ships built by the Scottish shipbuilding firm best known as 'Lithgows Limited'. The River and Firth of Clyde and its tributaries produced over 22,000 ships during the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries. Although 'Lithgows' was not one of the oldest firms it was amongst the top five in terms of the number of ships it produced. The Lithgow Group grew to become one of the largest shipbuilding and marine engine building concerns in the world for a time with several large subsidiary companies. The firm had its origins back in 1874 when Joseph Russell leased the Bay Yard in Port Glasgow with partners Anderson Rodger and William T Lithgow from the shipbuildng firm of Cunliffe & Dunlop. It is believed that Russell had previously built vessels at Ladyburn, Greenock but no records exist on these ships. In 1879, Russell & Company, as it was then known, purchased the Cartsdyke Mid Yard in Greenock and two years later they acquired the Kingston Shipyard in Port Glasgow from Henry Murray. When the partnership was dissolved in 1891, Russell retired, Rodger took over the Bay Yard and W T Lithgow assumed control of the Kingston and Cartsdyke Yards, the latter being sold to Greenock Dockyard Company in 1900. In 1908, William Todd Lithgow died - a more detailed biography is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Todd_Lithgow#cite_note-6. In 2008, one ship designed by W T Lithgow survives, the sailing vessel Falls of Clyde, which is preserved at Hawaiian Maritime Centre at Honolulu - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_of_Clyde W T Lithgow's two sons, James and Henry, assumed control and bought the Bay yard in 1911. Four years later Russell's took over the old established Port Glasgow shipbuilder Robert Duncan & Co and its East Yard although the yard continued to trade under Duncan's name until 1931. In 1917 the Lithgow brothers acquired a controlling holding in the well established marine engine-building firm of David Rowan & Company whose substantial works were based at Elliot Street in the Finnieston District of Glasgow. In 1918 Russell & Company was renamed Lithgows Ltd In 1919 Lithgows purchased two neighbouring shipbuiders, namely Dunlop, Bremner & Co and their Inch Shipyard which was just west of Lithgows' Kingston Yard and Wm Hamilton & Company and its Glen Shipyard but, again, both subsidiaries continued to trade under their own names for many years - Dunlop, Bremner continued to trade as a shipbuilder until until 1926 and Hamilton until 1963. In 1920 the firm purchased steel stockholders James Dunlop & Company thus obtaining a secure supply of building materials for their growing shipbuilding empire. In 1923, two significant acquisitions were made. Firstly, Lithgows purchased the closed yard of Murdoch & Murray, thus obtaining control of the great majority of the Port Glasgow water front from Bay in the east to Inch in the west. They also bought the old marine enginebuilding firm of Rankin & Blackmore Ltd and their famous Eagle Foundry in Baker Street, Greenock. Rankin & Blackmore traded as a subsidiary of Lithgows for the following 41 years. In 1928 Lithgows purchased the Irvine based shipbuilder Ayrshire Dockyard Ltd. However, the later 1920s and 1930s brought a dearth of shipbuilding work during the Great Depression and a period of shipyard retrenchment followed. The Inch shipyard was sold to National Shipbuilders Security and 'sterilised' for 40 years in 1933 and the Bay shipyard was closed and demolished in 1935. The rationalisation programme, covering all of UK shipbuilding, was proposed and greatly influenced by Sir James Lithgow. In 1935 Lithgows took control of the huge shipbuilding and engineering concern, the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan, which had its origins in the mid 19th Century and had been previously influenced by such prominent shipbuilding figures as John Elder and William Pearce. In 1937 the Robert Duncan East Shipyard which had closed in 1931 was reopened under Lithgows name. After a busy WW2, in 1949, Sir James Lithgow, one of the greatest British industrialists of the first half of the 20th Century but by then in failing health, set up Scottish Ore Carriers Ltd, a firm that was to be a significant customer of the Port Glasgow yards in the ensuing years. In 1961 Lithgows took control of Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd and its Newark shipyard but Ferguson continued to trade as a separate entity until the nationalisation of British shipbuilding in 1977. In 1963 the East Yard was merged with Wm Hamilton & Company's Glen Yard, acquiring a 225t Arrol 'Goliath' gantry crane. In 1963 the David Rowan engine-building subsidiary was merged with Fairfield's engine-building to form Fairfield Rowan Ltd but, in the following year, Rankin & Blackmore closed its century-old Eagle Foundry in Greenock and in 1965 the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company was placed in receivership. Eventually the Govan shipbuilding operation continued outside Lithgows control as the new company, Fairfield (Glasgow) Ltd. However there was no lasting reprieve for engine-building subsidiary Fairfield Rowan which ceased operations in 1966. The Elliot Street engine works in Glasgow were taken over and operated by the Scottish Machine Tool Corporation until the 1980s. By the late 1980s all trace of it had disappeared under light industrial redevelopment operations. In 1966 Lithgows purchased the Inchgreen Drydock from Firth of Clyde Drydock Company. It occupied the site of Lithgows' former Inch yard. In 1968 Lithgows merged with the Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Company of Greenock, the oldest surviving shipbuilding firm in the world at that time, under a holding company named Scott Lithgow the Port Glasgow operation continued to trade separately as Lithgows (1969) Ltd. In 1970 Lithgows (1969) Ltd purchased the Campbeltown Shipyard Ltd. By 1972 the Glen, East and Kingston Yard had been amalgamated effectively into one modern shipbuilding facility. In 1977 Scott Lithgow Ltd (and its Scotts, Lithgow, Ferguson and Scotts of Bowling subsidiaries) were absorbed into the state owned British Shipbuilders Ltd. The Bowling shipyard was closed shortly thereafter as part of BS rationalisation. From 1981 the former Lithgow Kingston/Glen Yard was operated by Scott Lithgow (Offshore) Ltd.In 1983 the former Lithgow yards at Kingston / Glen were sold to Trafalgar House plc but were unused after 1987. The yards were partly dimantled in the period 1987-95 and in 1997 the 225t Arrol Gantry Crane succumbed, reluctantly,to the demolisher's explosives - the last symbol of the great Lithgow and Scott shipbuilding empires, responsible for building almost 2000 ships, finally disappeared from Inverclyde after almost 300 years. By 2008 substantial parts of the former Lithgow shipbuilding sites had been redeveloped for retail and residential purposes. After 1977 Lithgow business interests diversified into hotels and electronics, however, they retained some interest in shipbuilding with subsidiary Buckie Shipyard Ltd in north-east Scotland. 'Lithgows' built over 1000 ships in Port Glasgow - this album serves as a small reminder of some of those ships and, hopefully, the people that built them.

