Scotland’s Great Ships

About the Book: 

We got close enough to touch big ships that pass where the Clyde runs narrow and deep. We knew them all... They were OUR ships. TOM GALLACHER

The Scots have a grand tradition of shipbuilding going back thousands of years, from the Celtic birlinn to the Cutty Sark to Her Majesty's Royal Yacht Britannia. During the 19th and the mid 20th centuries the Clyde became the greatest shipbuilding centre in the world, producing over 30,000 ships in 150 years and pioneering huge advances in marine engineering, among which are counted the construction of the world's first commercial steamship and the first thousand-foot liner.

This book tells the tale of some of our most iconic ships, and in doing so captures the bustling world of the shipyards, the adventurous voyages of the exploration vessels and the race of sailing ships across the seas in the cut-throat business of the international tea trade.

About the Author:

BRIAN D OSBORNE was born in 1941 in Glasgow. Working in public libraries, he became President of the ScottishLibrary Association in 1992, until retiring from librarianship in 1995 to concentrate on writing. Specialising inhistorical biographies, Scottish literature, history andculture, he also writes for magazines in the UK and USA. He has written extensively on the Scottish novelist and short-story writer, Neil Munro, and is Secretary of the Neil Munro Society. Ronald Armstrong has had a long career in Scottish education as head teacher of three primary schools. Latterly he was an assistant director of the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum, with a particular responsibility for a major review of the curriculum, especially in the area of environmental studies.

RONALD ARMSTRON is the author of many books on sea-faring, war and Scottish history.