GREENOCK'S East India Harbour used to be a busy place when steamers, ferries and other commercial vessels were laid up during the quieter months.
Today’s image of the harbour was taken in the winter of 1970/71 and shows stern views of three vessels built on the Clyde.
On the left is the turbine steamer King George V, also pictured leaving Gourock in May, 1972.
She was launched from Denny of Dumbarton in 1926 and withdrawn from service in 1974. The former MacBrayne steamer ended up in Cardiff but a plan to convert her into a pub/restaurant was abandoned after a fire. She was scrapped in 1984.
Next to the steamer is the cargo vessel Lochbroom. She was built by Scotts of Bowling in 1945 and entered service as the Empire Maysong for the Ministry of War Transport.
Acquired by MacBrayne’s in 1948, she was sold to Cypriot owners in 1973 and sank the following year after grounding.
The other cargo vessel is the Loch Ard. Built by Ferguson of Port Glasgow in 1955, she was the last cargo vessel constructed for MacBrayne’s.
In 1970 she was chartered by a Dublin firm. It is thought the Loch Ard was pictured just before the charter or after it ended.
The Loch Ard passed to a Liberian concern in 1971 and had two further owners before being scrapped in Bilbao in 1985.
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