The Phantom was towed downriver on Wednesday night, over seven years after setting out on the fateful night which saw her sink just off Clydebank.

Three crewmen perished when the Greenock tug went down in December 2007 — skipper Stephen Humphreys, 33, from Greenock, Eric Blackley, 57, from Gourock, and their colleague Robert Cameron, 65, of Houston.

The tug’s owners, Svitzer, today confirmed to the Telegraph that the vessel had been moved.

They declined to say why the Phantom was moved at night or what Svitzer’s plans are for the tug.

But it is understood that she is now to be broken up.

It’s believed the victims’ families were made aware of the situation.

A Svitzer spokesman said: “We can confirm that the vessel was moved for operational reasons.

“Concerned parties have been kept abreast of these movements.” The Phantom went down in thick fog while towing the 77,000-tonne bulk carrier Red Jasmine, the largest vessel to have visited the Clyde in 20 years.

It has lain at anchor in the city’s King George V dock since being salvaged in January 2008.

Svitzer Marine Ltd were fined £1.7 million in 2013 after pleading guilty to a number of health and safety failures relating to the accident, while port authority Clydeport were fined £650,000 the following year after they admitted health and safety breaches.

It was announced last October that no Fatal Accident Inquiry would be held into the tragedy.

Scotland’s top law officer, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, explained that the two criminal cases had fully established the reasons for the accident.

Crown officials also said that the decision not to hold an inquiry had been taken following consultation with the families of the three men who died.