From the discovery of ancient wooden canoes to the building of great warships on the River Clyde in Glasgow, this concise history looks at the growth of shipbuilding on the Upper Clyde. It was really only when the River Clyde was narrowed and deepened in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that shipbuilding took off in Glasgow. Up until then the city's merchants had to get their goods to and from Port Glasgow in order to trade, and there was no great incentive to build boats or ships near the centre of Glasgow. The bulk of the ships needed for trade were built further down river in the Firth of Clyde in places like Dumbarton and Greenock. While attempting to give a complete picture of the progression of shipbuilding on the upper Clyde, we also look briefly at a few individual shipyards, like the Stobcross shipyard owned by John Barclay, later to become part of Barclay, Curle & Co who went on to move to the Clydeholm Shipyard at Whiteinch. We also look at the Meadowside Shipyard at the mouth of the River Kelvin, and chance upon the discovery of an old iron thing used to tie ships up and whose name we forget. We look at the Daphne disaster of 1883, and at other shipyards in Govan, a number of whom were taken over by Harland & Wolff. We feel that the depth of water in the River Clyde has been a significant factor in the progression of shipbuilding and trade; by 1900 there were ten dredgers struggling to keep the river deep enough. But at the end of the day, although managing to build and launch something like 30,000 ships, Clyde shipyards have struggled over the years. At various times the shipyards have attempted to help themselves through lean times by amalgamating yards to make the whole industry more competitive. Many shipyards have been lost along the way. The whole industry almost completely died in the early 1970s when Edward Heath and the Conservative Government refused to give Upper Clyde Shipbuilders a helping hand; but a work-in by workers who completed ships under construction led to two shipyards being saved. It's been a rocky old road, but along the way we have built and launched some of the finest ships in the world.
