New Shipyard shop

As the new website continues now at www.theloftsman.com

The Blog on the new website will be the main source of news from now on and this new Blog will be even better with all the news on Leith Built Ships and so much more, such as the new shipyard shop about to open over there.

New Shipyard shop

Will be opening soon, we have been working on this new concept for a wee while now, with the advent of the virus pandemic this has presented some more unexpected challenges. No more than anyone else has had to contend with but challenges just the same.

All under the logo

They Once Were Shipbuilders

(You will be able to fill in the location with your own preference)

My own particular preference was of course the Henry Robb Shipyard at Leith.

The aim of the shop is to present the customer with unique purchases that you will not find elsewhere. This will be a shop that will be a testament to a lost industry that touched so many people.

The Shipyard Shop will feature many fresh designs which cover an old concept, the concept of building ships.

Powerful industrial images now almost gone, but the memory lingers on, images that now sit very well on every day things from caps, hats to t-shirts to wall coverings.

We are sure that once the Shipyard Shop opens you will find what you are looking for, in a way that no other shop can, as we are also from the industry, an industry that employed so many people not only on this small island nation of ours but all around the World.

We will feature superb museum quality ship models covering many of the greatest ships ever to grace the seven seas.

We feature the Ship Beautiful above otherwise known as RMS Aquitania

Thes are not kits but fully assembled models shipped in sturdy containers to your door and ready to display. Some have LED lighting inside for a tremendous night-time effect.

Many of our original designs can be personalised so that you can input your own personal favourite, so please keep a look out for this happening, keep checking back here on the Blog, and on the main website.

Thanks to all and keep safe during these trying times.

They Once Were Shipbuilders

*LEITH*

We hope you like the small taster of some of the many products that we shall soon be able to offer on the “Brand New” Shipyard Shop.

Bear with us as I am sure we shall open this pretty soon.

Why not have a look at some of my Amazon stuff on the Blog while we wait on the shop opening, below you will find a really neat 3 in 1 Document Camera from Amazon.

OKIOCAM T Plus: The Unique 3-In-1 Document Camera

New Ships Photo Gallery

Ships Photo Gallery

As many of us struggle with this threat to life of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) we at the Loftsman website have decided to do our little bit to help.

Starting today we shall endeavour to create a huge ships photo library as we are aware that a great many people out there find this very interesting. You may have someone who sailed or worked on one of the many vessels, you may even find this part of the website of interest should you be researching a family tree.

From classic old ships such as shown below

http://www.theloftsman.com/ship-photo-s

The library will take time to build up but it is intended that we should have as many pictures of vessels on this part of the site that we can manage to upload. They are doing no good being hoarded or hidden away when many could enjoy seeing them at this very difficult time for us all.

So as you browse through the galleries please stay home and keep safe.

You can access the ship photo page at https://www.theloftsman.com/ship-photo-s

Many types of ship will be added with some categories in a general way while some are put on the gallery in no particular order and under no particular heading.

You will just have to look through the many galleries to find what you are looking for. Over time we hope to be able to add details such as builder and size etc, but again this will take time, so keep checking back. If you think you could help by adding your own photographs to the site them please contact Ron@theloftsman.com

Both old and new ships will be added over time.

http://www.theloftsman.com/ship-photo-s

Many ships photographs will grow this library of ships for your research and enjoyment, we hope you will help us by sending in your own photographs to make this into one of the largest ships libraries on the internet, a tall order but with help it can and will be done.

Shipbuilding and Asbestos use.

While their may be little doubts about the merits of our once great shipbuilding industry, an industry that powered a country and right or wrong at one time the largest empire the world had seen.

An industry full of innovation and new technology for the time, making vast fortunes for the ones at the top all this came at a terrible price for the men who had to build the ships.

Working in conditions that were not conducive to good health shall we say, with one of the terrible materials being the wide use of red lead a paint coating used on all ships for many years? The dangers of lead are now well known.

 Above picture shows the lower bow unit of HMS HERALD being erected in 1974, with red lead paint all over used for protection and as a primer before the final finished coats of white paint would have her looking all ship shape and Bristol fashion. The date is correct it was only in 1974.

