Unknown: Newshot Island, River Clyde
Craft
Site Name Unknown: Newshot Island, River Clyde
Classification Craft
Alternative Name(s) Erskine, Newshot Island Ship Graveyard; Clydebank
Canmore ID 102465
Site Number NS47SE 8004
NGR NS 4779 7047
Datum Datum not recorded
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/102465
- Council Renfrewshire
- Parish Maritime - Renfrewshire
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Maritime
- Former County Not Applicable
NS47SE 8004 4779 7047
N55 54.2 W4 26.04
NLO: Newshot Island [name centred NS 484 703].
Formerly entered as NS47SE 9094: see also NS47SE 8001-3.
Horizontal Datum = OGB
Surveying Details
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26 July 1994. A stranded wreck is shown at 55 54 12N, 004 26 02.4W on aerial photographs taken in 1974.
Hydrographic Office, 1995.
This wreck, together with NS47SE 8001-3, is presumably one of those that comprise the Newshot Island ship graveyard. The remains of several mud punts (once commonly used for dredging operations on the River Clyde) and at least three other craft are recorded lying within the small creek that partially seperates Newshot Island from the mainland on the south side of the river. Initial research and contact with local people suggests that the craft were abandoned there after a wartime bombing incident in one of Glasgow's docks had severely damaged them by fire. The development of a new housing estate presents an evident threat.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 20 November 2000.
NMRS, MS/829/21.
Vertical air photography (FCC 7343/45/564-5, flown 9 June 1975) has recorded a close-set group of wrecks (some of them apparently superimposed around NS c. 4787 7047. The near-intact wrecks of at least two substantial vessels (one of them probably measuring about 30m in length) can be distinguished, together with at least six rectangular platforms (probably catamaran pontoons or 'mud floats') and sundry indeterminate timbers.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 13 December 2000.
Ground Survey (3 October 2014 - 5 October 2014)
NS 47699 70486 As part of the SCAPE Trust’s Scotland’s Coastal Heritage at Risk Project the SCAPE Trust, the Nautical Archaeology Society and local volunteers joined forces, 3–5 October 2014, to make a detailed record of a concentration of wooden boat remains. The remains are visible on aerial photographs and were originally noted by volunteers during
coastal surveys, with one of the wrecks being identified as a diving bell barge by a local volunteer.
The team planned, photographed and recorded a group of seven mud punts located in the intertidal zone E of Park Quay at Erskine. Local information and historical research indicates that the mud punts were used in dredging operations on the River Clyde until the early 20th century.
An aerial photograph taken in 1939 shows the punts in their current position, presumably abandoned. A second group of wrecks located in the creek on the S side of Newshot Island contains schooners, abandoned there after a fire at the Kingston Dock in 1914, and possibly the earliest surviving remains of a diving bell barge.
The detailed surveys were supplemented by low level aerial photography by Edward Martin, and historical research is being undertaken by members of the project team.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended)
Funder: Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland and Crown Estate
Joanna Hambly – The SCAPE Trust
(Source: DES)
