Leader: Glenlee is the pride of the Clyde

Glenlee has been moored beside the Riverside Museum since 2011. Photo by John Devlin/The Scotsman

The tale of the Tall Ship Glenlee’s rescue from the scrapyard is a salutary antidote to the ongoing saga of Scotland’s ferry woes.

Italian shipping tycoon Achille Lauro owned Glenlee in the 1920s, between it being a British cargo vessel and a Spanish naval training ship.

Having spent its life abroad, the vessel was towed back to Glasgow for restoration 30 years ago and is now a visitor attraction moored next to the Riverside Museum on the Clyde, the river on which it was launched in 1896.

She is one of one of just five remaining Clyde-built steel-hulled cargo sailing ships and the only one in the UK.

It is expected that last year will turn out to have been one of the worst recorded for Scottish ferry cancellations. Meanwhile, the delays continue to the completion of two new ferries being built at the Ferguson Marine yard at Port Glasgow.

Perhaps if these problems continue into 2024, the Glenlee could be given a new lease of life serving Scotland’s island communities.