SPW019537 SCOTLAND (1927). Shipyard, Church Street, Irvine. An oblique aerial photograph taken facing north-east.

Caledonian Steam Packet Co. ship PS "Caledonia"

Footbridge.

Cochrane Street.

Church Street.

Church Street

Found a photo of the bucket dredger Irvine at Aberdeen. Helps to confirm that this is the same dredger shown at Irvine. It was quiet common for dredgers to work at other location. In the case, Aberdeen from Irvine would be quite a voyage and not a fast one - 6 knots max.

This bucket dredger has me puzzled – i.e. her name. At first I thought she might have been the SLANEY because I noted in the Glasgow Herald of Aug 12, 1935: “…the dredger Slaney, belonging to Ayrshire Dockyard Company, Irvine, went ashore, through a steering gear mishap” I also noted in the press of 1896: “…new dredger Slaney, which has recently been puchased by the Wexford Harbour Commissioners. This vessel is of the following dimensions :-Length, 120 feet…” The evidence against the SLANEY is that the Herald article also says she was: “on her way into Irvine Bay to discharge her dredgings…” This means the SLANEY was likely to have been a hopper dredger. On the contrary the image shows a dredger with chutes port & starboard for discharging material into other vessels, such as barges or hoppers. I now think she might be the dredger IRVINE, based on the attached cutting for the ‘Clyde’ website. The length looks about right and her build date and scrapped date also fit the date of the image.

This two-masted schooner looks a bit out of place. It is probably a wooden yacht and is sitting in a yard that works mainly in steel. I wonder if it was convenient to use the yard’s slipway just to do some work on the hull. The slipway is clearly able to cope with much larger vessels. I wonder if she is a Fyfe-built yacht?

This ship is possibly one of five ‘BARON’ ships whose ‘Built’ date is given as 1927 or 1928 and which were all built by Ayrshire Dockyard Irvine. The five are: ss BARON PENTLAND Yard No 507 Launched: Tuesday, 28/06/1927 Built: 1927 Ship Type: Steamship Length: 342.1 feet ss BARON SALTOUN Yard No 508 Built: 1927 Ship Type: Cargo Vessel Length: 342.1 feet ss BARON COCHRANE Yard No 509 Built: 1927 Ship Type: Cargo Vessel Length: 341.8 feet ss BARON YARBOROUGH Yard No 511 Built: 1928 Ship Type: Cargo Vessel Length: 341.6 feet ss BARON NEWLANDS Yard No 512 Built: 1928 Ship Type: Cargo Vessel Length: 341.8 feet

This ship is quite possibly the KINDUR. I note that, on her right, there are two fairly similar-sized ships. These two are probably the BARON xxx and the BARON yyy. Irvine built quite a few ‘BARONS’ and they were all about 341ft long. From the ‘BARONS’ I estimate this ship at between 150ft and 250ft long. A ‘Clyde’ website has the following: * KINDUR built by Ayrshire Dockyard * Yard No 513 Built: 1928 * Cargo Vessel * Length: 221ft Since the image is dated Oct, 1927, it seems reasonable that the above “Built” date of 1928 means a completion date. There could easily be three months’ work outstanding which would take us into early 1928. I also found two photos of a ship called KINDUR and I noted many similarities with the Irvine yard photo, especially the style of the stern (slopes forward and inward), the four curve-downs along the ‘deck’ edge, and the open under deck space – in shadow in both photo.

A close-up of the stern identifies this vessel as the ALFONSO and port of registration as PUNTA ARENAS (i.e. Chile.) A ‘Clyde’ website has the following: * ALFONSO. built by Ayrshire Dockyard Irvine. * Yard No 510. Built: 1928. * Cargo Vessel. * Owner: Mendenez-Beherty, Chile. Since image is dated Oct, 1927, it seems reasonable that the above “Built” date of 1928 means a completion date. There could easily be three months’ work outstanding which would take us into early 1928.

Now Irvine Victoria's football ground