Slipway

Another early morning shot on the River Clyde, this time opposite the Tesco carpark in Port Glasgow.

This area used to be Scott Lithgows Shipyard until its demise in 1993. These slipways that supported the Goliath Crane are all that remains of this fine shipyard. I like the drama of the slipway reaching out to the dramatic sky and the boat just gives it some scale.

The Goliath Crane was located in the Glen Yard and stood 287 ft high and had a lifting capacity of 225 tons. It was built in 1971 by Arrol & Co at a cost of £750,000. It spanned 350ft and weighed 1500 tons. The crane was half demolished in 1997. It did not go completely to plan as the span of the crane did not break as expected with the impact. Another sad loss to the area.