1700s

The 1707 Treaty of Union between England and Scotland opened new trading opportunities for Scots with England and her colonies.

In Glasgow, manufacturers, shippers and traders made fortunes from import and export trade especially in tobacco and sugar.
By 1772 over half of all tobacco shipped to Britain came into Glasgow.

Local shipping and shipbuilding developed alongside the new industries and the city grew in size as huge numbers of skilled and unskilled workers arrived searching for work.

1800s

The first successful experiments using steam engines to drive boats took place on the still waters of Dalswinton Loch and the Forth and Clyde Canal between 1788 and 1802. In 1812 the first commercially viable river steamboat, the Comet, was built for the Dumbarton hotelier Henry Bell.

1820s

Enterprising Clydeside merchants and engineers were quick to see the advantages of steam power. 42 steamships were completed on the Clyde between 1812 and 1820. The established wooden shipbuilders, mostly on the lower Clyde built the hulls, and engineers in Glasgow and other Clyde towns supplied the machinery.

1830s

With plentiful local resources of coal and ironstone, the Clyde was better placed than any river in the United Kingdom to develop iron shipbuilding. Tod & McGregor opened the first shipyard to build in iron on the Clyde in 1837. Robert Napier put Glasgow to the forefront of iron shipbuilding by winning valuable and influential ship orders and investment for construction and engineering improvements.

1850s

Former employees of Robert Napier including James and George Thomson, Charles Randolph and John Elder established their own firms and helped build a reputation for the Clyde as a centre for quality marine engineering and the most important centre for iron shipbuilding in Britain.

1860s

Alexander Stephen and Sons begin building composite ships with bones of iron and skin of wood at their Kelvinhaugh yard.
Clyde based engineering firms including Randolph, Elder & Co and A & J Inglis opened their own iron shipyards at Fairfield and at Pointhouse.

1870s

Clyde yards, like Lithgows, began to specialise in certain types of sail and later steam vessels as ships were becoming larger and more complex. Shipyards forged special relationships with their major customers. Barclay Curle & Co formed a strong association with the Glasgow based British India Steam Navigation Co, Caird’s of Greenock was linked with P&O and Scott’s of Greenock with the China Steam Navigation Co.

1880s

Glasgow had grown into a major international industrial city and the Clyde the most technologically advanced shipbuilding area in the world. From the mid 1880s, naval ships became a significant part of the output of the leading yards. Clyde yards switched to steel construction which made it possible to build even larger ships equipped with more powerful engines.

1900s

In 1906 Yarrows moved from London to Scotstoun on the Clyde where wage rates were lower and steel was locally available.
By 1913, over 100,000 people were working in 38 shipyards and related industries along the Clyde. Over half of world shipbuilding production was in Glasgow and Glasgow was known as the Second City of the Empire. The tramp steamship, the marine turbine and the diesel engine marked the final end for the sailing ship.

1920s

The big surge in shipbuilding after the First World War to replace lost ships was followed by a drop off in orders for new ships. Shipyards laid off workers and unemployment spread throughout the many related engineering and fitting out industries.

1930s and 1940s

The economic crises gripped western capitalist economies more tightly. The shipbuilding industry was severely affected. In 1937 production on the Clyde dropped by 20%. Only the government build up of armaments in the late 1930s in preparation for the Second World War held off more closures and war work from 1939 until 1945 kept yards busy.

1950s

The jet aeroplane was winning freight and passenger traffic away from shipping lines. The old trade loyalties of the British Empire were breaking down. Foreign shipyards with modern equipment and lower wages were successfully competing for ship orders.
In the UK, and along the Clyde, shipyards were loosing out and closing rapidly.

1960s