Three weeks ago I visited The Comet replica in Ferguson’s Shipyard for the very first time. It was only then, when I climbed up the scaffolding and walked round the vessel, that I realised and understood the sheer scale of the task at hand.
My name is Niall Ptolomey and I am a trainee Cultural and Heritage support worker and a prospective History student. I am, as of now, responsible for tracking the status and progress of the Comet Rebuilt project and logging all updates in this blog. However, I feel that it is not myself that should be introduced when a proper introduction of The Comet has not yet been written.
As I am sure you already know, The Comet is a name of which Port Glasgow is immensely proud. This is obvious in the fact that the community organizes an annual festival just to celebrate its very being. It has been established earlier in this blog that we would take a look at some of the Comet’s history – both original and the 1960’s replica. An introduction to The Comet, taking the form of a post giving a brief history exploring the ship's life and death, is something that you can expect over the next few weeks. In addition, there will also be weekly updates featuring video footage and images of the reconstruction allowing you to not only read about the progress of the refurbishment, but to see it for yourself.
But why is The Comet so important? And to raise a question raised here before - why are we even bothering with the refurbishment at all?
The answers to these questions lie in the fact that The Comet is part of Port Glasgow’s cultural heritage; meaning that it’s something we have inherited from a past generation and it is our job to maintain and bestow it in the present for the benefit of future generations. That, generally, is the belief that the whole Comet Rebuilt Project is based on.
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