Old Photograph River Clyde Glasgow Scotland

Old photograph of the River Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland. The success of the River Clyde at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution was driven by the location of Glasgow, being a port facing the Americas. Tobacco and cotton trade began the drive in the early 18th century. However, the shallow Clyde was not navigable for the largest ocean going ships and cargo had to be transferred at Greenock or Port Glasgow to smaller ships to sail upstream into Glasgow itself. In the middle of the 19th century engineers began seriously dredging the Clyde, removing millions of cubic feet of silt to deepen and widen the channel. The completion of the dredging was well timed; as steelworking grew in the city, the channel finally became navigable all the way up to Glasgow. Shipbuilding replaced trade as the major activity on the river and shipbuilding companies were rapidly establishing themselves on the river. Soon, the Clyde gained a reputation for being the best location for shipbuilding in the British Empire, and grew to become the world's preeminent shipbuilding centre. Clydebuilt became an industry benchmark of quality, and the river's shipyards were given contracts for prestigious ocean-going liners as well as warships, including the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth 2 in later years, all built in the town of Clydebank.



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