Blog at the Ballast

Friday photo - Silver Jubilee

2012-02-03T17:19:00.000Z

Today's image is of an A4 class locomotive called Silver Link built to pull a train called the Silver Jubilee built for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). It was made in the year of King George V's 'Silver Jubilee', and was painted silver throughout and it looks very futuristic.

It entered service on September 30, 1935, travelling between London King's Cross and Newcastle. More information about the A4 class and Silver Jubilee service is available here.

Friday photo - letterheads

2012-01-27T13:37:00.013Z

Last week, I came to the end of the scans I had done of the prints from the Dan McDonald collection - we ended with Y for Yacht. I now need to think about what items from the collections we hold ourselves would make good Friday photos for the blog.

We have a lovely collection of headed note paper from a variety of businesses that Bill collected which is something of a curiosity with low archival value so probably not going to end up as a formal collection. This is an example of a letter from the British Motor Boat Manufacturing Company to Robert McAllister & Son, dated 28 May 1937.

The other option is the coloured glass plate negatives by Dan McDonald that we recently received to add to our Dan McDonald collection. Or we have drawers of ship postcards that Bill collected which could be scanned as well.

I'll be having a think and planning the project next week so by Friday I will have decided on a collection and have the first items scanned to share on flickr and here.

The Ballast Trust joins Archon

2012-01-25T09:33:00.009Z

I'm very pleased to say that the Ballast Trust now has an official entry on the Archon Directory which is a list of UK archive repositories.

Although, we are very much not a traditional repository with collections and operating a public searchroom, we do have some collections that are part of the Trust and are not held by us for processing. Being part of Archon and the National Register of Archives means that we can make information about those few collections which will be staying with us permanently more easily available and improve the chances of people finding out about them.

UCS 40th Anniversary Celebrations

2012-01-24T14:05:00.000Z

Image

As part of Celtic Connections there is a special commemorative concert being held to mark the 40th anniversary of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders' work-in of 1971–2.

This commemorates the support that folk musicians gave to the work-in by holding benefit gigs.

Friday photo - Yachts

2012-01-20T14:29:00.000Z

Today's photograph is of an unknown yacht found in the Dan McDonald collection.

Friday photo - X

2012-01-13T12:46:00.000Z

The first Friday photo of 2012 is a puffer called X built by Scott and Sons of Bowling in 1882.

Specification details are available on the Clydebuilt site. Details of its career can be found on this great site about puffers here which tells us that it was built for the Leith, Hull and Hamburg Steam Packet Co. and would have worked to ship "cargo along the Monklands and Forth and Clyde Canals between Port Dundas in Glasgow and the ports on the Firth of Forth".

When I first scanned in this image I thought that it couldn't have actually been called X and that it had been labelled as such because the name was unknown. I was wrong and that was its name!

This image is also the last of the batch of prints from the Dan McDonald collection so from next month I'll be scanning a different batch of photos or items for the blog.

The Men Who Built the Liners

2012-01-11T11:39:00.000Z

The BBC has been reshowing a programme about Clyde Shipbuilding on BBC Four this week.
The Men Who Built the Liners is available to view on iplayer. The programme is about:

Many of the most famous passenger liners in history were built in the British Isles, several in the shipyards along the banks of the Clyde. This series combines personal accounts and archive footage to evoke a vivid picture of the unique culture that grew up in the Clyde shipyards. Despite some of the harshest working conditions in industrial history and dire industrial relations, it was here that the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2 were built. Such was the Clyde shipbuilders' pride in their work, and the strength of public support, that in 1971 they were able to defy a government attempt to close them down and win the right to carry on shipbuilding.

It is available to watch on iplayer until Tuesday 17th January.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T08:39:00.000Z

Christmas greetings from all of us here at the Ballast Trust!

Our Christmas E-card above shows the Empress of Britain sailing past a faint iceberg in 1922 from our Dan McDonald collection. She was built in 1906 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company for the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. Specification details are available from the Clydebuilt site.

We are going to be closing on the afternoon of Wednesday 21st and will be open again after the holidays on Wednesday 4th January 2012.

Friday photo - Warrior

2011-12-16T15:23:00.000Z

A picture of a lovely wee tug the Warrior built by Built by Scotts of Bowling in 1935.

Specification details available from clydebuilt database here and lots more information about its career here.

Friday photo - Weather Observer

2011-12-09T16:48:00.000Z

This weeks Friday photo is appropriate given yesterday's crazy weather. It is the ship Weather Observer. She was built as HMS Marguerite by Hall Russell & Co. Ltd in Aberdeen in 1940.

The Weather Observer was the first of the post-war UK Ocean Weather Ships. She was converted to the Weather Observer at H.M. Dockyard Sheerness and renamed on 31 July 1947 by the Secretary of State for Air in Shadwell Docks, London and sailed in 1947 to take up her station in the North Atlantic.

You can read more about the history of weather ships online here and also in this book.

Friday photo - Comet

2011-12-08T15:53:00.001Z

On a Thursday...

I got waylaid this week with holidays and the crazy weather so here is a very belated Friday photo which is a scan of one of the plans used to build the replica PS Comet in 1962.

I've been uploading some different photos to the flickr stream as resources for a history of the Ballast Trust that we are getting designed and printed at the moment.

Friday photo - HMS Vanguard

2011-11-25T10:36:00.000Z

Today's photo is of HMS Vanguard built by John Browns in 1944.

Specification details are available from Clydebuilt.

Friday photo - Vehicular Ferry No. 2

2011-11-18T09:30:00.000Z

Today's photo is the first of a new batch of 'Us' and 'Vs' and is the Vehicular Ferry No. 2.

I have no idea who the builder is or the date so any suggestions would be welcome.

