By John Aitken In the edition of April 6th, 1923 the “Montrose Review” reported on the launch of the TST Alsatia from the Rossie Island shipyard of the Coaster Construction Co. Ltd, an event which was witnessed by a large company of spectators. She had been named by Mrs Lyon, wife of the marine superintendent of the new ship’s owners the …
By John Aitken The Coaster Construction Company Limited started off in a rather modest way on Rossie Island, Montrose in 1920. Their first commercial vessel was the small coaster appropriately named Rossie, constructed on spec to give the new workforce experience in costing, estimating, design and construction including riveting and the finishing trades. On completion, she was used to fit …
By John Aitken Late March, 1922 saw the launch of the Newcastle-registered ship Emilie Dunford launched from the relatively-new shipyard of the Coaster Construction Company on Rossie Island, Montrose. She was completed as the first ship of the Dunford Steamship Company and entered the South Esk without a hitch having been named by Mrs. Dunford. Generally described as a 201-foot …
By John Aitken It was planned by the Coaster Construction Company Limited to launch the collier Southquay from their new shipyard on Rossie Island, Montrose on the penultimate Saturday of January, 1921. As it happened the weather intervened with a strong tidal surge in the River South Esk and the arrangements were put back to the following Tuesday afternoon. A …
By John Aitken On Saturday, 22nd January, 1921 an unforeseen mishap occurred in Montrose caused by a fierce gale and a subsequent tidal surge. Some estimates put the rise in the river at 20 feet, almost two feet above prediction, the result being that the initial launches from the Coaster Construction Co. Ltd.’s shipyard were aborted. Much interest had been …
By John Aitken A shipbuilding business was opened on Rossie Island, Montrose by the Coaster Construction Company Limited in 1919. Its embryonic origins however had begun late the previous year, a few days prior to the end of World War One, when a large piece of land on the east side of the Island consisting of “13 acres, 3 roods …
For close on one hundred and fifty years, Scurdie Ness Lighthouse has stood sentinel as a fixed aid to navigation at the mouth of the River South Esk, guiding mariners safely past the shoals and rocky shoreline of the north Angus and Mearns coast. A petition from 74 local inhabitants in November 1860 complained that both strangers and regular users …
By all accounts there must have been more people at the harbour than for many a day when the London “beat-the-strike” vessel Velazquez sailed for Grimsby for dry docking. Estimates of upwards of 300 bystanders were reported in the vicinity of the Wet Dock when she eased through the narrow entrance. The crew had made many friends in the town …
An article in a New Zealand daily newspaper of February 14, 1924 reported: “Inaha Arrives. Montrose to Wellington. An Interesting Vessel.” The news item continued: “An interesting arrival at Wellington this morning was the motor-ship Inaha from Montrose, Scotland via (several) ports. The vessel was inspected by the port authorities and later berthed at No. 4 Queen’s Wharf. “Her interest …
In late September, 1867 a large number of people gathered at the East Quay to witness the first composite vessel ever to be built in Montrose from the shipyard of Joseph Birnie & Co. However, all did not go to plan straightaway. The rope holding her on the slip had been cut and the appropriate signal given but the launch …
