'Clydebuilt' - Gavin Stewart's Presidential Address

CRSC President Gavin Stewart with his own ‘Builders Plate’ on screen

Despite it being a wild and windy day across much of the west coast, a good number of people turned up at our ‘new’ venue at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in Glasgow for the first meeting of the Clyde River Steamer Club’s 2026-27 winter session. The speaker was CRSC President Gavin Stewart, who would attempt to shake off the stigma of having already been unable to deliver his address not just once, but twice during the previous Club year. Having been President for a year already, could it be third time lucky for him?

Andrew Clark, retiring as Editor of the Club’s annual ‘Clyde Steamers’ magazine, was presented with a framed photograph of Caledonia by President Gavin Stewart

But before the meeting proper got underway, retiring Magazine Editor Andrew Clark was presented with framed photographs of the 1934 Caledonia by Gavin and Vice President James Fisher, who was chairing the meeting, to mark the Club’s appreciation for having produced the magazine for the past twenty years.

And so Gavin began his talk, titled ‘I am Clydebuilt in 1971’, a personal trip showing us his own way of interpreting the word “Clydebuilt”, cleverly using each letter of the word to give differing themes: ‘C’ stood for ‘CalMac’, ‘L’ for ‘Launch’, and so on.

Many favourite shots were shown including, of course, several of the veteran Isle of Arran, the ship for which Gavin conjured the nickname “Auld Trooper” many years ago!

Using illustrations gathered from a number or sources, including collections ‘rescued’ by Gavin himself, we were treated to many unfamiliar views, and to ships that were perhaps less well known to many in the room.

We saw ships being launched, ships being repaired or converted, liners, cargo ships, ferries aplenty, sludge boats, and tugs, the latter being a particular favourite type of the speaker.

That around fifty members and friends came to hear Gavin’s presentation was testament to the Committee’s decision to move back to the Leonardo Royal Hotel for our meetings this winter. ‘Clydebuilt’ got us off to a great start for the session. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 18 November, when we meet in Room 104 to hear Colin Smith talk about the ‘Clyde and West Highlands – Through a Lens’.

Three launches from James Lamont’s yard at Port Glasgow: Eigg on 12 December 1974, Jupiter on 27 November 1973, and Juno on 16 September 1974, all seen in official photographs that Gavin rescued from a skip when the yard closed down

The ‘Auld Trooper’, a nickname affectionately conjured up by Gavin for Isle of Arran, entering Ardrossan Harbour in her first year in service

When you start the video, please click on the double outward-facing arrows symbol on the lower righthand side to get the full screen version.

Thanks to David Cherry for recording the talk and producing the video.

CRSC is an association of friendly enthusiasts united by the quest to ‘meet together, sail together and talk together’, mainly on the west of Scotland — but many members hail from further afield, as this report demonstrates. If you join us, you’ll receive copies of our much-prized west coast shipping Review and annual magazine, as well as access to a huge library of archive photos in the ‘Members Only’ section of this website. We gather for meetings and cruises throughout the year. To join us, click here.

Published on 23 October 2026