Next week MV Glen Rosa, the second CalMac ferry being built at Ferguson’s shipyard in Port Glasgow, will slide down a greased slipway into the River Clyde.
But could it be the last traditional ship launch on a river whose shipyards once dominated the world?
The ritual of a bottle being smashed into the hull before a great ship glides into the water is an iconic – but increasingly rare scene in shipbuilding.
Thousands of Clydebuilt ships, among them great names like the Queen Mary, QE2 and the battlecruiser Hood, have been launched this way.
But for many shipyards, the “dynamic” launch, as it’s known, has fallen out of favour, with other methods now preferred.
Image source, Getty Images
Thousands of ships like the Queen Mary have been launched on the Clyde but a slipway launch has become a rare spectacle
Sending thousands of tonnes of steel and aluminium down a slipway under the forces of gravity always carries an element of risk.
There are many job titles in a shipyard – but once on the berth, it is the shipwrights and naval architects who are in control.
Launching a ship safely down a slipway requires meticulous planning, skills and experience possessed by a dwindling number of experts.
On the same day Glen Rosa enters the water, 66-year-old shipwright Andrew Cochrane will retire after a shipbuilding career spanning 51 years.
He’s lost count of the launches he’s witnessed but he reckons it’s just under 100.
He’s seen ships launched using more modern “float off” methods – but for him nothing beats a dynamic slipway launch.
“This is the only yard left on the Clyde that believes in the dynamic launches – the traditional way, the best way,” he says. “I’m always proud – and I’ll be proud of this one because it’s my last one.
“It’s the camaraderie amongst the boys – the pride once you see the ship leaving the slipway and going into the water. You get a wee bit in there,” he says holding his hand to his heart. “It’s all pride”.
Ferguson’s currently has no new ship orders. The yard is still waiting to learn if it gets the contract for a fleet of smaller CalMac vessels, similar to ones it has built on time and on budget in the past.
Could this be the last dynamic launch on the Clyde? I ask him. “I’m hoping everything goes well for this yard and they get work – this yard can prove itself once again because they’re a great bunch of workers in here.”
This method of ship launching hasn’t changed since Andrew started work at Scott’s shipyard when he was a 15-year-old boy.
As the ship is assembled on the berth, “launch ways” – long wooden tracks – are constructed on either side of the keel.
There are two parts to them – firstly there are the “standing ways” that will guide the ship into the water.
Then, directly beneath the hull, “sliding ways” are fitted – forming a long wooden sled which travels with the ship as it descends into the water.
Both are heavily greased – the shipwrights have got through 15 barrels of grease and 10 barrels of tallow in preparation for the launch of Glen Rosa.
As launch day approaches, the “shores” – heavy timbers – and wedges are removed until the ship rests entirely on the launch ways.
Hours before the ceremony “stopper” blocks and the “fore shores” – designed to prevent a premature launch – are also taken away.
quotes about cutting them off – from Andrew
All that prevents the ship moving now are the “daggers” – hinged metal anvils that serve as a trigger mechanism, held in place by a stout metal pin.
released by the shipwrights the moment the bottle shatters on the hull.
For the retired naval architect Craig Osborne – who has advised on the launch – a lot of maths and physics is also involved, calculating forces and centres of gravity.
Glen Rosa weighs just under 3,000 tonnes – but Craig believes that friction is factored in, each dagger will have to hold less than 100 tonnes.
Often a ship won’t slide off immediately – Glen Rosa’s sister ship Glen Sannox remained stubbornly static for almost a minute-and-a-half while the launch crew used hydraulic jacks to coax it along.
Then, in 20 seconds or so it’s all over as the ship floats for the first time. The waiting tugs quickly “catch” the drifting vessel, ready to shepherd it to the safety of the quayside where months of “fitting out” work lie ahead.
There’s a lot that can go wrong.
“Stuck on ways” is a frequent entry in the records of Clyde ship launches as a ship failed to make it all the way to the river.
Image source, Alamy
In 1883 more than 120 workers lost their lives when a ship launch in Govan went disastrously wrong
The most disastrous launch came in 1883 when the steamer SS Daphne sank minutes after leaving the slipway at Alexander Stephen and Sons in Govan with 200 workers on board.
Anchors had been attached on either side to slow the ship’s movement as it entered the water, but one of them dragged along the river bed.
Caught in the current, the ship capsized in deep water, claiming the lives of 124 men and teenage boys.
The rigorous safety standards of modern day shipbuilding means there’s little chance such a tragedy will be repeated, but for those planning the launch it remains a nail-biting time nonetheless.
Drone footage shows HMS Glasgow being transported on barge down the River Clyde
Twenty miles up river in Govan, the only other Clyde shipbuilder BAE Systems has abandoned slipway launches.
Royal Navy warships are now built on a level surface, then manoeuvred using self-propelled trailers onto a giant barge which carries them to deep water and lowers them in gently.
Elsewhere in the world it is common to build ships in dry docks which are then flooded, allowing the vessel to be “floated out”.
The last ship to be launched at Ferguson’s prior to Glen Rosa – a fish farm workboat named Kallista Helen – was rolled out on giant airbags.
Image source, FMPG
The last ship launched at Ferguson’s three years ago was lowered in to the water on airbags
In terms of spectacle, however, many believe there’s nothing that can beat the classic slipway launch.
The ceremonies have their traditions – a bottle of champagne is most often smashed against the hull though in Scotland a single malt is sometimes used instead.
The guest invited to “sponsor” the vessel is usually a woman – who then becomes the ship’s “godmother”.
At Ferguson’s a small hammer is used to hit a blade, cutting a cord to release a trebuchet-like device, which in turn propels the bottle into the ship’s bow.
The shards of shattered glass are gathered up and presented to the “lady sponsor” in a wooden casket along with a gift, usually jewellery.
In 2005, for the launch of the fisheries protection vessel Jura, the bottle failed to smash so a shipwright had to finish it off with a sledgehammer. Since then they have scored the bottle to weaken it.
Glen Rosa will be the heaviest vessel to leave Ferguson’s slipway.
This launch has been a long time coming. The two ferries have faced design challenges, leaving the workforce often embarrassed and demoralised by events beyond their control.
But for onlookers who gather in Port Glasgow on Tuesday it will be a day to set those controversies aside and celebrate hard work carried out in difficult circumstances.
With Ferguson’s still looking for its next ship order and other launching methods gaining favour it’s unclear when they’ll see such a sight again.
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