Another Lighthouse Is Launched To-Morrow

The motor coaster Sanda which will be launched at Dundee to-morrow afternoon is the 34th ship built by the Caledon Company for the Clyde Shipping Company, Glasgow. The 35th will be ready for the water early in the New Year.

As all Clyde ships bear the names of lighthouses or lightships, the list of their Caledon products is as good as a geography lesson. Sanda lighthouse lies three miles off the Mull of Kintyre at the mouth of the Clyde. Its 61,000 candle-power light first flashed its warning to shipping on January 1, 1850. So the launch of another Sanda is quite appropriate on the eve of its centenary. The first Caledon Sanda was built In 1892. She was sold to Turkey in 1911, became the Plevne, and was lost during the First World War. At the time of her sale another Sanda was already on the Caledon stocks. Her 35 years' with the Clyde Shipping Company ended_ in 1946. She went out East to trade in Chinese waters as the Macao. Apart from the Sanda, the only name borne in triplicate by Caledon ships has been Copeland, after a light- at the entrance to Belfast Lough. Twice-used names have been Aranmore. Tuskar ; Longships, Fastnet, Toward and Goodwin. Other Clyde ships from the Tay have been the Eddystone, Portland. Pledda, Ailsa Craig, Valentia, Lizard, Garmovle, Skerryvore, Saltees, Sheerness, Ballycotton, Warner, Formby, Skerries, Beachy, Arklow and Dungeness. Slump Was Their Chance. The Arklow was built as the Aberdeen, Newcastle & Hull Steam Company's Aboyne, while the Dungeness came from the yard of Messrs Gourlav Bros. A shipping " slump " was the means of bringing the first Clyde order to the Tav. Tn the 1880 s the late Mr W. B. Thompson ran a • yard on the Clyde as well as the Caledon. Owing to lack of orders the Glyde vard had to be closed down. A contract for a Clyde Shipping- Company steamer was transferred to Dundee. This ship, the Eddvstone, was built of sterling stuff, and kept her place in the fleet for 37 years. In j.923 she was sold to Greek owners in London and later to the Hellenic Coast Lines of Piraeus, who renamed her Kriti. German bombers sank the Kriti among the Greek Islands in May 1941 and she was written off as a war loss. When the Allies advanced up the Adriatic four years later n»ey found her damaged hulk aground near J rieste. The Germans had salved her and used her a s a supply ship. This time she went to the shipbreakers—after 59 years of varied service. Only 10 of the 33 ships built during the association, begun with the Eddystone,...