THE entire £2 million contract to refurbish iconic steamship TS Queen Mary will be done in Inverclyde – creating work for apprentices and safeguarding jobs.

The Tele was allowed on board the vessel yesterday at her temporary home in Greenock’s James Watt Dock.

And the charity which rescued her, Friends of TS Queen Mary, pledged that Inverclyde workers would be entrusted with the task of restoring the ship to her former splendour so that she can be berthed permanently on the Clyde.

The world’s last Clyde-built turbine steamship was withdrawn from service in 1977, and towed 700 miles to the dock last month.

Iain Sim, secretary and a trustee of the charity, said: “The work will stay in Inverclyde because the skills are here to do it. We want apprentices to be taken on because one of the key aspects of our project to rescue the ship is that shipyard skills be passed on to the next generation.”

Mr Sim said that, initially, £150,000 is needed to move Queen Mary from her current position into adjacent Garvel Clyde drydock, owned by Dales Marine and currently employing around 45 people.

He said: “We have £30,000 and need another £120,000 to take her into drydock for various jobs before bringing her back out to James Watt Dock and raising the rest of the money for complete refurbishing.

“The drydock work will include a total powerwash, replacing steel below the waterline, repainting from top to bottom and pulling out redundant cabling.”

No contract has been awarded yet for the entire refurbishment, and Mr Sim could not say at this stage if it would be done at Garvel Clyde.

Many companies, including Ferguson Marine of Port Glasgow, have given advice to the charity.

Iain said: “Companies have been very generous with free advice in our quest to bring the Queen Mary back to the Clyde.

“We raised £20,000 to buy her at auction, and we’ve had a total of £300,000 worth of ‘in kind’ corporate support, which shows the strength of feeling there is about this ship.”

The biggest ship built for service on the Clyde, the 252ft steamer was constructed in 1933 by Denny of Dumbarton and operated day excursions in the Firth of Clyde until 1977.

Weighing just under a thousand tonnes, she was known as ‘a pocket liner’, could carry about 2,000 passengers and had a crew of around 35

She was laid up in Greenock’s East India Harbour for four years, and later operated as a successful bar and restaurant on the Thames before being left to fall into disrepair at Tilbury, Essex in 2009.

Iain, a lecturer in law who has a family link to shipbuilding through his grandfather, Malcolm Sim – who built radios for ships – said water damage to the vessel was mainly cosmetic but she had also been affected by lack of maintenance.

Some of the work will involve removing a layer of resin ballast laid on the Burmese teak upper deck when she was on the Thames. 

He said: “We reckon it will take a year to refurbish the ship once we have the £2m.”

The wheel and brass fittings have vanished from the bridge, but an appeal is planned to get replacements.

Plans for the future include installing a £70,000 virtual reality suite on the bridge so that visitors can experience what it would be like to steer the ship.

The charity plans to transform the steamer into an interactive exhibition and an arts and culture venue.

She will host schoolchildren on educational visits, as well as attracting crowds for festivals and events and could also be used for weddings. To donate and learn more about the charity’s plans, visit www.tsqueenmary.org.uk