There is some information about the vehicular ferries on this site which states that in the 1950’s when vehicular ferries provided the cross-river service on the Clyde their odd appearance is explained:
"by the fact that they were essentially large floating lifts. The vehicle deck could be raised or lowered according to the tidal level at fixed docking points."

Friday photo - Talisman

2011-11-04T16:45:00.002Z

Today's photo is of the Talisman a paddlesteamer built by A & J Inglis, Pointhouse Glasgow in 1896.

Specification details available on-line from Clydebuilt.

Friday photo - The Monarch

2011-10-28T16:15:00.002+01:00

Today's photo is of The Monarch built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon in 1904.

Specification details available from Clydebuilt.

Friday photo - Thunderer

2011-10-21T15:34:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is the first of the new batch of 'T' vessels that I've scanned and put up on flickr. It is the Thunderer built by Bow McLachlan & Company of Paisley in 1920.

Specification details available from Clydebuilt.

Friday photo - Spartan

2011-10-14T16:25:00.001+01:00

Today's photo is of the Spartan, a lovely wee puffer built by J and J Hay, Kirkintilloch as VIC 18 in 1942.

This great puffer can now be seen at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine where she is on display.

Specification details are available here.

The next batch of photographs for October will appear next week.

Friday photo - Sir William H Raeburn

2011-10-07T14:47:00.000+01:00

A belated Friday photo showing a fairly small ship with a long name. The dredger Sir William H Raeburn built by Ferguson Shipbuilders, Port Glasgow in 1928.

The dredger was built for the Clyde Navigation Trust and Sir William Raeburn was the deputy chairman of the Trust which explains its name. More information about Sir William can be found here, including his links to many other shipping organisations.

Specification details available from Clydebuilt.

Friday photo - City of Rome

2011-09-30T13:34:00.000+01:00

I will be back from my holiday in New York today and to link up with that have decided to include this image of the City of Rome built by the New York Shipbuilding Company in 1911.

She was built for the Merchants & Miners Transport Company as the Suwannee and sold to the Savannah Line in 1917.

Friday photo - St Mungo

2011-09-23T18:10:00.004+01:00

Today's photo is the St Mungo, a fire boat built by H McLean, Renfrew in 1959.

The boat provided firefighting cover for Glasgow Harbour and was owned by Glasgow Fire Service Marine Division until 1975. Specification details available from clydebuilt database.

Steam loco Tornado comes to Glasgow

2011-09-21T13:57:00.001+01:00

This afternoon the steam locomotive the Tornado will be making a visit to Glasgow Central.

It will arrive from Crewe at 14:23 and will stay on the platform for about 30mins before going to Mossend Yard to be serviced.
It will be back in Glasgow Central for 17:40 before leaving for Crewe at 18:23.

The Tornado is a steam locomotive completed in 2008 as an example of the peppercorn class A1 and built to the 1940s design.

Image from here

Friday photo - Stormlight

2011-09-16T17:28:00.000+01:00

Today's image is of the puffer Stormlight which I got confused with this one built by Ferguson Shipbuilders, Port Glasgow in 1937.

I was wrong and thanks to the magic of Flickr, I now know that it was built by Yarwood's of Northwich in Cheshire in 1957.

She was built for Ross & Marshall and more details about the vessel and its career are available here.

New images

2011-09-15T16:14:00.001+01:00

Slightly delayed by all the doors open day preparations, I've spent this afternoon scanning and uploading the next batch of Dan McDonald photographs - the 'Ss'.

There are 22 new photos, including this one which was the oldest ship uploaded - an 1866 paddle tug called SAMSON

Enjoy!

Doors open day success

2011-09-12T16:43:00.002+01:00

We had a wonderful 53 people battle through the miserable weather in Johnstone yesterday to visit us. Thank you to everyone who came to see our display.

We had over 60 items out on display which have all been put back now so we've got about 50 metres of table space to work on again. It was a lot quicker putting it away then setting it up!

It was really nice to have people in to get a preview of some of the collections that we work on and it got us all enthusiastic about processing some of the ones further down our list - particularly the British Corporation ship plans which are a complete mish-mash of vessel types but full of interesting things.

Friday photo - the Ballast Trust

2011-09-09T12:56:00.000+01:00

This Sunday is our doors open day. We've all been working really hard to clear as much space as possible and then display as many examples of what we do as possible.

The main workroom shown below has been transformed and we've got items on show from the railway, shipbuilding and engineering collections we have here at the moment.

We're open Sunday 11 September from 10am to 4pm and we hope to see lots of people there.

Patricia Cain - The Riveted Eye

2011-09-05T12:24:00.002+01:00

Patricia Cain is giving a talk at the House for an Art Lover on Sunday 25th September. The Rivited Eye will discuss:

her experience of being the unofficial artist-in-residence during the construction of Glasgow’s new Riverside Museum and her work for her highly acclaimed recent exhibition, Drawing on Riverside at Kelvingrove Art Gallery.

There is also an opportunity to see some of Trish's work here if you missed the exhibition at Kelvingrove.

Image from here

Friday photo - Roman

2011-09-02T15:05:00.002+01:00

Too busy this week getting ready for doors open next Sunday to scan in the next batch of Dan McDonald photos - sorry! Instead, I'll offer up an extra example from the 'Rs'

Today's photo is the puffer Roman built by J & J Hay, boat builders based in Kirkintilloch in 1904.

I've featured her before but thought I'd add this one in as when I uploaded it to flickr, another user came back with the information that they thought this was taken at Blackwaterfoot, Arran.

Manufacturing Week

2011-09-01T11:10:00.000+01:00

Ooops, I meant to blog about Manufacturing Week at the beginning of the week.

