Part of this sculpture marks the maiden voyage of the SS Chile, launched on Govan in 1863, between Glasgow and Valparaiso, a journey it made in 31 days and 15 hours. The SS Chile was built for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. Created in the 1840s, this was the first company to use steamships for commercial routes in the Pacific Ocean. By the 1870s, it had the largest merchant steamship fleet in the word, including the Govan-built SS Chile.
One of the seven Waymarker sculptures by Matt Baker installed on the Govan Riverside in 2012. This one, on Napier Drive, commemorates Govan's shipbuilding history, and particularly the marine engineering achievements of John Elder and his development of the compound engine which finally made steam engines more efficient than sails for ocean crossings.
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It is one of seven Glasgow Milestones across the city commissioned to mark Glasgow's nomination as European City of Culture in 1990. For some reason, this one always reminds me of Rank Bajin, the arch enemy of Loby Dosser.
The Dennistoun Milestone on Duke Street in Glasgow. Created in 1991 by Jim Buckley, it has an interior space containing a number of local artefacts, including a clay pipe found at Whitehill School, a bottle of water from the Molendinar, a text about life in a Glasgow tenement and a tobacco knife from the nearby Wills Tobacco Factory.
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This Is My Glasgow
Jenny