Glasgow Days!

On 5 March 1979 the St Columba ventured north to Glasgow for annual overhaul.  The second largest passenger/car ferry ever to sail so far up the Clyde, at that time, she entered No. 3 Dry Dock of Clyde Dock Engineering Ltd. Later, she moved to nearby St Stephen's Basin before finally leaving the Clyde on 1 April 1979, and it was here that she turned Clydeside heads!

Under the command of Capt Len Evans, she sailed out of the basin using her after bridge and bow rudder. The Clyde Pilot was very impressed and as there was a very strong breeze he advised the Master to 'keep going'! And keep going he did, 17 miles stern first before swinging and proceeding ahead. The photo left was taken from the Erskine Road bridge and appeared in the Summer 1979 issue of Sealink News.

While she was in Glasgow, the Holyhead - Dun Laoghaire service was left in the hands of Fishguard's Avalon. The relief ship had some pretty rough crossings; A NE 10 on 16 March, and a NNW 9 on 28/29 March with crossings approaching five hours.

We are very grateful to Paul Strathdee for his photos below capturing this unique sight.

The St Columba returned to Glasgow again in 1980. On that occasion, she arrived on Tues 8th Jan, being all fast at 1300hrs. They picked up the Glasgow pilot at Greenock, and entered the channel at Tail of the Bank. This time they apparently went upriver stern first due to limited swinging area near the KGV Dock.

Many thanks to Albert Novelli for sharing these next photos.

Glasgow Again!

In January 1986 the overhaul relief programme at Holyhead fell apart due to industrial unrest - B+I Line crews demanded the same conditions as their St Columba colleagues for the period they were to operate from Dun Laoghaire under the agreement of a pooling partnership.  Strike action followed, B+I's Leinster was prevented from crossing Dublin Bay to Dun Laoghaire and sailings were suspended for 3 days while the St Columba returned to the Clyde where she underwent a 24 hour drydocking at Govan to renew her passenger certificates.  

Once again, Paul Strathdee was on hand with his camera to catch two of the photos below.