However, the telegraph had a good article about the history of manufacturing over the weekend which is worth reading and they have been writing about the subject all week as part of their analysis of British manufacturing.

Friday photo - Rob Roy

2011-08-26T15:21:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is the Rob Roy built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon in 1896.

If you zoom in on the photo you can see the detail of people on the pier and the crates from J Alexander, Glasgow.

Renfrewshire Doors Open Days

2011-08-25T11:04:00.000+01:00

The full programme for Renfrewshire's doors open days weekend is now available to download from the doors open days website here.

This is a screenshot of our entry in the programme:

The eagled eyed among you will note that we are said to provide a resume service for business archives! This looks to be another example of the pesky autocorrect at work and should of course read rescue service.

We are preparing our own leaflet to circulate locally and hope to welcome many people into our offices on the 11th.

TS Queen Mary

2011-08-24T15:28:00.000+01:00

The steamer Queen Mary is up for sale today in an online auction by Capital Boats, sale details here. She was built by William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton in 1933.

There's a news article on STV about it here and in the evening times here.

Warship Histories Project

2011-08-23T10:15:00.001+01:00

The National Maritime Museum is looking for help with its Warship Histories Project. They are looking to harness the knowledge their users have about their collections to enhance the existing information they have on over 20,000 British warships from about 1500 to 1950. This information includes:

The data includes the name, type and launch date of almost every British warship in the time period concerned. For many ships there is also data on the shipyard which built a vessel, and details of the service history and captains of the ship concerned. For some ships further technical details (for instance, construction materials or dimensions) are available.

However, it is not complete and they are going to work with wikipedia to capture knowledge from experts in the wider community.

You can read more about it on their blog.

Friday photo - Renfrew Ferry

2011-08-19T16:42:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is of the Renfrew Ferry, this ship was built by Fleming and Ferguson of Paisley in 1952. She was a river chain ferry and took cars which was a new development in the 1950s until then the renfrew ferry had been passenger only.

Specification details are available from the Clydebuilt site here.

I think she now operates as a static leisure venue at Anderson Quay, known as The Ferry.

Doors open day - 11th September

2011-08-19T09:44:00.000+01:00

We've started the preparations for our doors open day on Sunday 11th September, just over three weeks away now!

As part of that, we're going to be distributing flyers locally to encourage as many of our neighbours and residents of Johnstone to visit us at some point on the day. You can download the flyer here and it has a map of how to find us on it as well.

Download the flyer

Friday photo - Rosslyn

2011-08-12T09:14:00.016+01:00

Today's photo is of the Rosslyn, a bucket dredger built by Lobnitz and Co. of Renfrew in 1912.

A bucket dredger is equipped with a bucket dredge, which is a device that picks up sediment by mechanical means, often with many circulating buckets attached to a wheel or chain. Very detailed information on bucket dredgers, how they work, their history and plans is available here.

Specification details are available from Clydebuilt database.

Doors Open Days 2011

2011-08-10T15:33:00.000+01:00

In a month's time on Sunday 11th September, the Ballast Trust will be opening its doors as part of Renfrewshire's doors open day weekend. We'll be open from 10 am to 4 pm.

We'll be welcoming you into the courtyard and behind the big red doors to find out what we do here, see some of the treasures we're currently working on and learn a bit about technical archives and why they are such an important part of the bigger picture of Scottish economic and social history.

I'll be blogging more about the exact collections we'll have on display in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

Friday photo - Rivercloy

2011-08-05T14:34:00.000+01:00

Today's Friday photo is the Rivercloy, a Clyde puffer built in Larne, Northern Ireland by Larne Shipbuilders in 1910.

She was built for G & G Hamilton of Brodick.

New photos - 'Rs'

2011-08-04T11:48:00.000+01:00

The August batch of photos have been scanned and are up on our flickr pages. We're up to the 'Rs' which is a small batch but includes one of my favourites of the puffer ROMAN unloading potatoes at Kilchattan Bay. I've blogged about it before so can't use it as a Friday Photo for this week and will have to pick something else for tomorrow.

Image from here

Rail Workers Records

2011-08-03T14:14:00.000+01:00

The National Archives announced today that the records of railway workers are now available online via Ancestry. At the Ballast Trust the railway records we are working on tend to be the production drawings and often all you get of the person who drew them is a set of initials in the title box.

The information now online has come from the TNA's Railway Employment Records, 1833-1963. This is a collection of over 2 millions employement records from a number of historic railway companies in England, Scotland, and Wales.

All of the railways included in this database were once private companies that later came under authority of the British Transport Commission with the 1947 Transport Act. The collection features selected records from the following companies:
RAIL226: Great Central Railway Company
RAIL264: Great Western Railway Company
RAIL397: London and North Eastern Railway Company
RAIL410: London and North Western Railway Company
RAIL411: London and South Western Railway Company
RAIL414: London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
RAIL415: London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company (formerly the East Kent Railway)
RAIL426: London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company
RAIL463: Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company
RAIL491: Midland Railway Company
RAIL1156: Special Collections: Retired Railway Officers' Society

Approximately 50% of the books cover the Great Western Railway, while the books covering the London and North Western Railway are more dense with records. Most records are prior to 1949, though some date later.

The most common record type in the database is a staff register. Others include station transfers, pension and accident records (which can include death date), apprentice records (which can include father's name), caution books, and memos.

Read more about it here on the TNA site or start searching here with Ancestry.

Friday photo - RMS Queen Mary

2011-07-29T08:57:00.000+01:00

Today we end July's Friday photo with an image of the Queen Mary leaving the Clyde in 1936. She was built by John Brown & Co.

We have lots of others showing the ship close up here but this one of the two boys watching it go past is my favourite.

