The Honolulu Harbour Board wanted the ship removed so it could redevelop the harbour

A historic Clydebuilt sailing ship has been towed out to sea off the coast of Hawaii and deliberately sunk, prompting outrage from maritime conservation groups.

Falls of Clyde, built in 1878, had been moored as a museum ship in Honolulu since the 1960s but had fallen into a poor state of repair.

The Honolulu Harbour Board confirmed it had the ship towed into deep water about 25 miles offshore on Wednesday and then scuttled.

The news has been met with anger and dismay by campaigners who have spent more than a decade trying to bring the ship back to its birthplace to rebuild it.

Falls of Clyde was the first in a series of eight iron-hulled ships built in the late 19th Century by the Port Glasgow shipbuilder Russell & Co.

The ship spent many years carrying various cargoes to and from the Far East and Australasia before moving to Hawaii.


Falls of Clyde was towed out of Honolulu Harbour at dawn and scuttled in deep water

In the early 20th Century it had steel tanks fitted and was converted into a tanker to carry paraffin to the islands, where it later became a floating fuel depot before being acquired by a museum in Honolulu. But the ship was badly damaged by a hurricane in the 1980s, the maritime section of the museum closed down and for years it has been left slowly decaying.

Enthusiasts in Scotland have spent a decade trying to bring the ship home for restoration, but were unable to reach an agreement with the harbour board which wants to redevelop the quay where it was moored.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation said the operation to remove the ship began at dawn on Wednesday and it was sunk about 25 miles south of the harbour. It said the vessel's name, wheel and bell were retained along with other artifacts which will be put on display.

The destruction of the historic ship has been widely criticised by maritime conservation groups both in the UK and the USA.

Friends of Falls of Clyde, a group of supporters in Hawaii, described it as "a day that will go down in infamy".  "It is almost inconceivable that this situation has been allowed to happen," the group posted on social media. The group organised a farewell ceremony with bagpipers on Tuesday after learning that the ship was to be sunk the following morning.

The Tall Ship Glenlee, the charity that looks after another Clydebuilt sailing vessel moored beside Glasgow's Riverside Museum, said it was "deeply saddened".

David O'Neill, from the Scotland based Save Falls of Clyde campaign said he was "horrified" at the behaviour of the authorities in Hawaii but had become resigned to the ship meeting such a fate after years of fruitless negotiation.


A 19th Century oil painting of Falls of Clyde when it sailed in the Far East

He first became involved in efforts to rescue the ship in 2015 when someone in Hawaii alerted him to its condition, prompting him to post an appeal on social media saying: "Old Scottish lady needs a lift home."

A Norwegian firm which operates heavy lift ships offered to transport Falls of Clyde back to Scotland for free, but the campaign was soon embroiled in a wrangle with the harbour board over insurance costs and other conditions.

Earlier this year Mr O'Neill said an American firm won a contract to remove the ship from the harbour and it also offered to transport it to Scotland for free. "They didn't want to sink the ship - they had a conscience and a respect for maritime heritage," he said. But the deal between the firm and the harbour board fell through, and the contract went instead to another company which then carried out the scuttling.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation has been contacted for comment.


Falls of Clyde was part of a maritime museum for decades before it fell into decay

Mr O'Neill said he had seen a video showing the final moments of Falls of Clyde. "She was towed out of harbour looking really elegant and stunning for a 147-year-old ship, unaided, not needing any pumps," he said. "She was still afloat and for us that's representative that she was truly Clydebuilt." He said he found watching the ship go down "quite disturbing".

"She goes down by the stern and most of the ship lifts out of the water, like in the Titanic movie."

The businessman is now concentrating his efforts on trying to bring home a Clydebuilt ship from a different era - the Type 21 frigate HMS Ambuscade. The warship was built for the Royal Navy at the Yarrow shipyard in Glasgow in the 1970s, and saw action in the Falklands War. It later sold to the Pakistan Navy where it served until it was decommissioned two years ago.

Mr O'Neill said he secured the frigate for free after making a "cheeky request" to the Pakistani government, and he is working on plans to return it to the Clyde to become a museum ship.

