The Glen Shiel was a steel cargo vessel and was built in Peterhead, Scotland in 1959. This type of boat was know in Scotland as 'a puffer'. On the 29th of June, 1973 she was on charter to the Glenlight Shipping Company. The Glen Shiel left Ayr harbour bound for Shieldhall in Glasgow with a full cargo of coal(215 tons). As the boat headed across Ayr bay she quickly developed a list due to the bad weather but this list, in turn, caused the coal to shift. Now that the load had shifted the boat quickly flounder and sank with the loss of 6 of the 7 crew.

The wreck today :The Glen Shiel now lies 2.75 miles WNW of Ayr harbour in 25 metres of water, her position charted as 55°29.16'N , 004°43.18'W. The Glen Shiel lies on her port side with her bow facing south and is completely intact except for her mast and propeller, which were removed by commercial divers in 1977. The least depth over the Glen Shiel is 18 metres, so due to the shallow aspect of the vessel, the visibility is usually quite good which makes this a good dive . According to some sources, there are still goodies to be had on this wreck.

The location map and the artists impression of the Greenock are reproduced by the kind permission of Moir & Crawford. They are taken from their book 'Clyde Wrecks'.