Helensburgh Heritage
Helensburgh Heritage Trust
RESTORING a small boat with links to the former Admiralty Torpedo Range at Arrochar has become a 30-year obsession for its owner.
Now Robert Clements wants to establish more of the history of the motor launch, and he hopes Helensburgh Heritage Trust website readers can help.
THE HEADLINE in the Helensburgh and Gareloch Times was rather more dramatic than the Times usually carried . . . “Towing Nazi Death Launch’.
But the story, which featured a burgh man, deserved it.
A BADLY BURNED Helensburgh navyman trying to survive in the water after his ship attacked in World War Two was shot at by German forces.
The shots missed the 20 year-old Peter Mackie and his crewmates, but he died from his injuries five days later.
THE RESPONSIBILITY of being Chancellor of the Exchequer during the First World War was a huge one for Helensburgh man Andrew Bonar Law.
But in 1917 the man who would become Prime Minister had to undertake his state duties while burdened with the terrible sadness of losing his two elder sons in action.
A HELENSBURGH man was a cook on board the liner Athenia, the first ship to be torpedoed in the Second World War.
John Joseph O’Keefe survived the sinking on September 3 1939, but died later as a result of the injuries he received.
A YOUNG woman survived the sinking of the Clyde-built ocean liner Lusitania 100 years ago and went on to reach the grand old age of 95, spending the final ten years of her life in Helensburgh.
Grace Hope French was born in 1890 and became a dressmaker and milliner. She originally booked passage on the Cameronia before she was transferred to the Lusitania.
SEVENTY years ago the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment packed its bags at the end of World War Two and said goodbye to Helensburgh.
RAF Helensburgh, as it was known, operated primarily with flying boats after the unit moved north from Felixstowe in September 39. It returned to the Suffolk port when hostilities ceased.