There was a worse material used with the knowledge of those involved in its continued use long after the dangers of using Asbestos were well documented, this knowledge was suppressed by successive governments and owners alike. White asbestos or blue asbestos it made little difference if inhaled into workers lungs.

Many men have paid the ultimate price and still many are afflicted with the results of working with asbestos, while the government lawyers produce reams and reams of paper-work and laws to try and prevent people making a claim for working with this fatal material. Mesothelioma  will result in a truly horrific way to died.

They are well aware that most if not all claimants will died off, the relatives will not have the wherewithal to continue the fight and the government of the day will not have to pay up or take responsibility yet again.

I often question what type of government treats its citizen so.

Anyone affected by this can contact the following organisation for help

My name is Bradley Welch and I work in the Public Outreach Department of The Mesothelioma Center (Asbestos.com).

Those who have worked on shipyards, ports and aboard ships were at risk of asbestos exposure and developing mesothelioma, a rare cancer that can take 20-50 years to develop. Our website features extensive information on asbestos and we work 1-on-1 with individuals to help them find local doctors, treatment centers and support groups all at no cost.

More information can also be found at the following - Please take a look at some of the great information we have at https://www.asbestos.com/mesothelioma or https://www.asbestos.com/occupations/shipyard-workers/

Public Outreach Team
The Mesothelioma Center

As is usual most of the above is aimed at U.S. Citizens not just shipyard workers but for anyone who served onboard any number of navy ships as they too were in danger.

In the U.K. you can go to the following - http://www.asbestosvictimsupport.org.uk/

http://www.clydesideactiononasbestos.org.uk/

The two links above are charitable organisations, as you have to be careful with many of the websites offering support on the internet are in fact just ambulance chasers, fat lawyers who want to take a stake of any compensation claim.

Leithshipyards website is more than pleased to be able to raise just a little bit more awareness on this terrible result of our shipbuilding past, no matter what country they all used the same materials long after they were well aware of the dangers of using such materials, all done in the name of profit.

Good for Clyde Shipbuilding

Work on building eight Type 26 frigates at Clyde shipyards will start next summer, the defence secretary has said.

Michael Fallon said the date for cutting the first steel would help secure new investment and safeguard hundreds of skilled jobs until 2035.
He also announced that a contract for two new offshore patrol vessels would be signed shortly.
This will secure jobs before the Type 26 frigate work is fully under way, he said.
An £859m deal to build the ships on the Clyde was signed in February 2015.
But the project has been scaled back and hit by repeated delays, with concerns that jobs could be lost as a result.

'Value for money'

During a visit to the Govan area of Glasgow, Mr Fallon said: "Backed by Britain's rising defence budget, the Type 26 Programme will deliver a new generation of cutting-edge warships for our Royal Navy at best value for taxpayers.
"The UK government's commitment today will secure hundreds of high-skilled shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde for at least two decades and hundreds more in the supply chain across Britain."
The defence secretary also announced a £100m contract with the consortium MBDA to deliver the Sea Ceptor missile defence system for the ships.
Gary Smith of the GMB union said it was "fantastic news" for the upper Clyde shipyards - though he said the UK government had not delivered on all its promises.
He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We were told there was to going to be a 'frigate factory' built on the Clyde that would allow us to deliver ships more efficiently.
"It would perhaps have given us the facility to build ships that could be exported.
"And Michael Fallon in truth was dragged kicking and screaming to this announcement today after we exposed the fact that his government did plan to move some of the work originally planned for the Clyde, down south.
"But cutting through it all great, news for the workforce and great news for the economy in greater Glasgow as well."
The promise of new Royal Navy orders to secure the Clyde shipbuilding industry was made before the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.
The number of planned new frigates was later scaled back from 13 to eight, although the MoD retained the option to build five smaller and cheaper general-purpose vessels.
The Type 26 Global Combat Ships will be built by BAE Systems at the company's Glasgow yards in Govan and Scotstoun.