Full specification details are available from Clydebuilt.

Annual updates

2011-07-27T17:17:00.001+01:00

As well as writing an Annual Report for the Trustees and clients and friends of the Ballast Trust to receive. I also put together a formal update for clients on what collections we have of theirs and what the status is of each of the collections.

Some of the collections we work on are pretty big and the work often takes years - particularly when we are relying on volunteers to help us process it. Last week I wrote up the annual updates for 2010/11 for our current client repositories - National Records of Scotland, Glasgow City Archives, Glasgow University Archive Services, Edinburgh City Archives, McLean Museum, Cody Images and Caledonian Railway Association. Some of the updates were a little disheartening as it seemed like not a lot had changed but I had to remind myself that collections with 1000s of items in them take a long time to complete.

So while, the majority of the collections we're working on are all still in progress there are a few here at the Ballast that are finished and ready to go back to their repositories. I'm going to post about these later this week to highlight their value as collections.

Friday photo - Beardmore Shipyard

2011-07-22T18:01:00.000+01:00

Today's photograph comes from a small collection of photographs that Bill Lind kept which are of the William Beardmore and Company yard.

Friday photo - Gordon Castle

2011-07-15T08:11:00.000+01:00

I scanned some images of locomotives this week and thought it would make a nice change to use one for the Friday Photo this week rather than more ships.

This is an image of the Gordon Castle, a Highland Railway locomotive built in 1900 by Dübs & Co., Glasgow.

Friday photo - Queen Alexandra

2011-07-08T13:39:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is of the Queen Alexandra Built by William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton in 1902.

Full specification details available from Clydebuilt database here and more information about her career here, including the fact that she ended life as the Princess Patricia presumably after this Princess Patricia.

Tall ships come to Greenock

2011-07-06T16:58:00.000+01:00

This weekend the Tall Ships Races will be coming to Greenock from Sat 9th to Monday 11th.

There is a list of the ships coming here.

We've got lots of great photographs of sailing ships in our Dan McDonald collection on flickr, such as this one of the L'avenir.

Friday photo - Queen Empress

2011-07-01T15:14:00.001+01:00

This week's Friday Photo is of the Queen Empress. A paddle steamer built by Murdoch & Murray of Port Glasgow in 1912.

Specification details and career history are available on the Clydebuilt site here. More information about her can be found here and information about Murdoch and Murray here.

Maury and the Menu: A Brief History of the Cunard Steamship Company

2011-07-01T11:50:00.000+01:00

There's a very detailed blog post about the Cunard Steamship Co. over on the New York Public Library's What's on the Menu blog. It is called Maury and the Menu: A Brief History of the Cunard Steamship Company and discusses in depth the Mauretania.

Luxury Liners and their Carpets

2011-06-26T11:11:00.001+01:00

There's an interesting post over on the University of Glasgow Archive blog about the carpet designs used on luxury liners like the Queen Mary and Aquitania and created by James Templeton & Co.

{Image from here}

Find out more about the Stoddard Templeton project on their blog and see lots of photos in their flickr set.

Friday photo - Paladin

2011-06-24T10:36:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is the Paladin. She was a tug built by Murdoch & Murray of Port Glasgow in 1913.

Full specification details are available from Clydebuilt.

Govan Ferry returns

2011-06-22T10:34:00.000+01:00

With the opening of the Riverside Museum yesterday, there is now a ferry service running between Govan and the new Riverside Museum on the banks of Yorkhill Quay. The service is run by Clyde Cruises and details about the timetable are here.

The BBC has a great article on the history of the Govan Ferry.

Friday photo - Princess Kathleen

2011-06-17T13:58:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is of the Princess Kathleen built by John Brown & Co., Clydebank in 1924. She was owned and operated by Canadian Pacific Steamships.

We had a lovely comment this week from someone on flickr who saw it on our pages and mentioned that it was sunk in 1952. There are lots of pictures and information about the sinking on this blog and this great colour picture also on flickr from born1945 user.

Princess Kathleen from born1945

Adopt a station

2011-06-15T16:57:00.001+01:00

Found out about ScotRail's Adopt a Station scheme today via the Doors Open Days folks. The scheme finds community or start-up uses for vacant accommodation at ScotRail stations.

Perfect opportunity I thought for some shots of North Johnstone Station plans:

Johnstone Station (click to enlarge)

Johnstone Booking Office (click to enlarge)

Friday photo - Pibroch

2011-06-10T09:57:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is of one of my favorite boats, the Pibroch. I've blogged other images of it unloading whisky and the later 1957 Pibroch transporting a van.

This Pibroch was built by Scotts of Bowling in 1923 and was one of a breed of Clyde Puffers.

Internet wizardry from RCAHMS

2011-06-08T15:33:00.000+01:00

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland have a very snazzy feature on the aerial section of their website that allows you to compare shipyards on the Clyde in 1947 with today.

Screenshot from here

Thanks to their great twitter feed for the heads up.

New photos

2011-06-07T18:21:00.000+01:00

The 'Ps' are up on flickr. For some reason there are a lot of pictures of sailing ships in this batch, the Pommern, Padua, Passat, Parma and the Ponape

Friday photo - Pyrrhus

2011-06-03T13:23:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is a great up close view of the steam ship Pyrrhus which was built by Cammell, Laird & Co. in Birkenhead in 1949.

She was part of the fleet of ships belonging to the Ocean Steam Ship Company Limited which was formed from the Elder Dempster Line and later became the Blue Funnel Line

Annual Report 2010/11

2011-06-02T16:56:00.002+01:00

It is Annual Report time of year and I have attempted to make it look a bit snazzier with some pictures. You can read all about our past year (April 2010 to March 2011)

Annual Report 2010/11 (large file, may take time to download)
Annual Report 2010/11 (smaller file, poorer image quality)

Friday photo - Opawa

2011-05-27T14:32:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is of the Opawa, a tanker built by Barclay Curle & Company, Glasgow in 1964.