Lithgows of Port Glasgow, Shipbuilders THIS ALBUM IS INCOMPLETE

This album contains many high resolution images of ships built by the ...

Updated: Jun 14, 2008 4:47am PST

Waverley in the Hebrides 2009 : Voyages of the World's Last Seagoing Paddle Steamer in the waters around Scotland's Western Highlands and Islands NOTE: Initially only 2009 pictures of Waverley's most recent visit - in the near future pictures of all of her visits to the Hebrides since the very first one in 1981 will appear here check back!

Waverley in the Hebrides 2009

Voyages of the World's Last Seagoing Paddle Steamer in the waters arou ...

Updated: Jun 04, 2009 5:17pm PST

From Princes Dock to Pacific Quay : This album shows the transformation of the area on the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow from a busy international dock area through a period of dereliction to a temporary Festival area in the summer of 1988 then to media and leisure area in the early years of the 21st Century.

From Princes Dock to Pacific Quay

This album shows the transformation of the area on the south bank of t ...

Updated: Jun 30, 2008 5:33am PST

Polmadie to Lake Malawi : In May 2009, a 111 year old ship, built in Glasgow, Scotland, was drydocked on the shores of Lake Malawi in Central Africa, at the start of an ambitious project to restore the vessel to active service and convert it into a floating medical centre. This gallery briefly relates the story of the SS Chauncy Maples from her creation in one of the most unusual of the many shipyards of Victorian Clydeside to the present day. It is hoped that the ship, converted to run on bio-fuel, will soon be able to bring much needed medical assistance in an area where land travel is difficult and the average life expectancy of the native people is only around 36 years.

Polmadie to Lake Malawi

In May 2009, a 111 year old ship, built in Glasgow, Scotland, was dryd ...

Updated: Jun 25, 2009 1:14pm PST

An Industrial Heritage in Adverts :

An Industrial Heritage in Adverts

Updated: Oct 04, 2009 4:04pm PST

The Beardmore Sculpture : The Beardmore Scupture was installed at the corner of Beardmore Street and Dumbarton Road in Dalmuir (about 6 miles west of Glasgow City centre) in the spring of 2010. The sculpture was commissioned by local residents associations from local artist Tom MacKendrick who had 'served his time' (was apprenticed) at the nearby John Brown shipyard in Clydebank. The Scupture is sited close to the location of the former Dalmuir Naval Construction Works, which was opened in 1906, as a brand new state-of-the-art shipbuilding yard for the construction of the then Capital ships of the Royal Navy - the massive battleships and battlecruisers. The Dalmuir Works was the brainchild of William Beardmore, later Sir William Beardmore and, later still, Lord Invernairn. Beardmore was the owner of a vast industrial engineering organisation which included the massive Parkhead Forge in the east end of Glasgow, one of Britain's most significant producers of armoured plate and heavy ordnance and artillary, and the Inchinnan Airship building complex near Renfrew. At its peak the Beardmore empire employed around 40,000 people on Clydeside - in addition to heavy steel castings, warships and airships the Beardmore empire also produced steam locomotives, combat aircraft, tanks and military equipment, motor cycles, lorries and cars, steam boilers annd engines. The crowning glory of the Beardmore Sculpture is a magnificent model of the enormous Royal Sovereign-class battleship HMS Ramillies which was built by Beardmore at Dalmuir iduring the Great War.

