Those who have been dockside when a ship is launched say it takes the breath away: the size, power and potential danger as these majestic vessels crash into the water is something they will never forget.

In The Shipbuilders, George Blake’s searing 1930s novel about the death of a Clydeside shipyard following the Great Depression, he describes the scene as the yard’s last ship takes to the water: “the awful moment when the hammers thudded on the chocks and drag-chains rattled, and it seemed that she would never move; then moved ever so slowly, then seemed to stop, and at last slipped away, roaring and at a speed that brought the heart to the mouth, to take the water with a rush, plunge wildly once, shiver a little, then come to rest – safely launched and water-borne.”

In its heyday, the Clydeside yards witnessed so many launches they kept champagne producers in clover. Today, Ferguson Marine, the sole remaining commercial shipyard on the Clyde, has no need to bulk-buy bubbly since so few ships are hitting the water. Even the celebration around the recent launch of MV Glen Rosa was muted, because it will be more than a year before she will be in operation.

Scotland's ferry service is in deep trouble (Image: free)

The rightly called Ferry Fiasco that has dogged the Scottish Government for the past few years shows no signs of being resolved. If anything, it seems to get worse with every passing month. Just this week it was announced that one of the oldest ferries in CalMac’s fleet, the 31-year-old MV Caledonian Isles, which went into repair for rust in January, will not be back on the Arran route until at least August. That is well into the peak........

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