On 23 March 1907 the tug, Hornby, sank off Greenock after a collision with MacBrayne’s Handa. The Hornby was launched in 1890 from the yard of Samuel McNight & Co. Ltd of Ayr for the Alexandra Towing Co. of Liverpool. At 197 tons and with her engines delivering 80 hp to her two screws, she was a powerful vessel, capable of over ten knots in service. She had been on the Clyde for some repairs and was returning to Liverpool when the accident occurred.
Hornby sunk off Greenock
MacBrayne’s Handa at Blackmill Bay
The Hornby was beached next to the coastguard station at the end of the Caledonian Pier at Gourock. The photograph below shows two Ross and Marshall puffers, one of them the Mellite, and a diving barge in attendance. The Hornby was raised and repaired and sold to French owners who used her on the Mediterranean under the name Lutece. She was replaced by Alexandra Towing with another tug of the same name.
Raising the Hornby