19th century ceramics recovered from shipwreck to go on display

The National

05-06-2025

The SS Eagle sank off the Isle of Arran on November 28, 1859, after colliding with a sailing boat, with the loss of 11 lives.
The ship was sailing from Glasgow to Londonderry with a general cargo, 200 sheep and 54 passengers when the collision happened.
The ceramics, discovered by Oban-based diver and maritime explorer Graeme Bruce and team in July 2024, were made by Glasgow-based Bell's Pottery.
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During the 19th century, Glasgow was a major centre for the production of ceramics, and the items from SS Eagle will form part of the Scottish Maritime Museum's summer exhibition from Saturday.
Bruce (below) said: 'Diving has been my great passion for 35 years. For me, a shipwreck is a time capsule hidden from view over time by the sea.
(Image: Graeme Bruce)
'The privilege of being able to explore and connect with the past is beyond description.
'Enabling the artefacts from shipwrecks like this Bell's Pottery collection to then have a new life on show for everyone to learn from and appreciate is so important.
'Connecting people with a heritage like this means everything to me and those I dive with.'
The Beneath The Waves exhibition at the museum in Irvine, North Ayrshire, brings together the ceramics, award-winning photography and an artist's marine sketches.
Bell's Pottery is recognised as arguably the most internationally significant producer of ceramic wares in Scotland at the time.
The haul from the SS Eagle is almost intact, which museum bosses say is unprecedented.
Experts said this, coupled with the lack of surviving pottery from Glasgow's industrial ceramics period, which spanned three centuries from 1748 to the mid-1980s, makes the SS Eagle's ceramic tableware nationally significant.
(Image: Scottish Maritime Museum in North Ayrshire)
The SS Eagle collection features ceramics destined for trade and exhibition in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and artefacts from the ship's galley.
Exhibits include seven plates and a bowl, a teapot lid, two bottles, a decanter and bell.
Complementing the SS Eagle ceramics, Beneath The Waves also features cups and plates from the Scottish Maritime Museum's own national maritime heritage collection, as well as four vessels dating back to the Roman Empire on loan from North Ayrshire Heritage Centre.
The SS Eagle launched from the Dumbarton yard of Alexander Denny in July 1857.
The 324-tonne steamer was acquired by the McConnel and Laird Line of Glasgow in June 1859 for service as a passenger and cargo vessel.
(Image: Scottish Maritime Museum in North Ayrshire)
Eva Bukowska, exhibitions and events officer at the Scottish Maritime Museum, said: 'We are really excited to host the first showing of these fascinating ceramics recovered from SS Eagle.
'The vessel also has a significance for the museum as it was built by Alexander Denny, who was the brother of William Denny, whose test tank is now home to our second collection in Dumbarton.'