Specification details available from clydebuilt database here.

Fairfields' Shipyard

2011-05-27T13:45:00.000+01:00

Interesting article in i-on magazine about the restoration of Fairfield Shipyard offices by Govan Workspace.

Read article here

Friday photo - Onyx

2011-05-20T13:35:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is a coaster called Onyx which I think was built by Scotts of Bowling either in 1910 or 1903. Without pictures to compare to on the Clydebuilt site, I find it pretty tricky to decide.

Whilst doing some research on Scotts of Bowling for another collection we have recently received I came across this site which is interested in capturing knowledge people have about the company, particularly for the years 1958-1965.

Dunure Harbour 200 years old

2011-05-19T11:50:00.002+01:00

The harbour at Dunure is celebrating its 200th anniversary this week. The Dunure Harbour Committee Association's website has details about all the events being planned but they include on Friday 20th May crafts such as Knotting, Fishing Net making, Rope splicing and Lobster Pot making in the harbour and on boats. As well as games, stories and a quiz. Saturday 21st is the main day with many different activities including a re-enactment of the charter of ownership being landed by boat and formally presented to Thomas Kennedy of Dunure.

You can read an article about it in the Ayrshire Post here.

The Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments also has some photos of the harbour taken in the 1970s I think - view them here.

The Ballast Trust has some great photographs of Dunure Harbour and Boats as part of our Dan McDonald collection which we scanned in response to an enquiry. Here is a selection all of which were taken in 1939. (click to enlarge)

We also have some older mystery photos of the Harbour and Castle which we have scanned and uploaded to our flickr page.

Lloyd's Marine News

2011-05-16T22:35:00.000+01:00

A great new resource for shipping research - the marine news contained in Lloyd's List has been indexed by the Guildhall Library in London (available here)

And an academic called Michael Dun has recently scanned in the marine news and both it and the link to the index are available here

{image of 1797 February 3rd edition from here}

Thanks to Iain Flett for the posting to archives-nra about this.

Friday photo - No. 12

2011-05-13T12:15:00.010+01:00

This week's photo is of a ship simply called 'No. 12'

It looks to be a barge.

Drawing (on) Riverside

2011-05-09T14:47:00.000+01:00

The Ballast Trust and Duncan in particular, was involved since late 2010 in working with Patricia Cain to understand the processes of technical drawing within shipyard offices using some of the collections we have here and Duncan's own knowledge of technical drawing.

This has been a very interesting process and new experience for us and the exhibition Drawing (on) Riverside opened at Kelvingrove Museum last month on 14 April and will be available until August. From the Kelvingrove site:

Patricia Cain is the Glasgow-based lawyer turned artist who recently won both the prestigious Threadneedle Prize and the Aspect Prize for her forensically detailed studies of the construction of Glasgow's Riverside Museum. Now she brings these studies together in Drawing (on) Riverside, an exploration of the different phases of the museum's construction, through the mediums of drawing, painting and sculpture.

Patricia collaborated with others to create the exhibition and this video from Ann Nisbet's blog tells you more about the process of the construction of the architectural installation part of the exhibition.

Friday photo - Naiad

2011-05-06T16:39:00.003+01:00

Today's photo is the Naiad built by Swans at their Kelvin Dock, Maryhill in 1875.

Naiad

She was built for and operated by Morris Munro & Co. who were coal merchants who had the contract to supply MacBrayne's steamers, taking cargos of coal from Ayrshire to, mainly, Oban. Return trips were often made profitable by them bringing slate back from the quarries on Luing, Easdale and Belnahua to meet the demands of the tenament builders in Glasgow. [Info on Morris Munro & Co from here]

Friday photo - Duchess of Rothesay

2011-05-03T09:58:00.003+01:00

A belated Friday photo after the bank holiday weekend and one with a tenuous connection to the events of Friday.

Duchess of Rothesay
Originally uploaded by ballasttrust

We unfortunately don't have any photographs of a Duke or Duchess of Cambridge ship to mark the Royal Wedding and the new Duchess of Cambridge but we do have several other ships named after Duchesses, including the rather lovely Duchess of Rothesay built by J & G Thompson of Clydebank in 1895 (specification details here)

Friday photo - Mercury

2011-04-22T08:42:00.001+01:00

Today's photo is the Mercury, built by Napier Shanks & Bell, Yoker in 1892.

She was a paddle steamer for the Glasgow and South Western Railway until it was taken over by LMS Railway Company and was based at Greenock for the Rothesay and Kyles of Bute trade.

Specification details available from clydebuilt database here and there is another picture of her on flickr here.

Friday photo - Moonlight

2011-04-15T12:34:00.002+01:00

This week's photo is of the puffer Moonlight by W J Yarwood & Sons, Northwich, to the order of Ross & Marshall Limited, Greenock.

There is a detailed description of the building of a model of this particular puffer here on the website of the North Cheshire Marine Fine Scale Association.

Conference - Seas, Seamen and Shipping

2011-04-12T09:54:00.000+01:00

The Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at the University of Exeter is organizing a one day conference called Seas, Seamen and Shipping to be held on 4th June at the SS Great Britain (10am-5pm).

The Centre for Maritime Historical Studies was the first of its kind in a British university. It seeks to promote research into economic, social, political, naval and environmental aspects of the British maritime past from the earliest times to the present day, drawing also on European and international experience. ‘Seas, Seamen and Shipping’ will showcase the latest research from members and associates of the Centre.

