Hercules Linton - Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire.
Posted by: creg-ny-baa
N 56° 50.764 W 002° 16.652
30V E 544068 N 6300483
Memorial to Inverbervie born Hercules Linton, the designer of the clipper ship, the Cutty Sark.
Waymark Code: WMVV4J
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/27/2017
Views: 0
This memorial is situated at the northern end of the town of Inverbervie on the east coast of Scotland.
Hercules Linton was born in the town on New Years Day 1837. He served his apprenticeship with Aberdeen shipbuilders Alexander Hall & Sons and in 1868 went into partnership with William Dundas Scott to form Scott & Linton Shipbuilders based in Dumbarton. Linton concentrated on design and shipbuilding and Scott, accounts and engineering.
In 1869 the company won the contract to build the Cutty Sark which was launched on November 22nd 1869. However design difficulties and cost ended up bankrupting the company.
Linton then went on to work for a series of Scottish shipbuilding yards, but after his wife died in 1885 he moved back to Inverbervie. He was elected onto the Town Council in 1895 and he died in 1900.
The plaque reads as follows:
'Hercules Linton, designer of the famous clipper, Cutty Sark was born in Inverbervie in 1837.
The Cutty Sark was built at Dumbarton in 1839 and is now beautifully preserved at Greenwich.
The memorial, dedicated by the people of Inverbervie on 11 July 1997, replaces a memorial unveiled by Sir Frances Chichester in 1969. It is a full scale replica of the ship's figurehead and was carved from Hercules Linton's original drawings.
The figurehead depicts the comely young witch in Burns' poem Tam o' Shanter grasping the tail of Tam's grey mare.
Linton died in the house where he was born and is buried in Inverbervie Kirkyard.'
The memorial plaque and figurehead are situated on the left-hand side of the main A92 road at the northern end of the town just before the Jubilee Bridge.