On a river which launched some of the world’s greatest ships, the freakish circular yacht built for Russian royalty, its opulent interior stuffed with tapestries, winter gardens and twinkling fountain, was surely one of the most unusual.
To some, it resembled a turbot with a yacht perched on top. Almost as broad as it was long, its three funnels sat in a horizontal line overshadowing a deck strewn with plants and fancy palms.
If the exterior was eye-catching, inside was jaw-dropping.
It had all the plush trappings of a 19th century Imperial palace, with fine art on the walls and a marble fountain carved by the firm that created Glasgow City Chambers’ grand entrance hall.
A floating treasure house, even the Livadia’s bedposts were gilded with gold.
As Tsar Alexander II’s incredible circular yacht, constructed on unsinkable and anti-rolling principles to help soothe his seasickness, departed Govan, the man who had overseen its construction puffed out his chest with pride.
A floating treasure house, even the Livadia’s bedposts were gilded with gold.
As Tsar Alexander II’s incredible circular yacht, constructed on unsinkable and anti-rolling principles to help soothe his seasickness, departed Govan, the man who had overseen its construction puffed out his chest with pride.
Surely this unique design proved there was not a vessel which could not be built by the Fairfield yard on the mighty Clyde?
Then under the name of John Elder & Co, the yard was on a roll: it had just delivered SS Arizona, the first of Guion Line’s Atlantic Greyhound liners which almost immediately set a North Atlantic speed record.
And the extraordinary Russian yacht, the likes of which the 10,000 spectators who gathered for its launch had not been seen before – and, it transpired, would not see again - would elevate the Govan yard’s reputation even higher.
The remarkable circular yacht was almost certainly inspired by an earlier concept created by the yard’s driving force, marine engineer John Elder.
But it would not have the glorious reign that had been hoped.
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Some at the yard had expressed concerns the experimental circular design championed by the Russian Navy’s Vice Admiral Andrei Popov might not be particularly effective in the open seas.
Then, as it was nearing completion, work was halted by a shocking bomb threat.
The Glasgow Herald brought the news on September 27, 1880 under the chilling headline: “Alleged Nihilist Plot to Blow Up the Czar’s Yacht, Livadia”.
Russian nihilists, it reported, had come to Glasgow armed with two nitro-glycerine clocks which they proposed to conceal on the floating palace.
Work stopped, searches threw up nothing, and the yacht declared safe.
But having left the Clyde in a blaze of glory to the tune of the Popov Polka in tribute to the visiting Russians, the curious fish-shaped yacht would flounder, damaged after the over-enthusiastic Popov pushed her to the limits in the teeth of a Bay of Biscay storm.
The shape that made her so unique was also her downfall: too weird to fit into any existing dry dock for repairs, she was stuck in Spain for months.
By the time she got to Russia, the Tsar had been assassinated and his heir had no appetite for strange round yachts.
The extraordinary yacht is among the dozens of exceptional vessels that left Fairfield’s Govan yard during its long history, now explored in a meticulously-researched book spotlighting the shipbuilders’ incredible staying power.
For as other shipyards fell by the wayside, Fairfield defied one episode after the next when it seemed doomed to close.
The yard’s story is one of ‘against the odds’ survival largely thanks to luck, some remarkable characters who refused to let it die and its expert workforce, says shipbuilding historian Ian Johnston, author of Fairfield: A Shipyard Success Story 1834-2024.
“Britain was number one in the world for shipbuilding but over a very short space of time lost almost all of the industry.
“Fairfield was one of the biggest names in shipbuilding history. Its survivability is remarkable,” he says.
“And, the key thing is that it is still there.”
His book spans Fairfield’s 1830s foundations constructing engines and machinery in the city’s Tradeston district to world-beating shipyard.
At its heart are outstanding characters whose brilliant marine engineering, architectural and shipbuilding skills aligned with a daring resolve to produce vessels bigger, better, faster and more luxurious than ever.
A pivotal figure was John Elder. His mechanical inventiveness and pursuit of fuel efficiency – just as important in the mid-19th century as it is today - resulted in a practical compound steam marine engine significantly more fuel efficient than the marine steam engines then in use.