For more see the BBC website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37861162

Of course that is from the official press release which will not mention all the Government interference and dodging that has gone on over the past 18 months or so and the word on the street is that they even intended to shift some of the work if not all of it down South, but nothing new in that, it would appear that for now at least the shipbuilders (the few that remain) will have work for the foreseeable future which has to be regarded as a good thing, although the number of ships has been cut from lucky "13" down to eight this is still a very large project which now has the few remaining yards around Britain all crying out for their bit of the pie.

This may or not come about with a release of news as it gets closer to election time that the 5 remaining smaller ships will indeed be built elsewhere, for now it is looking good for shipbuilding in the two remaining main shipyards on a river that could at one time boast of close to Fifty (50) shipyards on this relitivly small stretch of water.  

Fairfields Shipyards

The launch of HMS DRAGON in this posed picture

Another fine use for some of the shipbuilding heritage and history in Scotland has arrived with the opening of the former head offices and old drawing office of the Fairfields shipbuilding company.

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company opened its new Govan yard in 1864 and was named after the once agricultural land it occupied.
Fairfields would become the greatest shipyard in a city that was responsible for 20 per cent of global production by 1913.

At its peak, the industry on the Clyde employed 100,000 staff at more than 40 yards.



While shipbuilding of course continues at the Govan yard on a somewhat smaller scale the The A-listed former Fairfields head offices and drawing rooms, which had lain empty for several years, were bought in 2009 by social enterprise Govan Workplace.

The refurbished buildings now provide office space for local businesses and is home to the Fairfield Heritage centre.

Surely a better use than turning it into another shopping centre?

Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/in-pictures-fairfields-the-home-of-scottish-shipbuilding-1-3896110#ixzz3mz3l8Msf

Aircraft carrier section leaves Clyde shipyard

Lowe Block 04 Prince of Wales

A massive 11,200-tonne section of an aircraft carrier built on the Clyde has begun its journey around the coast of Scotland to Rosyth for final assembly.

The section, called Lower Block 04, is the largest part of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales.

It is 20 metres high, 80 metres long and comprises a fifth of the overall vessel.

We like to bring you news of new and old shipbuilding matters, for more on this story and some very good photographs please see the rest on the BBC website.

Largest aircraft carrier section floated

Another of the many "Super Blocks" which once joined together will form the second of the Royal Navies new "Aircraft Carrier Force" was successfully floated out at Govan Shipyard in Glasgow last week.

Block 04 of the CVF "Prince of Wales" in Glasgow


The interesting thing for me in the photograph above from the BBC/Scotland website is the massive "Aft" poppet arrangement, built under the after lower hull to support the huge weight of the hull until she is joined together and floats.

 An 11,200 tonne aircraft carrier section has taken to the water for the first time on the Clyde.

Lower Block 04 is the largest hull section of HMS Prince of Wales.

For more from the BBC website see here

MOD may now build Royal Navy ships overseas

Shipbuilding and Politics such unlikely and poor partners as ever, unless there is a war looming of course.

And so it begins with this latest story from the Scotsman newspaper, everyone knows that they can be got cheaper by buying overseas, just ask the Australian Navy (but don't mention the problems and cost over runs) they could even just buy a finished hull and tow  it to a U.K. yard for outfitting and weapons platform fitting but at what cost to this Island Nation which was built on ships and shipbuilding.
For more on this stupid story read here

 It is also not new as they (MOD) have already gone to South Korea for the build of three fleet tankers for the RFA as there is no longer the capacity or expertise to build vessels such as this any more in the U.K. (There words not mine)

HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH

The sum of the parts makes for a pretty impressive weapons platform built around the British Isles in the few remaining shipyards and put together in Fife, Scotland

