The Tail of the Bank is the name given to the
anchorage
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...
in the upper
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...
immediately North of
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...
, between
Inverclyde
Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the his ...
and
Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 202 ...
. This area of the Firth gets its name from the deep water immediately to the west of the sandbank which marks the entrance to the navigable channel up the
Estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
of the
River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
.
Location
From the
Glasgow Green Tidal Weir westwards, the
River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
is
tidal, mixing fresh and salt water.
At
Milton Island the river was still shallow, then past
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
and the confluence with the
River Leven a
shoal and sandbank increasingly takes up most of the width of the estuary and extends along the north shore for about to Ardmore. Areas of sandbank dry out at low tide, including the Pillar Bank off Dumbarton and
Cardross.
By
Port Glasgow the main flow of the river is close to the south shore, with the Cockle Bank to its north, then the Greenock Bank which extends past the waterfront harbours to a point off Ocean Terminal where the "Tail of the Bank" shelves steeply down to exceed depth. The Shoals at this depth extend northeasterly towards Ardmore, then meet a shallow slope off the northern shore. The depth continues to the northwest, and about midway across the firth between Ocean Terminal and
Craigendoran is marked by the wreck of the "sugar boat" ''
Captayannis
The Captayannis was a Greek sugar-carrying vessel that sank in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland in 1974.
Shipwreck
On the evening of 27 January 1974, a severe storm caused the ''Captayannis'' to drag her anchor while she was waiting at the Tail of ...
'' which lies in that depth about north of Greenock Esplanade. To the west of
Helensburgh, a deep channel enters the
Gare Loch. On its west, the
Rosneath peninsula forms the north shore, across the firth from the
Fort Matilda Fort Matilda is a suburb at the far western edge of Greenock, Scotland. Its name comes from a coastal battery built on Whiteforeland Point 1814–1819 to defend the River Clyde.
History
In 1862 the Confederate paddle steamer collided with '' ...
suburb of Greenock. Midway between them, the
Rosneath Patch
Rosneath (''Ros Neimhidh'' in Gaelic) is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch, northwest of the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula. It is about by road from the village of Kilcreggan, which is sited ...
reef divides the Clyde into two deep-water channels, and sets the west boundary of the anchorage.
Ships approaching up the Firth of Clyde can take the Ardmore Channel along the south shore of the Rosneath Peninsula, turning north up into the Gare Loch, or the main Firth of Clyde Channel which follows the Greenock shore east-southeast to Ocean Terminal. The entrance to the dredged channel of the River Clyde is between No. 1 green conical light buoy, off Greenock Esplanade in line with Margaret Street, and No. 2 red can light buoy marking the Tail of the Bank, about from the corner of Princes Pier. The channel continues about to the centre of Glasgow.
The anchorage depth varies from to , with the usual anchorage to the east of a line set by two red lights on a pillar and post at the Esplanade end of Madiera Street, Greenock. The line points to The Hole, an area up to deep to the east of the Rosneath Patch and south of Rosneath Point, a 1925 description says that large ships anchor to the west of the line.
History
In his 1828 description of Greenock, the cartographer John Wood noted: "There is a Sand-bank, which extends from
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
to a short distance to the westward of the Harbour, which narrows the Road for vessels opposite the Town; but at the tail of this bank there is deep water and anchorage for the largest vessels."
The Tail of the Bank was a significant point of embarkation for many travellers, especially emigrants, to Canada and the United States of America. Steamships of the
Cunard Line
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Ber ...
en route from Liverpool to New York City regularly called at Tail of the Bank to pick up additional passengers.
In the past this area was at times crowded with ships, particularly during the Second World War when the
Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the Fi ...
warships of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
temporarily left
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009
Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay an ...
after the sinking of
HMS ''Royal Oak'' and were based at the Tail of the Bank. The Clyde Anchorages Emergency Port (CAEP) was improvised there in September 1940 by stevedoring companies evacuated from the Royal Docks of London (closed by the first bombing raids on London). Hundreds of
merchant ship
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which ar ...
s of the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
convoys gathered there, as well as ships of the
Free French Navy. The upper Firth was protected by an anti-
submarine boom at that time, stretching from
Cloch point across the Firth to
Dunoon on the
Cowal Peninsula. A monument in the form of a
Cross of Lorraine
The Cross of Lorraine (french: Croix de Lorraine, link=no), known as the Cross of Anjou in the 16th century, is a heraldic two-barred cross, consisting of a vertical line crossed by two shorter horizontal bars. In most renditions, the horiz ...
combined with an anchor was erected on
Lyle Hill overlooking the Tail of the Bank, to commemorate the Free French Naval Forces. It is also associated locally with the
Vauquelin class destroyer
The ''Vauquelin'' class was a group of six large destroyers () built for the French Navy () in the early 1930s. Entering service in 1933–1934, the sister ships spent most of their careers in the Mediterranean. During the Spanish Civil War of ...
''
Maillé Brézé'' which blew up off Greenock with heavy loss of life on 30 April 1940, before the Free French Naval Forces were established. By 1944 the CAEP became one of the principal destinations for US troops sent to Britain.
In 1974 the "sugar boat" ''
Captayannis
The Captayannis was a Greek sugar-carrying vessel that sank in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland in 1974.
Shipwreck
On the evening of 27 January 1974, a severe storm caused the ''Captayannis'' to drag her anchor while she was waiting at the Tail of ...
'' was at anchor at the Tail of the Bank when it was driven northwards by a storm and turned on its side on a sandbank midway between Greenock and
Helensburgh, forming a large shipwreck which is still visible in the middle of the Firth.
Though the
sugar trade has been greatly reduced, Greenock's Ocean Terminal facility now handles container freight and regular cruise-liner traffic. The
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
HMNB Clyde
His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). ...
bases on
Gare Loch and on
Loch Long are linked by this area of the Clyde, and the Greenock ''Great Harbour'' is one of the three main ports providing marine services support to the Navy, formerly under the
Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service and currently operated by
Serco Denholm
Serco Marine Services is a Private Finance Initiative contract, with Serco, Serco Group, to deliver auxiliary services to His Majesty's Naval Service (incl. Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary).
Marine Services primarily opera ...
.
Serco: Marine Services
"Admiralty boats" are therefore a common sight, occasionally shepherding large Navy ships.
References
External links
Burns, John Allen, Heroes of the British Merchant Fleet
The Clyde's Wreck - ''Captayannis'', the "sugar boat"
{{authority control
Estuaries of Scotland
Landforms of Argyll and Bute
Cowal
Firth of Clyde
River Clyde
Scottish coast