[BITList] Fwd: How they launched the big ones in Collingwood Ont..

[HUGH]

Mike,

Hairy stuff.  Some of my ex-colleagues worked at the Collingwood Yard - I assume they were not aboard the vessels when they (the vessels) fell into the pani.  This launch method must have restricted the size/type of ship they quoted for.

I grew up seeing launches - there were five shipyards along Port Glasgow riverside, the boundary between two of them being opposite our house which was 200 yards from the river.  An unpaved street ran down between them, right to the water's edge - driving into the river was possible, and we had fine vantage points for launch watching. I still recall some of the names, and one of the numbers.  Launches were commonplace, even on Saturdays and late afternoons, so we didn't get off school for them.  We did get off school to see the Queen Elizabeth go down river (in wartime grey), ditto another liner in purple.  I've always recalled the latter as the Mauretania, but she was built by Cammell Laird.  And the battleship,  HMS Vanguard.

Hugh.
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