Falls of Clyde – July 2025 Update
shipwright1Merriam-Webster, s.v. “shipwright,” accessed July 19, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shipwright
[ˈship-ˌrīt ] noun
a carpenter skilled in ship construction and repair
Falls of Clyde at Pier 7, Honolulu Harbor. 4 July 2025.
The historic sailing oil tanker, Falls of Clyde, is in the news again. As I wrote in my last post about the ship, it upsets me every time there is talk about disposing of her.
DOT Harbors posted a press release on 14 July 2025 that states:
The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) has awarded a contract to Shipwright LLC to remove the vessel Falls of Clyde from Honolulu Harbor. The intended means of removal is ocean disposal at a deep-water site at least 12 miles due south of Honolulu Harbor.
From what I understand, Shipwright is not the bidder that was originally awarded the contract by DOT Harbors. I wonder what happened? I find it sadly ironic that a company named “Shipwright” will be the one preparing the Falls of Clyde for her “death.”
Work on the ship is scheduled to begin on Monday, 21 July 2025, with a target date of late November 2025 to tow her out of the harbor and scuttle her offshore. This is pending approval by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Coast Guard.
$4.9 million. Sigh. It boggles my mind why some sort of partnership between DOT Harbors and Falls of Clyde International could not be worked out. The money could be better used to help return her back to her birthplace on the River Clyde in Scotland rather than getting rid of her. It could have been a win-win situation.
What a shame.
Falls of Clyde is a unique survivor and a testament to the vitality of the shipbuilding industry of the late 1800s. As such, I always felt she deserved one more chance at life.
Is this really the end?
It appears that the website of the Friends of Falls of Clyde (friendsoffallsofclyde.org) is no longer online. I checked it before writing this post and got a “404 Error – Page Not Found” message. There are some pages of the website preserved on the Internet Archive – Wayback Machine if there is interest in the organization.
Since I have been getting questions about the ship, I will be reposting more entries from my old blog to this website as soon as possible.
