Established | 1991 |
---|---|
Location | The Linthouse, Harbour Road, Irvine, Ayrshire KA12 8BT Scotland |
Coordinates | 55°36′34″N4°40′37″W / 55.60953°N 4.67684°W |
Established | 1983 |
Location | Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank, Castle Street, Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire G82 1QS Scotland |
Coordinates | 55°56′36″N4°33′47″W / 55.94342°N 4.56312°W |
Type | Maritime museum |
Collection size | Buildings, ship testing tank, historic vessels, artefacts, art, personal items, shipbuilding tools and machinery |
Director | David Mann |
Curator | Abigail McIntyre |
Website | www |
The Scottish Maritime Museum is an industrial museum with a Collection Recognised as Nationally Significant to Scotland. [1] It is located at two sites in the West of Scotland in Irvine and Dumbarton, with a focus on Scotland's shipbuilding heritage.
The museum's Linthouse building is located at Irvine Harbour, situated within the category A listed former Engine Shop of Alexander Stephen and Sons, which was salvaged and relocated from their derelict Linthouse shipyard in Glasgow in 1991. [2] The Linthouse engineering shop is now home to a collection of significant vessels including MV Kyles [3] and MV Spartan [4] which are listed on the National Historic Ships UK register. A highly significant vessel built of iron in 1872 in Paisley, MV Kyles is the oldest iron Clyde built vessel still afloat in the UK. [5] It entered the museum's collection in 1984. [6] The museum also has a collection of marine engines and industrial machine tools, and owns a recreated 1920s worker's tenement flat at Irvine Harbour. The museum also has a significant collection of artwork funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. [7] In 2020 the museum managed to raise funds to keep MV Kyles as a floating vessel. [6]
The Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank, in Dumbarton, focuses on the world of the naval architect. Shipbuilder William Denny Jr of William Denny and Brothers was inspired by the work of eminent naval architect William Froude and completed the tank for his shipyard in 1883. It was the world's first commercial example of a ship testing tank. Re-opened as a museum in 1983, it retains many of its original features, including the original 100-meter-long tank. The museum also tells the story of the test tank's original owners, William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton, one of the most innovative shipbuilding companies in the world until their closure in 1963.
The museum is an independent museum operated by a charitable trust: the Scottish Maritime Museum Trust. It became operational in 1983. [8] The first trust chairperson was Clydeside shipbuilder Ross Belch who held the post until 1998 [9] The trust includes Scottish industrial historian John R. Hume among its trustees. [10] The founding Director was Dr Henry C. McMurray. [11]
The River Clyde is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major city of Glasgow. Historically, it was important to the British Empire because of its role in shipbuilding and trade. To the Romans, it was Clota, and in the early medieval Cumbric language, it was known as Clud or Clut. It was central to the Kingdom of Strathclyde.
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles. The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula, which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran. Within the Firth of Clyde is another major island – the Isle of Bute. Given its strategic location at the entrance to the middle and upper Clyde, Bute played a vital naval military role during World War II.
Govan is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick. Historically it was part of the County of Lanark.
Dumbarton is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
A ship model basin is a basin or tank used to carry out hydrodynamic tests with ship models, for the purpose of designing a new ship, or refining the design of a ship to improve the ship's performance at sea. It can also refer to the organization that owns and operates such a facility.
The Clyde puffer is a type of small coal-fired and single-masted cargo ship, built mainly on the Forth and Clyde canal, and which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides of Scotland.
MV The Second Snark is a small passenger ferry, built in 1938 by William Denny of Dumbarton, later operated by Clyde Marine Services on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland.
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including RMS Lusitania, RMS Aquitania, HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth 2.
Whiteinch is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly north of the River Clyde, between the Partick and Scotstoun areas of the city. Whiteinch was at one stage part of the burgh of Partick, until that burgh's absorption into the expanding city of Glasgow in 1912, and part of the Parish of Govan.
Bowling is a village in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, with a population of 740 (2015).
William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company.
Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, often referred to simply as Alex Stephens or just Stephens, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Linthouse, Glasgow, on the River Clyde and, initially, on the east coast of Scotland.
A & J Inglis, Ltd, was a shipbuilding firm founded by Anthony Inglis and his brother John, engineers and shipbuilders in Glasgow, Scotland in 1862. The firm built over 500 ships in a period of just over 100 years. Their Pointhouse Shipyard was at the confluence of the rivers Clyde and Kelvin. They constructed a wide range of ships, including Clyde steamers, paddle steamers and small ocean liners. In wartime, they built small warships, and in the period after World War II, they built a number of whalers.
Robert Napier was a Scottish marine engineer known for his contributions to Clyde shipbuilding.
The automatic tide signalling apparatus or Pilot House at Irvine harbour in North Ayrshire, Scotland, is a category B listed building, and is probably unique, having been invented and patented by Martin Boyd, the Irvine harbourmaster, in 1905 and opened in 1906.
MacCrindle Shipbuilding Ltd was a shipbuilder in Ardrossan, Scotland.
MV Lymington is a former ro-ro ferry, built in 1938 to serve the Isle of Wight. She is Britain's earliest example of a Voith Schneider driven ferry. Renamed MV Sound of Sanda in 1974, she served Western Ferries on the Upper Clyde until 1993.
The harbours serving Irvine at Seagatefoot and Fullarton in North Ayrshire have had a long and complex history. Irvine's harbour was one of the most important ports in Scotland in the 16th century. Across from the main harbour at Fullarton on the River Irvine there was also terminal for the ICI-Nobel Explosives plant on the River Garnock. Much of the harbour went into decline in the 19th century when Glasgow, Greenock and Port Glasgow achieved higher prominence as sea ports. There was still some commercial sea traffic linked to local needs, though the harbour went into further terminal decline in the 20th century. The weir on the River Irvine forms the formal upper limit of the harbour.
MV Otaki was a refrigerated cargo ship built for the New Zealand Shipping Company by John Brown's of Clydebank in 1953. She was launched on 24 October 1952 and registered at London.
SY Carola is a steam yacht built in 1898. She is possibly the oldest seagoing yacht in the world despite being no longer operable and used as a museum exhibit in Irvine, Scotland.