Lets forget about the politics and the build problems encountered while building the Royal Navy's largest ever ship, to hell with the cost of the vessel as well, as the cost would only have been wasted by the useless politicians on something else anyway, at least this project kept alive some skills and shipbuilding know how in a country that used to build ships.
So the day has finally arrived when the  new Aircraft Carrier is named, not launched mind you as she will have a what they call now "A Float Off" as she was assembled in dry dock.
It is a strange feeling for shipbuilders at the launch or in this case naming ceremony as they can already see there jobs on the line, the harder the Shipwrights, Platers and Welders work then the faster they face un-employment, just all part of the job of a shipbuilder.
Despite all the politics involved in this particular build it is still a great occasion when you see a ship completed although this one will still have 3 or 4 years outfitting work ahead of her before she is ready to accept aircraft (if they ever complete the aircraft due to fly from her)
This is also a time for the politicians and there assembled flunky's and upper management of the concerned shipyards to do a lot of back slapping and hand wringing again having had little to do with the building of a ship, politics and shipbuilding you just cant separate.
Its the guys who built and assembled this mighty ship who deserve the pat on the back, and yes there were many problems during her construction and some which I am very qualified to speak on as I was involved for a couple of years in her construction, You see I am a shipbuilder, so it would be hoped that they now have the experience behind them and the second carrier will be assembled much better and will in fact prove to be the better built of the two aircraft carriers, strange then that there is still talk of this better second one being mothballed or even sold off at a cut down price........see politics and shipbuilding they go hand and hand.
For a lot more on this story of the naming of the ship at the Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland (Note - It is not a shipyard) see the story in the Scotsman newspaper.

I could not direct you to the BBC and there stories on the ship as they still don't seem to know the difference between a Ship and a Boat.(perhaps a sign of the times)
The ignorance today in the U.K. about shipbuilding or should I say about the lack of shipbuilding knowledge is a bit scary for an Island Nation but again that's politics and this blog is about Shipbuilding.

World Cup Brazil 2014

Today marks the start of the biggest sporting event on the Planet the “World Cup”
 A two week extravaganza of the World’s best Football,

 or as our North American cousins call it Soccer.

With the first game today featuring the host nation of Brazil, so what’s the connection between the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd and indeed the previous shipyards on the same part of Leith waterfront? and the country of Brazil.

Well we can start with the ships first, and many a ship built at Leith has been a visitor to the long coastline of Brazil the 5^th largest country in the world and now a large player in the shipbuilding field as well.

 

SATURNO Ship No 81 ready to launch at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd in 1928



Apart from many of the sailing ships that were built at the Leith Shipyards of Ramage and Ferguson shipbuilders there is also the famous old salvage tug SATURNO this tug was the fore runner of all the very large and powerful seagoing tugs built at Leith and she was a very well known sight at her home port of Santos, which just happens to be the home city of the team that Pele played for arguably the finest footballer ever.

Football and the shipyards of Leith have always had a close relationship and more so with the team associated with Leith a team right now in some decline it has to be said and not without there troubles to seek that team being Hibernian Football Club or Hibs as the locals call the first team in green in Scotland.

A few of the former players were employed in the shipyards with the most famous of them being the mercurial winger Gordon Smith the only player to win three league titles with three different teams he was that good.
Gordon was employed in the Mould Loft at the Henry Robb yard during World War II
He was also part of the most successful side that Hibernian ever had and played during the 1950’s as part of a forward line that was known as the “Famous Five” this team were invited to take part in a tournament 61 years ago in the country now hosting the World Cup 2014 and for more on this I reproduce a piece from the official Hibernian website which can be found at


http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk/

As you will see there is quite a link between Hibernian Football Club, the Leith Shipyards and Brazil and I have taken the liberty of adding in some of my own comments in brackets.

Flashback: Hibernian in Rio

 11 Jun 2014

Famous Five at the Maracana - 61 years on...

On the eve of the 20th FIFA World Cup, all eyes will now be on host nation, Brazil and the tournament also coincides with the 61-year anniversary of Hibernian's ground-breaking trip to Rio de Janeiro; when the Maracana fell in love with the Famous Five.

Elegant, flamboyant, entertaining and aesthetically pleasing, (a bit like some of the ships built at the Leith Shipyards, while some of the ships were a bit more workman like and could never be called elegant they were no less built for purpose unlike the present day team at Easter Road) Hibernian had won the Scottish championship during the 1951/52 season in emphatic style.

