The Kelvinhaugh Ferry, which wasn’t withdrawn until 1980, nosing into the north slip, on the outer arm of Yorkhill Quay. There’s a wonderful aerial photo on VirtualMitchell of the ferry approaching the slip, dwarfed by a huge liner (Clan Line?) berthed in the east basin. The ship lying at the quay this time is the MV Staffordshire, a 41,000 ton Liberian-registered bulk carrier belonging to the Bibby Line of Liverpool. March 1977
Unlike the Finnieston Ferry which shuttled back and forth straight across the river upstream from the line of the Harbour Tunnel, a trip of about 140 yards, the Kelvinhaugh Ferry took a comparatively adventurous course, half as long again, diagonally over to the foot of Highland Lane in Govan. Originally it too had gone straight across, but the expansion of the Graving Docks in the 1880s required the south slip to relocate. The cranes in the distance are those of the Fairfield (or UCS, or Kvaerner) yard. A dozen years before the whole skyline would have bristled with cranes, but Harland & Wolff, who, nervous about the political situation in Ireland, had established a presence on the Clyde in 1912, shut the doors of their Govan yard in 1962. August 1975
I think this may have been where the Govan Ferry crossed to, with Fairfield's on the left and part of the Meadowside Granary on the right. This focussing on the foreground to the detriment of the wider view wasn't me trying to be arty, one of the lenses of my cheap Russian 35mm had taken a knock and (unknown to me till the film was developed) the focus was playing up. There's more evidence of this on other shots from this time. June 1975
