BOSS TUG at Elderslie Wall, B.Ae yard at Scotstoun, Glasgow

BOSS TUG and the tug AFON LLIGWY were engaged in positioning the crane barge and hopper barges which were dredging the channel of the River Clyde off B.Ae yard at Scotstoun, Glasgow.

And when the hoppers were filled with silt the tugs would lash the hopper alongside and then travel downriver to the spoil-ground near to the mouth of Holy Loch and the hopper would discharge the spoil and then the tug and empty hopper would return to Scotstoun.

Crane barge and hopper barge SLIEDRECHT dredging River Clyde off Scotstoun, Glasgow

CELTIC in River Clyde, Glasgow inbound with a cargo of wind turbine components from Izmir (Turkey)

Tug AFON LLIGWY and hopper barge arrive at Scotstoun, Glasgow from spoil-ground

BOSS TUG and the tug AFON LLIGWY were engaged in positioning the crane barge and hopper barges which were dredging the channel of the River Clyde off B.Ae yard at Scotstoun, Glasgow.

And when the hoppers were filled with silt the tugs would lash the hopper alongside and then travel downriver to the spoil-ground near to the mouth of Holy Loch and the hopper would discharge the spoil and then the tug and empty hopper would return to Scotstoun.

CEMBAY in the River Clyde, Glasgow passes Braehead retail complex inbound to King George V Dock.

BOSS TUG and the SLEIDRECHT hopper barges working at Elderslie on the River Clyde

From Thomas Donnelly (Glasgow)

I enjoyed a sail on the WAVERLEY the other day and as we passed the BAe shipyard at Elderslie on the River Clyde saw tugs and barges dredging the channel off the berth.

One of the tugs was BOSS TUG.   Can anyone please give details of this tug, and also details of the two SLIEDRECHT hopper barges which were being used.

Also, why was the dredging being done there.   Are there plans for the berths to be used ?

13 August 2022  @ 1031

John S.  (Whiteinch, Glasgow)

Regarding the message about BOSS TUG and dredging at Elderslie.

The Scottish Government have a chartered Baltic ferry at Leith (Edinburgh) which accommodates refugees from Ukraine. 

 The news in the past few days tells that there is to be a chartered liner to be based near Glasgow to accommodate more Ukrainian refugees.

Could it be that the liner will be based at Elderslie and that is why Peel Ports are dredging the berth ?

A Tarnished Jewel

A  TARNISHED  JEWEL

   It was in the 1960s when I went to sea in the British Merchant Navy.

   In 1966 I first came to Madras (now called Chennai) in India.

   One afternoon I was in my cabin when there was a knock on the door.

   It was a Nun.   She was a European, probably Dutch, in her early twenties and quite pretty.

   She was selling trinkets and explained that she went around the ships in the harbour to sell small items.  All money was for the leprosy colony at the large fort on the hillside and was used to purchase food and clothing and medicines for the inmates.

   The colony was staffed by Nuns and she had been there for two years.  She went to the markets and used the money collected to buy food and items.   Then to the colony where rattan baskets would be lowered from the wall and the goods pulled up by the Nuns.

   This Nun did not go into the fort or colony as her task was to sell to the ships and supply the food and necessities and to learn the local language, dialect and culture.

    But in another year or so, when her turn came, she would be called upon to enter the colony to tend to the lepers, and would never be able to come back out.   The probability and prospect of spreading the disease in the population was too great.

    She knew the risk and outcome and that her life would be short and had already said goodbye to her family and friends at home, knowing that she would never see them again.

 Maybe a year or so later I was back in Madras.  Again there was a knock on the door.   It was a different Nun.   I asked about the Dutch woman.   She was now inside the colony and would remain there for the rest of her life.

   That night I went to bed with a heavy heart and said a silent prayer for her and her sister Nuns.

   And now, about sixty years later, when I sit and think of things from the past, I still clearly remember the visit by the young and pretty Dutch woman and her purpose in life to care for and help the poorest, starving and most shunned, diseased and isolated people in India.

Both Nuns will be dead by now.   God bless and please take care of them.

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Notice at Troon Dry Dock, Harbour Road, Troon (Scotland, U.K.)...Dales Marine Services Ltd.

Tug COASTWORKER at Old Dock, Troon, Scotland, U.K.

RUNNER at Port of Troon having discharged her cargo of logs from Campbeltown

RED PRINCESS arriving at Troon with a cargo of logs from Brodick (Isle of Arran)

Cruise liner THE WORLD at Ocean Terminal, Greenock

ENERGY at Greenock Container Terminal with containers from Liverpool

PETROJARL FOINAVEN at Hunterston Jetty, Firth of Clyde, Scotland, U.K.

H.M.S. PEMBROKE conducting naval exercises at Tail-of -the Bank, Firth of Clyde

H.M.S. PEMBROKE and H.M.S. BROCKLESBY were conducting joint naval exercise off Kilcreggan, at Tail-of-the-Bank anchorage in the Firth of Clyde.

   The manoeuvres lasted for most of the day and included firing flares into the air, the flares falling slowly down to the water.