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

Best in Britain

Someone sent me this link to an article in today's Edinburgh Evening News and I just could not resist the temptation to have a wee playful dig at the rest of Britain.

Edinburgh Castle

This of course is not news if you are from this area of the country!

The best looking and best evolved people in Britain live in Edinburgh, Leith and the south-east of Scotland. Outrageous! How can you possibly say that! Biased? Not at all. Just a statement of fact – and a story that goes back 10,000 years.

Don’t believe me then read on in this article from the Edinburgh Evening News.

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/health/why-edinburgh-residents-are-likely-to-be-blue-eyed-1-3577755


One of the most striking inherited traits is massively present in Edinburgh and the south-east where a staggering 57 per cent of all people have blue eyes. That is the highest in Britain where the average is 48 per cent.


Click Here! To learn German!

But here is the other side of the coin so to speak!

The same might be true for the other dominant trait in Edinburgh and the south-east. Red hair. Nobody needs a DNA test to tell if they have red hair, just a mirror. But what is hidden is what causes children to inherit the glorious spectrum of tints from strawberry blonde to deep auburn. And that is the recessive gene variant, what both parents must carry if they are to have children with red hair.
In Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Borders, 40 per cent of all people carry it. It is the highest proportion in Britain, which itself has the highest number of carriers in the world per capita.

New York hotel deals Perhaps migration provides an answer. The Northern Isles, the Hebrides and the Atlantic 
coastlands saw significant Viking incursions and settlement after circa 800AD, and in the south-east of Britain, the Anglo-Saxons settled in numbers after circa 400AD. These in-migrations may have significantly diluted the red-hair variants present in the indigenous populations before those dates. And if that’s correct, then one of the most persistent bits of folk DNA about Vikings being redheaded will turn out to be wrong. And it may be significant that south-east Scotland appears to have had little Viking in-migration with comparatively few Norse place names and comparatively little ancestral DNA from Scandinavia.

 Click Here!  To learn Spanish!

Update to Royal Navy Ships

Recent update on the Leith shipyards website, at the Royal Navy Ships page.

Loch Class Outline

Royal Navy, The Since 1900, the Royal Navy has seen vast operational changes. This book tells the story, not just of victory and defeat, but also of how the Navy has adjusted to a century of rapid technological and social change. The extensive reforms made by Admiral Fisher at the dawn of the twentieth century saw the navy's nineteenth-century wooden fleet replaced with the latest modern technology - battleships (including the iconic dreadnoughts), aircraft carriers and submarines. In World War I and World War II, the navy played a central role, with unrestricted submarine warfare and supply blockades becoming an integral part of combat. However it was the development of nuclear and missile technology during the Cold War era which drastically changed the face of naval warfare - today the navy can launch sea-based strikes across thousands of miles to reach targets deep inland. This book places the wars and battles fought by the navy - from Jutland to the Falklands - within a wider context, looking at political, economic, social and cultural issues, as well as providing a thorough operational history.

Royal Navy, The
Since 1900, the Royal Navy has seen vast operational changes. This book tells the story, not just of victory and defeat, but also of how the Navy has adjusted to a century of rapid technological and social change. The extensive reforms made by Admiral Fisher at the dawn of the twentieth century saw the navy's nineteenth-century wooden fleet replaced with the latest modern technology - battleships (including the iconic dreadnoughts), aircraft carriers and submarines. In World War I and World War II, the navy played a central role, with unrestricted submarine warfare and supply blockades becoming an integral part of combat. However it was the development of nuclear and missile technology during the Cold War era which drastically changed the face of naval warfare - today the navy can launch sea-based strikes across thousands of miles to reach targets deep inland. This book places the wars and battles fought by the navy - from Jutland to the Falklands - within a wider context, looking at political, economic, social and cultural issues, as well as providing a thorough operational history.

---

S.A.WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE

WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE
Ship No 516
The Daddy of them all when it came to powerful mighty tugs working the world’s oceans.

The “Z” Tug S.A.WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE was a real thoroughbred and she looked like the ship that she was, unlike today’s even more powerful square and squat looking tugs.

She was a sister ship to one that was built in South Africa and launched a bit later than the WOLTEMADE.

The order for this ship was from Safmarine who where contracted to set up two powerful ocean going salvage tugs to be stationed off the coast of South Africa ready for any emergency at a time when the worlds oil had to be routed around the Horn of Africa due to the Suez Canal being closed to ships.

She was 2822 gross tonnes, with a length between perpendiculars of 85 metres, with a beam of 15.2 metres, and a design draught of 8.6 metres.

She was launched from the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon on 23rd of April 1976.

She was to drop the S.A. part of her name when Safmarine were taken over by Smit’s.

You will soon be able to read all about this mighty vessel on the new website, which will be online soon.

If you are looking for books on ships and the sea then look no further.

RFA.BACCHUS

RFA BACCHUS

Ship No 483

RFA Bacchus was an order from British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd. She was to be part of a two ship order, being the sister ship to “Hebe” and they were amongst the largest ships built in the Leith Shipyards.

