Scotland’s Shipyards -
As we travel up from the Firth of Tay past Dundee the next viable commercial shipyard was based in Montrose.
They had been building mostly coasters, trawlers and barges there from the mid-eighteenth century, but the restriction on access to the North Sea limited the size of the ships built.
The Montrose Shipbuilding Co, Ltd was set up in 1892 and at their height of production they had 5 berths. They would go into liquidation in 1923 another victim of the post WW1 slump in shipbuilding. Some 50 to 60 years later a couple of trawlers and oil supply ships would be built at the same location but any future in shipbuilding stopped with the launch of the last oil supply vessel in the early 1980’s.
Notes of interest- Steam Tug Kerne, built at Montrose in 1913 is still going strong, thanks to a preservation society at Liverpool.
She is listed on the National Historic Ships database and much more on her can be found there.
Steam tug Kerne-June-2017 (photo is © steam tug Kerne preservation society)