The latest offering from Whittles Publishing is the first volume of a new series on vessels built in the historic port of Leith.

Although better known south of Hadrian’s Wall as the home of a pitch roofed model railway wagon or a Proclaimers song title, Leith – once totally separate from Edinburgh – has been a shipbuilding town since 1424. As the Daily Mail of 1937, quoted in the book, put it “The men of Leith were building ships when the men of Glasgow were sailing around in smacks poaching salmon”

Mr Neish’s splendid and very thorough 144 page tome offers a complete history of the ships built at Leith from c. 1850 until the end of World War I. Illustrated by 35 monochrome photographs and drawings, it features the shipyards that eventually became the Henry Robb, S&H Morton, Ramage & Ferguson, Cran & Somerville and Hawthorns & Co.

Written by a proud shipbuilder who is still active in shipbuilding and well-qualified to tell the story, They Were Once Shipbuilders ( ISBN 978-184995-443-3) also includes tales of famous ships, steam yachts, adventure and new trade routes as well as a helpful glossary for those new to the nautical scene.

Among the references that I particularly enjoyed were the stories of Menzies & Co of Leith building SIRIUS in 1837. The first paddle steamer to cross the Atlantic raced Brunel’s GREAT WESTERN, just as the GREAT MICHAEL, built in Leith in 1511 for King James IV of Scotland, prompted England’s King Henry VIII to build his own war fleet, including the MARY ROSE.

Similarly, the ships of the Ben Line were known as Leith Yachts and the Scottish port was also home to a shipping and whaling firm which later diversified into road transport – Christian Salvesen!