This will be an opportunity not only to hear cutting edge research papers from the University of Exeter, but also to hear about the work of the Brunel Institute at the SS Great Britain, to see their recently opened library and research facilities and to admire the iconic SS Great Britain.

Papers include:

Dr Laura Rowe: ‘Lionel Yexley and the Lower Deck Reform Movement, 1900-1918
Dr Duncan Redford: ‘The Royal Navy and British National Identity after 1945’
Dr Roger Morris: ‘The British State and Maritime Ascendency, 1750-1820’
Dr Maria Fusaro: ‘Public Service and Private Trade, English Sailors in the Seventeenth Century Mediterranean’
Dr Helen Doe: ‘Women Shipbuilders of the West Country in the Nineteenth Century’
Dr Alston Kennerly: ‘Home, the Shore, and the Merchant Seafarer: Abs 1895-1970’

Keynote Speaker: Dr Mike Duffy: ‘The great naval arms race of the second half of the eighteenth century’

The costs is £30 to include refreshments and lunch. Further details can be found on their website or by contacting Dr Laura Rowe (l.rowe@exeter.ac.uk) for any other queries.

Friday photo - Marchioness of Breadalbane

2011-04-08T15:00:00.003+01:00

Today's photo is a paddlesteamer the Marchioness of Breadalbane. She was built by J Reid & Co, Port Glasgow in 1890.

Specification details available from clydebuilt database here.

The ship is named obviously after the Marchioness of Breadalbane who was Lady Alma Imogen Carlotta Leonore Graham and married to the Marquess of Breadalbane, Gavin Campbell.

Replica Paddle Steamer - Comet

2011-04-07T16:39:00.000+01:00

In 2009 the Ballast Trust was approached by the Inverclyde Community Development Trust, who were involved, along with Ferguson Shipbuilders, in the refurbishment of the Replica paddle steamer “COMET”. They were seeking information about the building of the replica in 1962.

A few variations of the replica’s history had been gathered in from people in Inverclyde District who had been involved, in some capacity or knew someone who had been involved, in the project some forty seven years before. Fortunately, the Ballast Trust has a set of Lithgow Journals and Kincaid’s Works Magazines, these companies being the leading local firms involved in building the replica, which was duly recorded in these publications. We also had copies of some of the plans for the vessel and various other items, so were able to provide accurate information. This process was aided and abetted by the fact that one of the Trust’s employees was a young draughtsman in Kincaid’s drawing office at the time the replica’s engine and boiler were designed there. He was also the firm’s Drawing Office Administrator at the time the company withdrew from engine building and was instrumental in the safe handing over of the original plans for the replica’s machinery to the Ballast Trust for depositing in a leading West of Scotland archive. He had already deposited copies of these plans with the leading U.K. archive for such material.

Unfortunately, when the Inverclyde Community Development Trust sought copies of the Kincaid plans, to aid in the refurbishment, neither archive could find them! However, all was not lost. Mr Andrew Mumford, was Kincaid’s Chief Draughtsman in 1962 and the man responsible for the initial inspection of the original Comet’s engine at the Science Museum in South Kensington and its subsequent survey along with Mr Alex Day, the leader of the Boiler Section of the Drawing Office. Mr Mumford kept the office copies of the plans relating to the Comet exercise, as a memento and these were subsequently deposited with the McLean Museum in Greenock by his son, also Andrew.

These dyeline prints were temporarily taken in by the Trust, where a number of faint prints were carefully enhanced, prior to them all being electronically scanned and put on disk. At the same time the Trust added some prints from its own collection which were not included in the material held by the Museum and listed the entire collection on the Archivist’s Toolkit system, adding the listing to the disk. The material has now been returned to the Museum, suitably rolled and protected to the latest archive standards and copies of the disk supplied to the development Trust and the two major archives that cannot find their originals.

Youth volunteering - Archives Assistant

2011-04-07T15:19:00.005+01:00

The Ballast Trust is working with ProjectScotland to create a volunteering opportunity for a young person to give them an opportunity to an understanding of archives as a career and the role of an archivist.

The placement can be viewed on their website by searching here using our postcode PA5 8AB.

It will provide suitable experience with which to be accepted for further training in the profession and relevant experience for those considering other jobs in the heritage and information sectors.

The main duties of the placement will cover some/all of the following:

Describe and reference items (from a collection of architectural and technical drawings from the 19th and 20th century or a personal collection of ship photographs and slides.)
Package and move records as required.
Boxlist collections of records (from a marine engineering company and/or a company of boiler makers).
Research and answer enquiries using our reference library and online sources of information.
Digitise selections of photographs and upload them to our flickr pages
Write blog posts for here to provide updates on your work and project progress
Digitise a collection of headed notepaper from the 19th and 20th century and upload to and provide descriptions for flickr.

If you are interested or know any young people who might be interested in gaining valuable work experience then please contact ProjectScotland:

E: info@projectscotland.co.uk
T: 08458 4 16 2 25
HQ: 20 Hopetoun Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4GH

Friday photo - M A James

2011-04-01T18:03:00.000+01:00

Today's photo is of the M. A. James a schooner built in 1900. I have chosen it however for the 3 small boys in the top right corner of the picture who look pretty excited.

She was built in Portmadoc, North Wales by David Williams as a three masted topsail schooner for work in the slate and general cargo trade.

Pacesetter update

2011-03-29T16:34:00.006+01:00

The data entry part of our pacesetter project has been completed. This means that one of our volunteers has sucessfully inputted around 1500 entries to the Archivists' Toolkit to create an xml file that we will now pass onto the custodial repository for them to transfer to their database.