“Success in building compound engines led Elder with his partner Charles Randolph, to decide that building the hulls to put their engines in made commercial as well as technical sense,” says Ian. “And thus, the Fairfield shipyard came into being.”
Elder’s curious idea for a round ship was delivered in a paper to the prestigious Royal United Service Institution in London in May 1869.
Entitled ‘Circular Ships of War with Immersed Motive Power’, he proposed a circular coastal or harbour defence warship, 280 feet in diameter.
The design, he said, would provide a stable gun platform and present a very small target to enemy shell fire.
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Along with the unusual design, he suggested novel forms of propulsion, such as a water jet propeller driven by a centrifugal pump.
Elder died aged just 45 in September 1869. But, says Ian, it would not be surprising if the Russian Vice Admiral behind Livadia had not taken inspiration from his innovative circular ship.
Or, indeed, that his eventual successor at the yard, William Pearce, did not make the connection when St Petersburg came calling.
Pearce had just secured the extremely lucrative contract for Livadia when he was appointed head of the Fairfield works.
“Most other shipyards would not have touched it with a barge pole, it was such a tricky design,” says Ian. “But Pearce was a character and a half. And he was up for it.
“He was convinced of the ability of Fairfield to build this highly unusual and risky ship.
“It attracted a huge amount of attention because it was so unusual in design but also because it was for the tsar of Russia.”
The Livadia’s short and not terribly successful life could easily have damaged the yard’s reputation. Instead, Fairfield went full-steam ahead towards becoming one of the great names in shipbuilding.
From Govan emerged liners that conquered the waves, among them, the Canadian Pacific Steamship, Empress of Britain, which in 1906 made the journey from Ireland to Canada in five days, 21 hours and 17 minutes.
And Cunard’s RMS Luciana and her sister ship RMS Campania, which sped across the Atlantic in under six days, winning the prestigious Blue Riband on her second voyage in 1893.
However, the yard’s exceptional ability to produce vessels that would break records and impress passengers was not enough.
Foreign competitors’ put pressure on British shipyards that would see the sector crumble.
Fairfield could easily have gone the way of dozens of other yards had it not been for a succession of pivotal characters, says Ian.
They spanned the Upper Clyde shipyards’ shop stewards who took on the Government in the early 1970s, to plain-talking Belfast shipbuilder, Eric Mackie, who, drafted in to oversee the yards’ demise in 1980, instead resolved to keep it open.
Some introduced new working practices to keep Fairfield alive, such as Steinar Draegebo, managing director at the yard after its sale to Norwegian Kvaerner Group in 1988.
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His sweeping changes brought greatly improved productivity and, for the first time in decades, profitability as the yard turned to producing specialist vessels for gas and chemical cargoes.
Women also played a part in Fairfield’s story, adds Ian. John Elder’s widow, became a philanthropist who supported the people of Govan, paying for health, education and gifting Elder Park.
And Lady Pearce, the widow of William whose daring decision to take on the Livadia put the yard in the spotlight, who gave £90,000 to bail the company out of a costly legal dispute with Cunard.
That the Fairfield yard continues today under the banner of BAE Systems, which last year confirmed it is investing £300 million into the site, is further testimony to a yard that refused to lie down and die.
In his book, Ian concludes: “Despite the odds, which have seen the virtual elimination of the merchant shipbuilding industry in the UK and set against the enormous changes that have taken place over the last 160 years, the shipyard built on the grounds at Fairfield Estate in 1864 is still working, building highly advanced ships and with new investment that will make it a state of the art shipbuilding facility.”
It will be a close neighbour to the 1871 A-Listed John Elder Engine Works building where pioneering work in the development of marine steam propulsion took place.
He adds: “Perhaps more than anything else these two remarkable structures describe the arc of history that has kept, and is keeping, the Govan yard at the forefront.”
Fairfield: A Shipyard Success Story by Ian Johnston will be launched next month. Details will be available from Fairfield Heritage Home | Fairfield Heritage (fairfieldgovan.co.uk)
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