The Falls Of Clyde (FOC) was Built in 1878 at Russell and Co’s yard in Port Glasgow (pictured right) and is the first of eight ships but one of the last remaining, finishing her career as a sail driven oil tanker.

She is a survivor and the last of her kind (her seven sisters were either lost in wartime – WW1 and WW2 – or at sea in terrible storms) and, much like the people of Scotland she is hardy, strong and able to weather the worst of storms.

The FOC remains the symbol of a time of great innovation, ingenuity and engineering, she truly is a piece of history that shouldn’t be forgotten as ships like her opened the seaways for the new designs of the British Merchant Fleets of the 20th Century – fast steamships and turbine powered innovators of their day! There is so much history imbued in the very iron that was used to build her and she deserves to sail for another 140 + years.

The FOC, and ships like her, allowed Britain to become the seafaring, trading nation and supplier of goods worldwide. Additionally she bears the name of our great river; a place that built the maritime nation we became.