Looking north from Greenock over the Tail of the Bank today, the cranes of the container terminal can be seen to the right, while on the other side of the Firth of Clyde the waters of the Gare Loch are just visible beyond the tail of the Rosneath peninsula.

The Tail of the Bank is the name given to the anchorage in the upper Firth of Clyde immediately north of Greenock and Gourock. This area of the firth gets its name from the sandbar immediately to its east which marks the entrance to the estuary of the River Clyde. In the past this area was at times crowded with ships, particularly during the Second World War when the Home Fleet warships of the Royal Navy temporarily left Scapa Flow after the sinking of the Royal Oak and were based at The Tail of the Bank where hundreds of merchant ships of the Atlantic convoys also gathered, as well as ships of the Free French navy. At this time the upper firth was protected by an anti-submarine boom stretching from Cloch point across the firth to Dunoon. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2986x1281, 417 KB) Summary Photographer - Alan Hughes Greenock, view looking north Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Greenock ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2986x1281, 417 KB) Summary Photographer - Alan Hughes Greenock, view looking north Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Greenock ... The Gare Loch should not be confused with the Loch Gairloch or the village of Gairloch. ... Rosneath is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. ... Note: an anchorage is a place where a ship lays anchor. ... The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. ... Greenock (Grianaig in Scottish Gaelic) is a town (burgh of barony) in the district of Inverclyde in Western Scotland. ... Gourock (Guireag in Scottish Gaelic) is a burgh in Inverclyde, Scotland. ... Estuaries and coastal waters are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing numerous ecological, economic, cultural, and aesthetic benefits and services. ... The River Clyde, looking eastwards upstream, as it passes beneath the Kingston Bridge. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Home Fleet is the traditional name of the fleet of the Royal Navy that protects the United Kingdoms territorial waters. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga class cruiser. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ... Seven (or eleven, depending on how one counts) vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Royal Oak. ... Cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship that carries goods and materials from one port to another. ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ... The Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres in French) were French fighters who decided to go on fighting against Germany after the Fall of France and German occupation and to fight against Vichy France in World War II. General Charles de Gaulle was a member of the French Cabinet in... HMS Vanguard, a Vanguard-class nuclear ballistic missile (SSBN) submarine HMCS Windsor, a Victoria-class diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine HMAS Rankin, a Collins-class diesel-electric guided missile (SSG) submarine USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate... Cloch or Cloch Point is a point on the coast of the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. ... The Holy Loch seen across the Firth of Clyde with Dunoon on the left The PS Waverley leaves Dunoon Pier, to sail up the Firth of Clyde. ...

The "sugar boat" Captayannis was at anchor at the Tail of the Bank when it was driven northwards by a storm and turned on its side on a sandbank midway between Greenock and Helensburgh, forming a large shipwreck which is still visible in the middle of the firth. Helensburgh (Baile Eilidh in Gaelic) is a Scottish town historically part of Dunbartonshire, but since local government reorganisation in 1995 in Argyll and Bute, on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde. ...

External links

• Burns, John Allen, Heroes of the British Merchant Fleet
• The Clyde's Wreck - CAPTAYANNIS, the 'sugar boat'