View from Gourock of the General Cargo-Passenger Steamer SS Shieldhall heading down the Firth of Clyde and passing Portkil at the end of the Rosneath Peninsula, with the Glen Fruin hills in the background.

This ship served as a "Clyde sludge boat" which made regular trips from Shieldhall in Glasgow, Scotland, down the River Clyde and Firth of Clyde past the Isle of Arran, in order to dump treated sewage sludge at sea. These steamboats had a tradition, dating back to World War I, of taking organised parties of passengers on their trips during the summer, and the accommodation is again being put to good use for cruises. The 1972-ton Shieldhall was laid down in October 1954, built by Lobnitz & Co. of Renfrew who also constructed the two triple expansion steam engines. She entered service in October 1955 and was operated by Glasgow Corporation until 1976. All sludge boats ceased operation in the 1990s. The Shieldhall is now operated by the Solent Steam Packet Limited preservation society to run trips down the Solent from from Southampton.

• IMO Number: 5322752
• MMSI Number: 232003964
• Callsign: GNGE
• Length: 82 m
• Beam: 13 m

photograph taken by dave souza during a brief return visit of the Shieldhall to the Clyde in July 2005.