If that all goes smoothly we will be able to return that section of the collection (all the Caledonian Railway drawings) to the National Archives of Scotland and get on with the measuring, referencing and inputting of the other 1500 drawings.

In other toolkit news, I'm attending a training day on XSLT stylesheets which will help me to customise how the finding aid reports are produced so they can be altered to present the information in more pleasing manner.

Friday photo - HMS Loch Tralaig

2011-03-25T17:20:00.004Z

Today's photo is of the HMS Loch Tralaig one of the Loch Class anti-submarine frigates built for the Royal Navy in 1945.

The vessel was built at Caledon Shipbuilding in Dundee.

Interesting enquiry

2011-03-25T13:10:00.000Z

We had an enquiry looking for information about the boiler of the shipwreck of the Renown which ran aground in 1887 in South-West France.

We looked through the Lloyd's register for 1884 which had 9 entries for Renown ships, a mixture of both iron and wooden built. I sent the following scanned image to the enquirer for them to go through and see which of the entries matches their vessel and investigate things further.

I also scanned in the Key to the Register pages so that the enquirer would be able to make sense of the entries. These are available on our flickr pages here.

More information and photographs of the wreck are available on this site (in french)

Friday photo - Lord of the Isles

2011-03-18T17:19:00.000Z

One of my favourite images in the Dan McDonald collection is this one of the Lord of the Isles with rowboats going out to it.

The image today shows the same vessel on the Clyde I think from a different angle.

She was built by uilt by D & W Henderson, Glasgow in 1891.

Specification details available from Clydebuilt database here.

The France

2011-03-17T13:59:00.003Z

A little whimsy for a Thursday afternoon with a step back in time to the glamour of ocean liners in the 1960s. This website celebrates the 50th anniversary of the launch of The France which was the longest passenger ship ever built at the time of her launch in 1960. She was built at the Atlantic yard in Saint-Naizaire by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique which has connections to John Scott of Scott Shipbuilding and Engineering.

The company ordered its first three ships from the Greenock yard of John Scott and in 1861 asked him to establish a shipbuilding yard for them at Saint-Nazaire-Penhoët. By 1863 Scott was employing 1,800 workers at the new yard

The website has a beautifully designed interactive cross-section map of the ship here which if you zoom in allows you to click on the different sections and see images of the rooms and facilities of the ship all decked out in great modernist style.

The website is part of the National Maritime Museum of France and there is an exhibition on the liner at the Paris museum until 23 October 2011.

Thanks to this post from design blog livingetc for the information.

Friday photo - Logan

2011-03-11T16:46:00.002Z

Today's photograph is of the Logan, a mystery vessel to me at least. We have 6 images of the Logan on flickr but I've been unable to find much information about it other than it was built by Swans, Maryhill in 1920.

Friday photo - Lairdsgrove

2011-03-04T12:40:00.002Z

Today's photo is of the Lairdsgrove.

Built by A & J Inglis, Pointhouse in 1898 for the Burns and Lairds Line Ltd. Information about them below taken from here.

This shipping line was an amalgamation of two Glasgow companies that had pioneered steam services between Scotland and Ireland. George Burns had been involved in the development of steam shipping around the British coast; his brother James remained a provision merchant. Their company was known as G. & J. Burns from 1842. Alexander Laird was a shipbroker working with various steam packet companies running from Greenock. From 1868 Alexander A. Laird & Co. became sole agents for the Glasgow and Londonderry Steam Packet Company. This became the Glasgow, Dublin and Londonderry Steam Packet Company Ltd in 1885 also known as the Laird Line, a name formally adopted in 1906.

Laird Lines joined Coast Lines Group in 1919 followed shortly afterwards by G. & J. Burns Ltd on the death of the founder's son John Burns. The company name, the Burns & Laird Line was adopted in 1922. The company livery combined the Burns house flag with Laird's funnel. The Coast Lines Group succumbed to competition from road transport during the 1960s and was taken over by P&O in 1971. Coast Lines two Irish Sea services were amalgamated under the name Belfast Steamship Co. Ltd. The last vestige of Burns and Laird disappeared in 1976.

The records of Burns and Laird's are held by Glasgow City Council Archives in collections TD145 and TD644.

Friday photo - Leven

2011-02-25T14:30:00.003Z

Today's photo is from the new batch of L's which I've added to flickr and I'm working on their descriptions.

The photo I liked best from the bunch was this one of the MV Leven a launch built by William Denny & Brothers in 1938 for the Caledonian Steam Packet Company and still going today!

Full specification details available from clydebuilt.

Ship identification resources

2011-02-23T16:58:00.003Z

I received a very helpful email today from Mick at Irish Ship Wrecks with information about a ship I posted about back in September 2009, the Alert.

This was one that I struggled to find information about from my usual sources Clydebuilt and

Miramar but Mick has suggested the Crew List Index Project CLIP as another potential source of information.

Friday photo - King Edward

2011-02-18T17:04:00.003Z

Today's photo is the King Edward, a passenger vessel built by William Denny & Brothers in 1901 for Turbine Steamers Ltd.

Full specification details are available from Clydebuilt as usual.

Tales from the Shipyard

2011-02-16T16:53:00.001Z

The BFI this month presents tales from the shipyard;

a fascinating selection of documentaries, studio features and independently produced films that bring alive the stories of the shipping communities and shipyard cities around the UK and offer a fascinating and often surprising view of a vanished way of life.

I was alerted to it by this message on twitter - A #shiptales message from Sean Connery

Although organised by the BFI in London there are screenings in Glasgow at the GFT.

Hasties Steering Gears

2011-02-14T14:53:00.002Z

An interesting post from Glasgow University Archive Services on their blog about their collection of records for John Hastie & Co. Ltd. Read it here.