At 4823 Grt (5218 dwt) and with a length between perpendiculars of 350 feet and a beam of 55 feet, along with a design draught of 31 feet.

She was launched on 4th of June 1962. She was handed back to her owners on 8th November 1962.

She was chartered on a long term bare boat charter by the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Ready For Anything Set up in August 1905, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary - unofficial motto: Ready for Anything - was originally a logistic support organisation, Admiralty-owned but run on civilian lines, comprising a miscellaneous and very unglamorous collection of colliers, store ships and harbour craft. This book charts its rise in fleet strength, capability and importance, through two world wars and a technical revolution, until the time when naval operations became simply impossible without it. Its earliest tasks were mainly freighting - supplying the Royal Navy’s worldwide network of bases - but in wartime fleets were required to spend much longer at sea and the RFA had to develop techniques of underway replenishment. This did not come to full fruition until the British Pacific Fleet operated alongside the Americans in 1944-45, but by then the RFA had already pioneered many of the procedures involved.This book combines a history of the service, including many little-known wartime operations, with data on the ships, and a portrait of life in the service gleaned from personal accounts and recollections. Half way between a civilian and a military service, the RFA has never received the attention it deserves, but this book throws a long-overdue spotlight on its achievements.

Bacchus was to serve the MOD (Royal Fleet Auxiliary) for the full nineteen years of her charter and was handed back to her owners in 1981.

She continued working for another six years under new ownership before being sold for scrap in 1986.

RFA.HEBE

HEBE

Ship No 482

In Greek mythology, Hebe is the goddess of youth (Roman equivalent: Juventas). She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera.

RFA Hebe was an order from British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd. She was to be part of a two ship order, and they were amongst the largest ships built in the Leith Shipyards.

At 4823 Grt (5218 dwt) and with a length between perpendiculars of 350 feet and a beam of 55 feet, along with a design draught of 31 feet.

Her keel was laid on 18th of April 1961 and she was launched on 7th of March 1962.

She was chartered on a long term bare boat charter by the Ministry of Defence (MOD)





She was to suffer a bad fire dockside in Gibraltar in 1978 when a crew member lost his life, due to the damage sustained she was handed back to her owners, where she was to continue under a few other names before being broken up in 1987.
You will be able to read a lot more about this fine vessel on the new website soon.

H.M.S.TYPHOON

 

 

 

H.M.S.TYPHOON

Ship No 460

When the admiralty needed another big and powerful seagoing tug there was only one place to go for this vessel and it was to Leith that an order was placed for HMS TYPHOON with the shipbuilders who had built so many of the powerful “Bustler Class” tugs during World War II

She was an ocean going salvage and rescue tug tons with a length B.P. of 180 feet and a beam of 38 feet and 6 inches.

She was to spend a lot of her time in the South Atlantic waters around the Falkland Islands.

S.S.GOTHLAND

SS GOTHLAND Ship No 192

The steamer Gothland had a long and full “War Service” during the conflict now known as World War II.
She was built in Leith at the Henry Robb Shipyards, ordered by The Currie Line, a famous shipping line associated with Leith.
She was of 1286 tons gross and was launched 9th March 1932 with an overall length of 250 feet and a beam of 38 feet; she was used on the Leith to Hamburg trade route in peacetime, a fine looking steamer.
With the outbreak of war every thing changed and The Gothland was taken over by the Ministry of Defence.


She was given a special role as a Convoy rescue ship, being half way between a fighting ship and a merchant vessel.
During the first two years of the war, the Gothland was employed in what was for her, long runs to Italy and North Africa.
Then in October 1941, she was called to higher service as a rescue ship attached to North Atlantic Convoys.
Many a ships master must have felt a bit more reassured as he saw the Gothland take up station at the tail of the many convoys knowing that in case of emergency she could help with every practicable rescue device known at the time and her hospital could cope with any injury or exposure.

Her skipper Captain Hadden and his men knew the huge risk they themselves ran in this most demanding of roles both on men and ship.
She was not designed for the stress of the long Atlantic rollers, nor the bitter weather off Nova Scotia and Labrador, which added tons of snow and ice to her upper structure.

For the next four years the Gothland continued the arduous and responsible duty, fortunately without serious damage from the constant threat of U Boat attack and air attacks which became so frequent that because of her great value and the large numbers of survivors from sinking ships onboard she was provided with a fighting ship escort.

Her experiences, exciting and tragic, would take a small volume in themselves to relate. But one interesting occasion should be recorded.
Near the end of April 1944 a request was made from the corvette HESPELER of the Canadian Navy to take on an appendicitis case from one of her crew. During the transfer the officers of the two crews met and discovered to there great joy that the corvette had only recently been completed at the Victoria Shipyards in Leith and she was making her maiden voyage, it seems that both Commanders were full of praise for there Henry Robb built ships.

Before being demobilised after the end of hostilities she came back to the yard for inspection.
To the satisfaction of the owners and the firm of Henry Robb it was found that after a prolonged period of excessive strain, the hull showed no sign of any structural defects, and the worst that could be found was a few slack rivets, a real testament to the shipbuilders who built her.