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The Shipbuilders
As the last ship on the yard's books goes down the slipway, the future looks desperately bleak for Pagan's, a proud and long-established Clydeside shipyard struggling to survive during the Great Depression. This novel focuses on the experiences of two men whose lives are irrevocably changed by the yard's closure.
265 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
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About the author
George Blake
78 books1 followerGeorge Blake was a Scottish writer notable for his books about Clydeside shipbuilders. He worked as a journalist and in a publishing house before becoming a full-time writer. His novels include Vagabond Papers (1922), The Shipbuilders (1935), David and Joanna (1936) and the semi-autobiographical work Down to the Sea (1937).
In 1924 Blake moved to London, where he was appointed acting Editor of the magazine John o’ London’s Weekly, moving four years later to the Strand magazine which he was unable to restore to its former fortunes. In 1930 became a director of the publisher Faber and Faber. He was involved in running the Porpoise Press, Edinburgh (which published Neil M. Gunn’s Morning Tide in 1931) as a subsidiary of Faber. The Porpoise Press was established to stimulate and publish Scottish writing, interest in which was high at the time.
In 1924 Blake moved to London, where he was appointed acting Editor of the magazine John o’ London’s Weekly, moving four years later to the Strand magazine which he was unable to restore to its former fortunes. In 1930 became a director of the publisher Faber and Faber. He was involved in running the Porpoise Press, Edinburgh (which published Neil M. Gunn’s Morning Tide in 1931) as a subsidiary of Faber. The Porpoise Press was established to stimulate and publish Scottish writing, interest in which was high at the time.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 11, 2020
I bought this book for research with my own novel set in Stirling in the same period. Yes, I found the descriptions of the bars and the shipyard revealing, but I kept thinking - where is this going, what is the story? But I found none. My other complaint is that both wives are bitterly painted - one an English spendthrift with little time for her much older husband, and the other, although it is not clear why, is a verbally abusive and negligent wife - quite horrible. Unsurprisingly, the love interest is a sweet, kind, gentle woman. Dear me!
April 14, 2025
An accurate description of the start of the demise of shipbuilding on the Clyde and one that proved accurate on the future of the industry.
Although somewhat binary in the characterisation, the novel moves well between the two main characters and gives an accurate account of living standards at both ends of the social spectrum.
Although somewhat binary in the characterisation, the novel moves well between the two main characters and gives an accurate account of living standards at both ends of the social spectrum.
February 1, 2019
The sentence, “Not a single order was on the books,” tolls through the first chapter of this novel, reflecting the thoughts of Leslie Pagan, son of the owner of Pagan’s shipyard. It is the day the last ship on the blocks, the Estramadura, is launched. His father is reluctant to acknowledge it but Leslie sees the necessity of laying off all but the fitting-out crew and foresees the end of the yard as a whole. Events are also seen through the eyes of Danny Shields, a riveter in the yard and Pagan’s batman from the Great War. These perspectives allow Blake to explore two Glasgows, the milieux of both the more than comfortably well-off and the working class. In that latter aspect, The Shipbuilders has echoes of No Mean City, set around the same time, but it is much better written.
Both men have domestic problems, Leslie’s English wife Blanche hates Glasgow and wants to move back south, not least as their son, John, is in delicate health. As the novel progresses Danny becomes increasingly estranged from his wife Agnes who gravitates to the world of her sister Lizzie and her upwardly mobile husband Jim. Danny’s life is lightened by his relationship with his other son Billy and very young daughter, who is always referred to, strangely, as Wee Mirren but his oldest son Peter, jobless, falls into bad company.
The importance of football as a means of temporary escape is given due emphasis - especially in the descriptions of a Rangers-Celtic game and of the deliberations gone into over the filling of the weekly pools coupon - as is that of alcohol, whose allure and drawbacks are given equal weight. At a regimental reunion Pagan wonders, “did the drink produce false illusions of grandeur, or did it merely stir the things, fine and foolish, that lay dormant in every man?”
In the end though, this is an elegy to a lost way of life. On the Estramadura’s trip downriver to its sea trials Pagan witnessed, “the high tragic pageant of the Clyde.” Through his eyes, Blake details the litany of empty shipyards lining the banks of the river, “all the acquired and inherited loveliness of artistry rotting along the banks of the stream .…. The fall of Rome was a trifle in comparison …. How in God’s name could such a great thing, such a splendid thing, be destroyed?” Describing the town at the base of Dumbarton Rock where lay Denny’s yard, bringer of the turbine to Clyde shipbuilding, as “mean” is perhaps a little harsh, though – but only a little.
Leslie’s intense appreciation of his Scottish roots is exemplified when on travelling back to Glasgow on the train from a trip south he notes that it is, “Queer … how definitely the fact of nationality asserts itself even in the matters of landscape and domestic architecture.” It still cannot alter the ineluctable arc of history. “Now one man and a boy, working a machine, could do in the way of making hatches, what it used to take fourteen craftsmen to do.”
The use of the word dago, and descriptions of other characters as Jews show the unexamined attitudes and thoughtlessness of the time when The Shipbuilders was written.
This is a fine book, thoughtful and sympathetic to its characters.
Both men have domestic problems, Leslie’s English wife Blanche hates Glasgow and wants to move back south, not least as their son, John, is in delicate health. As the novel progresses Danny becomes increasingly estranged from his wife Agnes who gravitates to the world of her sister Lizzie and her upwardly mobile husband Jim. Danny’s life is lightened by his relationship with his other son Billy and very young daughter, who is always referred to, strangely, as Wee Mirren but his oldest son Peter, jobless, falls into bad company.
The importance of football as a means of temporary escape is given due emphasis - especially in the descriptions of a Rangers-Celtic game and of the deliberations gone into over the filling of the weekly pools coupon - as is that of alcohol, whose allure and drawbacks are given equal weight. At a regimental reunion Pagan wonders, “did the drink produce false illusions of grandeur, or did it merely stir the things, fine and foolish, that lay dormant in every man?”
In the end though, this is an elegy to a lost way of life. On the Estramadura’s trip downriver to its sea trials Pagan witnessed, “the high tragic pageant of the Clyde.” Through his eyes, Blake details the litany of empty shipyards lining the banks of the river, “all the acquired and inherited loveliness of artistry rotting along the banks of the stream .…. The fall of Rome was a trifle in comparison …. How in God’s name could such a great thing, such a splendid thing, be destroyed?” Describing the town at the base of Dumbarton Rock where lay Denny’s yard, bringer of the turbine to Clyde shipbuilding, as “mean” is perhaps a little harsh, though – but only a little.
Leslie’s intense appreciation of his Scottish roots is exemplified when on travelling back to Glasgow on the train from a trip south he notes that it is, “Queer … how definitely the fact of nationality asserts itself even in the matters of landscape and domestic architecture.” It still cannot alter the ineluctable arc of history. “Now one man and a boy, working a machine, could do in the way of making hatches, what it used to take fourteen craftsmen to do.”
The use of the word dago, and descriptions of other characters as Jews show the unexamined attitudes and thoughtlessness of the time when The Shipbuilders was written.
This is a fine book, thoughtful and sympathetic to its characters.
May 4, 2013
I loved this book. It was written in the 1930s and is a contemporary story set in the shipyards of Glasgow. The characterisations are excellent and the story is compelling. Definitely a worth while read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews