AS they say, 'Glasgow made the Clyde and the Clyde made Glasgow'.

And the secret to Glasgow making the Clyde navigable to merchant trade was the invention of modern dredging machinery.

While previously large ships had to tie-up, load and off-load at Port Glasgow, as the city's enterprising engineers came up with new ways to deepen the main channel, so commerce - and the wealth it brought - could come right into the city.

The bucket dredger MV Blythswood, seen here scouring the Clyde clear of silt, was built at Fergusons of Port Glasgow in 1963 and was once a familiar site in the city.

It would fill its sister ship, Hopper 27, with all the accumulated muck washed down the Clyde Valley, which would then be taken off and dumped.