Bright and adventurous, Hibernian, fielding the feted forward line of Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond, had also won over a sea of admirers because of their captivating brand of exhilarating and fast-moving football.

The sport's popularity in Brazil had exploded and there was a particular fascination with British football, thus Hibernian, recognised as the great entertainers of the Scottish game, were invited to participate in the Octagonal Rivadavia Correa Meyer in June 1953.

An overseas summer tour wasn't uncharted territory for a club famed for its pioneering spirit; there had already been visionary forays into Denmark, Austria, Germany, Norway, Belgium, France and Czechoslovakia stretching as far back as 1921.

As the late Lawrie Reilly said: "The Hibs were a great touring side and in the close season we always travelled away on tour. Hibs were the team to play for if you wanted to see the world."

Hibernian's squad, managed by Hugh Shaw, flew from Edinburgh to Rio, albeit via five stop-offs, during an epic journey across to South America.

When the team landed, Hibernian were greeted by an enthusiastic Brazilian crowd - keen to be entertained and educated by a truly formidable group of players.

Hibernian were scheduled to play in an eight-team competitive tournament featuring Brazil's Vasco Da Gama, Botafogo, Fluminese, Sao Paulo and Corinthians, Portugal's Sporting Lisbon and Uruguay's Nacional.

The tournament, organised by the Brazilian FA, was dubbed the unofficial 'World Club Championship' and Hibernian's group contained Vasco Da Gama, Botafogo and Fluminese with all matches staged at the Maracana.

In the opening match against eventual tournament winners, Vasco Da Gama, Hibernian recorded a creditable 3-3 draw in searing heat.

Hibernian's goals were a trademark 'cannonball' shot from powerful inside forward Eddie Turnbull and two from prolific centre-forward Reilly - the second scored in the final minute of the contest.
To read more on this story see the official Hibernian website




The club's next fixture was against Botafogo, who had finished runners-up in the previous year's intercontinental club tournament held in Rio, six days later at the Maracana.

The 30,000 crowd were instantly impressed by Hibernian's magnificent number seven, Gordon Smith - his absolute mastery of the ball and magical spontaneity on the pitch struck an immediate chord with the Brazilian public.

With his perfect balance, athleticism and acute intelligence, Smith was a phenomenal all-round footballer and his performances in the Rio heat elevated him to a more exalted plane - it placed him among the greatest players in the world. The Rio crowd recognised his class and duly worshipped him.

But despite producing some enchanting passages of play in the stifling heat, Hibernian lost 3-1 - the consolation goal scored by Reilly, who had only hours previously been confined to a hospital bed after suffering from acute sickness.

Nevertheless the reaction to the match, which had been shown live on television in Brazil, was overwhelmingly positive - Hibernian had played the game beautifully and for that they were warmly applauded.

The final group game against Fluminese ended in a 3-0 loss six days later - Hibernian again struggling to acclimatise to the intense heat of the Maracana.

Overall the tournament had ended unproductively, but it had underlined the ambitious and progressive nature of Hibernian, thus paving the way through for the club to eventually become the first British team to compete in European competition in 1955.


Hibernian had also left a lasting impression on the way the game subsequently developed tactically in Brazil - the attack-minded, adaptable and exciting style widely admired amongst the country's football community.

In fact, a Brazilian football encyclopaedia published in the late 1960s dedicated an entire chapter to Hibernian's cavalier style of play.

An extract from the book said: "Hibernian played an interchanging positional game that bamboozled their opponents and delighted the watching aficionados, and were included (in the tournament) because at the time they were at the forefront of the British game and brought to it a style that was original for those times."

Hibernian's involvement in the Octagonal Rivadavia Correa Meyer Tournament took place six decades ago, but the memory marches on.

So there you have it the link between today’s World Cup 2014 being held in Brazil and the Leith Shipyards. I could have also added that football in fact really took off in Brazil originally with all thanks to a Scot but that is another story and I cannot really justify going into this safe to say that yet another World Cup starts without my own country being involved in it so we can only watch from afar like kids watching the television through the shop window, not invited again, so this Scot will be shouting for Brazil.