14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01

14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01 is being delayed at Westbury.
This is due to this train being late from the depot.

This seems to have been taken down for access, can anyone confirm or provide the Exeter hyperlink, please?

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55

13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Cross Country are diverted via Westbury all weekend too (although due to suspending today's strike on Thursday, seem to have given up and retained the strike timetable)

I was looking at something called the U2 to Sandford at 10:00 or 11:00 from Bristol

The trains is not running Bristol to Weston ...

Out of interest - when it comes to traction knowledge, are there drivers who sign 158s but not turbos?

Seeing the mention of the Eastleigh diversions tomorrow, I overheard two drivers heading to Westbury yesterday bemoaning the lack of drivers who sign that route.  Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Description

A road accident near the railway between Downham Market and Ely means rail replacement services running between these stations are being disrupted.


Disruption to rail replacement services is expected until 09:00.

18/10/25 06:18 Hereford to London Paddington due 09:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to the emergency services dealing with an incident earlier today.
Last Updated:17/10/2025 21:04

07:43 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 10:27 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:18/10/2025 01:07

... My first visit was as a 6th Form A Level History student ... An added bonus was that someone knew a shortcut to the local pub.

a cup which is insulated enough not to burn, but enough lacking in insulation so we can finish our drink before we get [there].

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06 has been cancelled.
This is due to the emergency services dealing with an incident earlier today.

Which service bus are you planning on?  The old 120 between Winscombe and Bristol was cancelled some years ago.  There is the Bristol / Plymouth Falcon service that stops for Winscombe but that is a coach service run by Megabus.  You could take the train to Weston and then the 126 from Weston to Winscombe.

It is a lovely walk to Yatton.

This train did in fact start from Swindon in the end albeit over 20 minutes late.

Plans 'absolutely vital' to protect future of Ironbridge museums

The interim boss in charge of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust says the new plan to protect the sites was "vital" after visitor numbers fell.

On Thursday it was announced the National Trust would be taking over the running of its 10 museums and 35 listed buildings and scheduled monuments, with the help of £9m from the government.

Karen Davies, the trust's interim chief executive officer, said the last five years had been "very difficult" and visitor numbers "were just not returning to pre-Covid levels". She said the museums were "not about to go bump", but added: "We recognised to protect the historic assets for the medium to long-term future, it was absolutely vital we put a plan in place."

The Ironbridge Gorge has been described as the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and one of the attractions is the original blast furnace where Abraham Darby I perfected iron smelting. His innovations, and those of the "iron masters" who followed him, are widely recognised as being the catalyst for the building of the bridges, railways and machinery of the modern world.

The museums tell the story of those achievements and of the Industrial Revolution and since 1967 the area's heritage has been overseen by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

But Ms Davies said visitor numbers had fallen from approximately 450,000 before the pandemic to just under 300,000 last year. She said ideally, to be sustainable, that figure needed to be 500,000. For that reason, she said the museum trust had spoken to "lots of organisations" to seek help.


Blists Hill Victorian Town is one of the biggest attractions in the Ironbridge Gorge

The National Trust has said it aims to increase annual visitor numbers to 600,000 in the long term, and Ms Davies said: "We consider ourselves to be very fortunate the National Trust recognised the absolute uniqueness of Ironbridge."

She said the "stories that we tell you can't find that anywhere else in the world," and it would be up to the National Trust to decide how to tell that story. Ms Davies also said: "The whole idea of government investing the £9m is that the National Trust will have the ability to invest in all our sites and bring them to life more."

Ms Davies said it was too early to talk about the impact on jobs, but in the short term all employees would move over to the National Trust when the takeover is completed in the spring. "We haven't started to discuss operational plans with the National Trust," she added.

The future of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is more certain, however, and she said the organisation would be wound up in mid-2026.

I'll be there - planning an earlier start and headed for Winscombe (service bus from Bristol) to walk along the Strawberry Line to Yatton, lunch at the cafe and 2 p.m. meeting. 

Now pushed out to 1800