She brought much-needed work and put food on the table, from the crash of the shipbuilding yards that lined her banks to the hardy vessels that puffed and steamed their way up and down her choppy waters.

For generations, the Clyde was shipbuilder to the world, where tens of thousands of workers churned out record-breaking vessels at the very peak of modern technology.

Of course, times changed. Once the provider of a fifth of the world’s ships thanks to yards such as Fairfield's and Stephens on the Southside, Connels and Yarrows to the north, and John Brown’s at Clydebank, almost all but a few pockets of marine engineering on the Clyde would eventually fall silent.

The Clyde’s proud history as one of the world’s greatest sources of passenger liners, naval vessels and steamers slipped away to yards in Japan, Korea and China. Where those 19th and 20th century yards spewed out around 30,000 ships during their lifetimes, emerged new industries of financial services, tourism and media, and the Clyde’s quaysides became home to flats and shopping malls.

Now, however, there’s fresh hope that the Clyde’s proud marine heritage could be reborn for a modern era.

The banks of the Upper Clyde – once home to yards like Napier and Miller which in the 1920 built passenger ships and Great Lakes traders for American, Canadian and Norwegian companies before crumbling during the Great Depression – are set to reunite with the water, in the shape of a major new marine ‘incubator’ hub.

The ambitious plan to restore marine manufacturing and support industries to the Upper Clyde – and with them, around 1000 jobs – has been revealed by Glasgow-based marine engineering company Malin Group, which itself can trace its Clydeside roots to the Victoria era.

The Scottish Marine Technology Park, planned for at Old Kilpatrick in the shadow of the Erskine Bridge, will be developed on 47-acres of derelict land which once housed the Carless oil storage facility. Wounded during the Clydebank Blitz when Nazi bombers left its tanks seeping oil into land.

Unsuitable for housing, the brownfield site is one of the few of its kind remaining from dozens of shipyards and industries which once lined the river. That, along with direct access to a deep-water channel via an 80-metre long deep-water quayside berth with heavy lift facilities, means the site is ideally placed to help position the Clyde once again as a marine pioneer.

As well as construction works, there are plans for the site to become a vibrant base for a wide range of modern marine industries, which could include radar developers and marine technology start-ups, to large scale developers of hydro-electric and renewable energy structures.

Malin Group managing director John MacSween said: “The heritage of the Clyde is something of which we should all be rightly proud.

“We have been working in the shipping industry for over 100 years and have a passion for the river and its history, but there is a need to be looking to the future to ensure the long-term success of the Clyde as a maritime centre of excellence.

“We want to create a Marine Technology Hub which brings together providers of research, skills development, design, manufacturing and practical marine operational and logistics experience in a location that has complementary facilities backed by direct access to the deep-water channel of the River Clyde.”

As well as restoring the Clyde’s links with its proud marine heritage, it’s hoped the Old Kilpatrick site will help stem a drain of talent that sees Scottish university-educated marine architects and highly-trained marine researchers quit Scotland for overseas roles.

It’s also hoped that bringing together marine-based technology and construction companies in one location will creative an innovative spark to help create a new golden age of marine industry on the Clyde.

“Businesses have struggled to find industrial land next to the river to allow them to work on marine-related issues,” Mr MacSween added. “It’s a sad state of affairs where there was once 30 miles of quayside along the Clyde, and now it’s down to just three or four.

“Glasgow has become a cosmopolitan city, with flats and retail parks along the river. But perhaps that’s gone a bit too far, and the city is missing an opportunity to attract some of the marine-based businesses back.”

He said while BAE Systems and Ferguson Marine are keeping the Clyde’s shipbuilding heritage alive, more needed to be done to nurture marine-based talent.

“Training and ship-management are very well represented and the Department of Naval Architecture at Strathclyde University is a world class centre for research and learning in the marine sector.

“We’re known around the world for producing scientific talent, but most go overseas because they can’t find work in their field closer to home.

“We’ve been sending a signal that because of a dearth of space we are not open for business, and marine specialists can’t come to the Clyde because there’s no opportunity to set up even though they are right next to the sea.

“Now there’ll be a site that offers just that opportunity.”

The development, which is in an advanced stage of planning with West Dunbartonshire Council, will see a £10m remediation and regeneration of the contaminated land that is a legacy of the past oil refinery.

Preparation works have already uncovered signs of the area’s shipbuilding past; trenches have revealed an old slipway and signs of a harbour wall which appear to pre-date the oil depot. The structures could be linked to Napier and Miller, based at Old Kilpatrick from 1898, and which built over 120 ships before falling victim to the Depression.

Malin will move its own fabrication company, which currently builds workboats for the aquaculture industry and other marine fabrications at Renfrew, to the site to kick start the development.

The construction phase of the project will see over 600 additional short-term jobs created, while it’s hoped that eventually the marine incubator could create 986 jobs and contribute £125.4m annually to the local economy.

Mark Newlands, Regional Head of Partnerships at Scottish Enterprise, said: "We welcome Malin’s ambitious plans to revitalise this site and create much needed jobs in the West Dunbartonshire area. We look forward to working alongside the company to support its growth aspirations.”

“What we’re planning will never be on the same scale as in the past, but there’s more to marine manufacturing than just shipbuilding,” added Mr MacSween.

“But there’s a lot of exciting technology that needs to be built and sent off around the world.

“And there’s potential for Glasgow and the Clyde to once again be at the forefront.”

ENDS