Thomas Bollen Seath

on Nov 25, 2014

A small album of old cartes de visite of ships got my attention.  When it was opened, it revealed some images that were familiar and some that were not.  Many of the ships were connected with the Rutherglen shipbuilder Thomas Seath.  It took me quite some time to identify all the ships and the original owner and purpose of the collection still remains a mystery, but the little album remains one of my favorite finds. The most intriguing picture in the collection is a sweet pose of a young bearded man and, presumably, his wife.  The connections of the pictures of the ships to this picture is readily apparent.  The man is surely Tommy Seath, born on 20th September of 1820 at Prestonpans in East Lothian, and the young lady he married in 1848 was Helen Young. T B Seath and wife (Bell, Trongate, Glasgow) When he was eight years old, Seath’s family moved to Glasgow and at the age of...

Comte de Smet de Naeyer

on Nov 20, 2014

The Comte de Smet de Naeyer was a full rigged sailing vessel launched on the 11th of October 1904 by the Greenock and Grangemouth Dockyard Company at their Mid-Cartsdyke Yard in Greenock as a sail training vessel for cadets of the Association Maritime Belge. At 1863 tons, she was 267 feet long and just over 41 feet in breadth with a draught of almost 24 feet. On the 20th of October, when fitting out in James Watt Dock, she capsized. From the Greenock Telegraph As the following sequence of pictures reveals, she was righted and completed for service. Capsized on 20th October 1904 The turbine steamers King Edward and Queen Alexandra can be seen on their winter lay-up in the background. Initial salvage efforts Initial salvage attempts were not successful and she sank completely Here the puffer Mellite helps as a new attempt is made Counter-weights attached and in place and the parbuckling...

Metagama: Liner and Cargo Steamer in Collision

on Nov 11, 2014

The Metagama, of the Canadian Pacific Line, outward bound from Glasgow for Quebec and Montreal, and the cargo steamer Baron Vernon, inward bound from Italy, collided in Clyde waters near Dumbarton Rock on Friday night, 25th May 1923, between nine and ten o’clock. On board the liner there were fully 1100 passengers, most of whom had retired to rest. For a while the vessels remained locked together, and, when the liner backed out, the Baron Vernon heeled over, having, been, holed below the water line; her port bows were stove in, and she was thrown stem first towards the north bank of the river. Realising the danger of the situation, the captain of the cargo steamer beached his vessel, grounding her in the mud at a point off Helenslea, not far from the Garmoyle light. The damage to the Metagama was comparatively slight. She had one of her plates broken on the port bow, about nine feet...