The Beardmore Sculpture

The Beardmore Scupture was installed at the corner of Beardmore Street ...

Updated: Jun 19, 2010 5:43pm PST

General :

General

Updated: Jun 25, 2010 11:47am PST

SS Torch : Photographs of the wonderful steam engined buoy and lighthouse tender Torch, built for the Clyde Lighthouse Trust of Port Glasgow in 1924 by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company of Troon, Scotland. Torch was built at Ailsa's Ayr Shipyard (Yard No 387). With the amalgamation of various independent trusts (Clyde Lighthouse Trust, Clyde Navigation Trust, Clyde Pilotage Trust, Cart Navigation Trust, Greenock Harbour Trust, etc) into the Clyde Port Authority in 1966 the vessel passed into the ownership of the latter body. Clyde Port Authority was converted into a private equity company, Clydeport plc, by a management buyout in the 1980s and it is now part of Peel Ports, a division of the Peel property development group. Torch superceded an earlier vessel of the same name, built by Robert Duncan & Co at Port Glasgow in 1882. These photographs were taken by the late Mr William Davies when he was Civil Engineer to the CPA, probably during 1968. They are reproduced by kind permission of Mr Davies' son, Mr Bill Davies. The pictures depict the positioning of a new (or newly refurbished navigation buoy on the Firth of Clyde off Skelmorlie. Torch of 1924 was taken out of service in 1980. Much of her internal decorative woodwork was removed at the former Harland & Wolff fitting out basin in Govan, Glasgow for further use. She was then moved to the W H Arnott Young & Co shipbreaking yard at Dalmuir Basin (former fitting out basin of William Beardmore & Company's Dalmuir Naval Construction Works) for demolition. Unfortunately the vessel sank in the basin just prior to her demolition http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydeshipping/readmessages.asp?message=51416&posted=2003 During the demolition period the brass ports from her forward and aft accommodation was purchased by the Waverley Steam Navigation Company to be fitted on the four sponson houses of the paddle steamer Waverley, replacing the earlier rectangular windows. This alteration was to meet a requirement of the DTI (now MCA) due to the paddler's operation in more open waters that those for which she was originally built. The ports from SS Torch were transferred to the new sponsons fitted to Waverley during the first phase of her major life-extersion rebuild in 2000. They can still be seen on the paddler. Two CPA-owned vessels have subsequently borne the name Torch

SS Torch

Photographs of the wonderful steam engined buoy and lighthouse tender ...

Updated: Aug 10, 2010 8:48pm PST

Hong Kong 2010 : A snapshot of Hong Kong taken at the start and finish of a business trip to 'Asia's World City' in August 2010 - not a first time visit but the first quite a while

Hong Kong 2010

A snapshot of Hong Kong taken at the start and finish of a business tr ...

Updated: Sep 05, 2010 1:50pm PST

Outer Hebrides 2010 : After many years away we (my father and myself) revisited the Outer Hebrides in 2010. We had family holidays there in the 1970s. Originally intending to start the tour from Oban on board CalMac's ferry to Lochboisdale, we had to change plans due to non availability of space on the ferries caused my a major breakdown. Instead we travelled from Glasgow to Mallaig and on to Uig in Skye where were spent the first night. Next morning, a depressingly dull and misty day we travelled by MV Hebrides to Locmaddy in North Uist. For the next two days we explored the Uists, Benbecula and Eriskay from a base near Balivanich. Next we crossed to Harris on MV Loch Portain and spent two days on Harris and Lewis before returning to the Scottish mainland at Ullapool on MV Isle of Lewis

Outer Hebrides 2010

After many years away we (my father and myself) revisited the Outer He ...

Updated: Sep 29, 2010 5:49pm PST

Clyde-built Ocean Liners : Photographs and details of ocean liners built on the River Clyde in Scotland

Clyde-built Ocean Liners

Photographs and details of ocean liners built on the River Clyde in Sc ...

Updated: Mar 25, 2012 5:59pm PST

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