Advertising poster for Anchor Donaldson Joint passenger service from Glasgow to Canada

1950s poster of Anchor Line's CALEDONIA leaving Bombay, India

Ben Line's BENAVON (1949-1970)

Ben Line's general cargo ship BENAVON (1949-1970) was built by

J. L. Thompson & Sons Ltd. yard number 658, in Sunderland,

England in 1949.   8,079 gross tons, 11,270 deadweight tons,

483 feet overall X 60 feet X 37 feet and powered by three

Parsons turbines giving a service speed of 16 knots and had accommodation for four passengers.  In January 1970 she was

sold to Safety Shipping Company S. A., Panama / V, K. Edie

Hsu, Hong Kong and renamed LIZIANA.   On 8th November

1971 she arrived at Shieh Sheng Fat Steel Company at

Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping.

Painting of Clyde puffer lighter SEALIGHT (1930-1963) probably depicted in 1950s.

Painting of steam Clyde puffer SAXON (1925-1965) beached and unloading coal onto horse-drawn carts

Contributed by John Ferguson

What a wonderful painting.

   SAXON is beached and unloading her cargo of coal, maybe around 150 tons, into two horse-drawn carts, probably on an island.

Why coal ?   Look at the cart on the right side of the two.  It is piled high with a black mass.   Could it be tarry metal for surfacing a road ?   No, not very likely.   Tarry / tarred metal would need to be carried by lorries to the roadworks.

So that means coal.   The puffer is unloading by the two deckhands working in the hold and shovelling the coal into a large metal tub and the tub is lifted by the vessel’s ropes and wires and swung over the side and emptied into the carts on the beach.    The tub can be seen above the left-hand cart.   The mate of the ship is working the winch at the bow and the ship's master (in the painting wearing a white coloured pullover) is at the deck of the puffer and directing the movements of the unloading.

The carts would be owned by the crofters on the island.   Probably there are more than two carts involved in the discharging as everyone would need to be working hard to unload as much coal as possible from the puffer while it was beached and the tide was out.   No unloading was possible when the tide came in and the puffer would become afloat and the wheels of the carts would sink into the wet sand.

Netherlands coaster DAVINA GOEKOOP arrives in Greenock with Bog-Ore from Delfzijl (Netherlands)

CUNENE arrives in Greenock with a cargo of Sugar from the Dominican Republic

TWEEDSMUIR PARK arrives in Greenock with Palm Kernels and Timber from West Africa

Can anyone identify the passenger vessel at Glasgow, date unknown, probably 1940 / 1950s ?

Famagusta (Cyprus) in 1950

Image contributed by Chris Hillier (London)

Contributed image of freighter JEAN LYKES at Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S.A.

CITY OF BARCELONA closes at Glasgow for cargo for Port Said, Suez, Aden, Bombay and Karachi

Sailing Notice in 1950 for Wm H Muller's coaster ESCAUT from Glasgow to Paris (France)

GLASGOW  AND  PARIS  DIRECT

CARGO SERVICE TO AND FROM

GLASGOW  AND  PARIS

Direct without Transhipment in about 5 ½ days

m.v.  “ESCAUT”   (Lloyds  100 A1)

SAILING 22^nd AUGUST 1950 

and Regularly Every Three Weeks

ROUEN  CARGO  ACCEPTED  if  inducement

Apply to Loading Brokers

WM. H. MULLER & CO. (LONDON) LTD.,

59 ST. VINCENT STREET, GLASGOW 

Telephone  City  6002/3

CITY OF OXFORD closes at Glasgow for cargo for Port Said, Suez, Aden, Visakhapatnam and Calcutta

CITY OF BARCELONA closes at Birkenhead for cargo for Port Said, Suez, Aden, Bombay and Karachi