Port Bannatyne Rothesay

Svitzer Mallaig

Svitzer Mallaig returning to James Watt Dock on a cold but beautifully clear winters evening.

Seabus

Seabus,the Gourock,Kilcreggan and Helensburgh ferry,in the foreground is the lovely church of St Johns in Gourock.

Vega Stockholm

Vega Stockholme at anchor off Greenock,the ship is a regular visitor to the Clyde,usually arriving on a Friday.

Tistedal

Tistedal at anchor off Greenock,awaiting a berth at the container terminal.

Deo Volente

Deo Volente Friday evening,making her way downriver after delivering wind turbines to Shieldhall in Glasgow.
Deo Volente is Latin for God willing.

Grand Princess

Grand Princess is a large cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises. Built in 1998 by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani in MonfalconeItaly, at a cost of approximately US$450 million, she was the largest and most expensive ship ever built at the time, a distinction now carried by Royal Caribbean International's Freedom of the Seas. Grand Princess primarily operates in Europe during the summer to early fall, and then operates in the Caribbean during winter to late spring.

She is the sister ship of the Star Princess and the Golden Princess.

I don't normally print ship statistics,but on this occasion I will as her dimension are mammoth.

Tonnage: 109,000 gross tons
Length: 951 feet (289m 86,5cm)
Beam: 118 feet (35m 97cm)
Draft: 26 feet (7m 92,5cm)
Height: 201 feet (61m 26,5cm)
Cruising Speed: 22.5 knots (40km/h)
Decks: 18
Complement: 2,600 passengers, 1,100 crew

City of Oporto

City of Oporto and MV Jupiter


City of Oporto a small container ship passing Gourock as she makes her way to the Clydeport terminal at Greenock

Yacht

Taken from the mouth of Loch Long.

MV Sea Horse 11

According to her owners Argyle workboats,MV Sehorse is a fully equipped offshore survey and combat weapons trials support vessel capable of working safely in exposed open seas where accurate and reliable surveying and positioning is required.

She recently accompanied HMS Daring,the Royal Navy's newest destroyer on her sea trials.

Water Fountain Gourock

Vital Spark

Vic 72 was built in 1944 at Hull, and was one of the last VIC class puffers built to have a certificate to carry cargo , she is powered by a Diesel Engine. VIC stands for Victualing Inshore Craft.

The puffers original name was 'Eilean Eisdeal' which was given to her by the Easdale Shipping Company but she was re-named in 2006 as the Vital Spark after the stories written by the writer Neil Munro who wrote about 'Para Handy' skipper of the puffer, the 'Vital Spark'.

The puffer was unique in that they were flat bottomed, and could easily beach at low water unload their cargo and then float off on the next tide, this is one of the reasons why they were so popular particularly in the more remote parts of the West of Scotland.