Porty People and Places

Two elderly ladies of the sea pass like ships at dawn

Discovery,* built in 1972 is inbound Leith Docks from Storasund in Norway. Impolitely keeping this senior citizen of the seas waiting is the tardy Saga Sapphire, built in 1980, outbound Ijmuiden ( for Amsterdam). Discovery had been hovering in The Forth since first light this morning.

It is fairly rare to see such passenger ship movements away from a ferry port these days and it brings back memories of the times when the Forth was almost as busy as the Clyde, Mersey and Thames in servicing the former British Empire.

The combined gross tonnage of these two liners is half the tonnage of the 110,000 tonners that are too big for Leith and have to anchor, at Queensferry, and transfer their 3000 passengers ashore by a flotilla of small craft.

It was a beautiful morning, on the beach, and the Tower Bank Primary School children are so lucky commuting, in their droves, along this waterfront. Their education is superbly compounded by this setting.

* Discovery is the white hulled liner on the left