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At the naming of a passenger day steamer converted from a World War One minesweeper, the main speaker at the ceremony quoted the Biblical phrase describing the ship Lady Cynthia and her “sister” Lady Cecilia, as having, “turned swords into ploughshares.” It was felt the saying to be appropriate as both vessels had been built and completed in 1919 as twin-screw minesweepers Read more...
May 31, 2023

THEY TURNED SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES

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“An unique occasion in the history of Montrose as a shipbuilding centre was fittingly marked on Tuesday 25th February, 1925 and aroused great popular interest in the Burgh, when the naming of two passenger steamers built by the Coaster Construction Company for the Union Steamship Company of Vancouver, British Columbia was performed in the presence of a large company in Read more...
March 2, 2023

Double Naming Ceremony

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The Lady Alexandra or rather Lady Alex as she was familiarly known to many residents of British Columbia, was completed by the Coaster Construction Company on Rossie Island, Montrose in the early 1920s to the order of the Union Steamship Company of Vancouver, Canada. She was launched on February, 1924 with her construction having commenced the previous October. She was designed Read more...
December 19, 2022

Remembering the “Lady Alex”

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In 1922 the Brisbane Tug and Steamship Co. felt the demand for additional excursions merited the acquisition of a second vessel to supplement their existing single passenger ship. The result being that the company began negotiations for the purchase of HMS Wexford which had been built in 1919 under the Emergency Naval Programme by Wm. Simons & Co. of Renfrew Read more...
September 26, 2022

The Doomba: She Swept The Sea Lanes For The Queen Mary

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By John Aitken 1922, the reputation of the Coaster Construction Company shipyard on Rossie Island, Montrose for high class workmanship was obviously travelling far and wide as they received an order for a twin-screw ferry for Eastbourne Council in North Island, New Zealand. Their successful tender was one of several which had been vetted by a prominent naval architect of Read more...
July 18, 2022

Muritai – A New Zealand Veteran

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