I mentioned last night that I was working on something for my ‘Coast’ project.  I decided to interpret the theme Coast as ‘West Coast of Scotland’ – my home – and particularly the River Clyde.  Well I put a couple of pieces in my sketchbook for you to see.

There is a story behind these photographs and painting.  The town where I was born and grew up, is situated on the River Clyde, which had one of the largest shipping industries in the world.  It was famous for James Watt’s steam engine, the building of the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, the QE2 and the Royal Yacht Britannia.  The Waverley, which is the last seagoing paddle steamer in the world, was also built there.  It was also one of the most important rivers for shipping and trade through the British Empire.  The Clyde was not navigable for the largest ocean going ships trying to get to Glasgow, therefore they emptied their cargo at Greenock and Port Glasgow, which is pretty much the Tail of the Bank.  Trade came to and fro the Americas, Jamaica, the Indies and other such places.  Latterly, Her Majesty’s Naval Base and the Royal Naval Armaments Depot became, and still are, based at Faslane and Coulport – both on the Clyde, which also houses the United Kingdom’s Trident-armed nuclear submarine force.  There is a long and rich history there.

Port Glasgow is my home town.  It looks over towards Helensburgh, and further down towards Faslane, Coulport, and in the backdrop, the Lomond Hills.  You can access the the Highlands and Islands from ferry terminals a few miles down the road from my home.

I lived practically on the beach of the Clyde.  It was my playground.  When you look at the river, especially at low tide, you can see the mudflats and sandbanks.  There are quite a number of them.  When I was 1 year old,  there was a boat called the Captayannis, which was waiting to enter James Watt Dock with a sugar cargo one evening.  She was dragging her anchor in bad weather and hit a BP tanker.  The tanker was also at anchor, and it holed the Captayannis, causing the intake of water.  The captain tried to take shelter but realised it was taking in water too quickly and so he headed for the shallower waters and sandbank.  The boat hit it hard and started to keel over and by morning the ship was completely on its side.  No one died.

I’ve grown up with this wreck just off the shore of the Clyde, but it has always been known to us as the Sugar Boat.  It has never been removed.  There were plans to blow it up, but it has become a bird sanctuary, and there were fears of driving the bird population away, so there it remains.  During the Fyfe Regatta, the yachts navigate around this wreck, sailing very closely to it, with many strange looks from foreigners but it has become part of our local heritage.

I decided that I would base my first piece on this, since it happened not long after I was born.  The first image has a picture of the boat in full working order, followed by the story of its capsize.  The painting is that of the boat today.  I used candle wax, oil pastels, acrylics, drawing ink and bleach.  I also added a little barnacle and other shellfish, which I got from a card-making kit.