There is some more information including this image about the company on this site from the people at the McLean Museum.

(Image Source)

Friday photo - Kathleen & May

2011-02-11T11:09:00.000Z

Today's photographs are of the Kathleen and May, one of 60 tall ships on the UK’s National Register of Historic Vessels.

Built by Ferguson and Baird at Connahs Quay, Wales in 1900. She was bought in1908 by Martyn Fleming of Youghal, Ireland to be part of his fleet of coal ships and was re-named after his daughters Kathleen & May.

More information about her can be found here and on this blog.

Friday photo - Kylemore

2011-02-04T10:33:00.003Z

Finally I have uploaded more of the Dan McDonald photographs so the 'Ks' are now available on our flickr pages.

I can't resist a paddle steamer so bring you the KYLEMORE today:

She was built by Russell & Co. of Port Glasgow in 1897.

RCAHMS

2011-02-03T12:34:00.005Z

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland has great image collections of industrial sites available on their Canmore site and they've just uploaded more new images for February which include some of "international building projects from the Sir William Arrol Collection, including sites in Denmark, Egypt, Ghana and England, as well as photographs of John Brown’s shipyard in Clydebank in 1959."

Check more of them out here and the Sir William Arrol collection.

Pacesetter update

2011-02-02T18:19:00.002Z

Although the Pacesetter project isn't finished, I recently filled in the official evaluation questionnaire for the Pacesetter team.

This is because we were originally supposed to finish up in October, so my evaluation wasn't as comprehensive as it will be once we have completed a full collection, imported it and then seen it made available online but it did give me an opportunity to think about the project planning benefits and the current status of the project.

I do think that thinking properly about the work we have to do here and how we can parcel it up into 'projects' has been helpful for us and is something that I hope to do more of.

In terms of the actual project, I'm pleased to announce that all the additional information for the Montague Smith collection has been captured and the data entry stage has begun. We have one of our new volunteers working on it and she has been able to input over 250 items so far which makes it nearly 10% complete!!

Friday photo - Beer

2011-01-28T17:19:00.004Z

Because its Friday and I've been too swamped to scan. This picture makes me want to stop everything for a pint.

Photo courtesy of GUAS

Ballast Trust case study

2011-01-19T12:51:00.003Z

As part of the National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland which is being launched tomorrow, the Ballast Trust has prepared a case study which you can read here.

This is the postcard version of the case study that has been created to give away at the launch (excuse the rubbish phone pictures):

There are seven other case studies featuring Tennent's, G. L. Watson & Co. Ltd, the Scottish Business Archive, Lloyds, Diageo, the Sir Basil Spence Archive at RCAHMS and the Capturing the Energy project. You can read them all here.

Friday photo - Drawing office

2011-01-14T13:44:00.001Z

Still behind with the next lot of Dan McDonald photos, too busy organising the strategy launch for next week.

Instead I bring you a lovely image of a drawing office from Bill's miscellaneous collection.

I think this is beardmore's again.

HMS Candytuft & James Sullivan

2011-01-13T10:47:00.001Z

Back in April, I uploaded a photo of HMS Candytuft to our flickr pages. The majority of the photos and images we have here at the Ballast Trust are of 'things', ships, locomotives, engines and it is rare to be able to make a personal connection to them.

So I was delighted to receive an email this week from Mr Hayes, the nephew of a Mr James Sullivan who served on the HMS Candytuft. He provided the following images of Jamie shown here on the left:

And with fellow members of HMS Pembroke

Sadly James Sullivan was just 22 when he along with nineteen other men were killed in a boiler explosion on 9th September 1941. He was born and raised in Rosscarbery, West Cork, Ireland.

Thank you to Mr Hayes for contacting us with this information and giving permission for me to post his photographs.

Transport Museum

2011-01-12T17:26:00.002Z

There's an interesting blog post on the BBC arts blog view from the south bank about the Riverside Museum. Read it here.

Friday photo - William Beardmore

2011-01-08T19:45:00.004Z

A slightly delayed Friday photo, things are a little hectic just now with preparations for the launch later this month of the National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland.

This is one of a series of photos I scanned in before Christmas to use for a leaflet about business archives in Scotland. This is an image of the William Beardmore & Co. works.

Friday photo - Excursions

2010-12-24T14:12:00.005Z

Festive greetings. Today's photo is of the Invergordan Excursion Coach taking a bunch of sailors somewhere exciting I hope. It comes from Bill's miscellaneous collection of photographs.

The Ballast Trust will be closed now until 5th January - Merry Christmas.

Queensferry Ferries

2010-12-22T13:20:00.000Z

A while back I got a request via our flickr pages to use an image from the Dan McDonald collection. The request came from Danny at Queensferry Passage website. This website features lots of interesting information and images about the four ferries who worked the route.

The image in questions was of the Robert the Bruce ferry, which I've featured on this blog before and it now appears in this gallery.

Thanks to Danny for finding us and the nice credit to Dan McDonald and the Ballast Trust.

Friday photo - Juno

2010-12-17T15:44:00.002Z

The Juno is today's photo, a passenger car ferry built for the Gourock-Dunoon route in 1974.

Juno

Originally uploaded by ballasttrust

She was built by James Lamont & Company in Port Glasgow. Full specification details are available from Clydebuilt database here.

Friday photo - Jeanie Deans

2010-12-10T13:08:00.001Z

Today's photo is of a paddlesteamer built by Fairfields, Govan in 1931.

Full specification details are available here.

Friday photo - Iona

2010-12-03T13:40:00.001Z

This is a photo of the paddle steamer Iona built by J G Thompson in Govan in 1864. She has a very long career, serving until she was scrapped in 1936.

Full specification details are available here from the Clydebuilt site.