Sailor Ted's Sinking Shipyards Or All's Not Bonny on Clyde

CHAPTER I: In Clydebank, a dreary riverside suburb of Glasgow, shipyard workers live in dread of massive layoffs in a city where unemployment is already almost 10%. The sprawling shipyards, including John Brown's, builder of the Cunard Line's famous Queens, have been on the verge of bankruptcy for several years. In 1968, three of the shaky companies are consolidated into the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders and salvaged by grants from Harold Wilson's Labor government totaling $48 million. In June 1971, however, when Upper Clyde petitions the Heath government for up to $14.4 million in cash to keep it going, the Tories balk. They appoint a liquidator to reorganize the most vital yards and, if necessary, let companies like John Brown's die. To save the shipyards would be to run against Heath's effort to revitalize Britain's faltering economy, and to his policy of giving "no aid to lame ducks" as Britain prepares for entry into the Common Market. Finally, last week, the Conservative government accepts an expert's report recommending drastic cutbacks at Upper Clyde, including liquidation of John Brown's; 6,000 employees will lose their jobs by March, and 10,000 more jobs could go. Angered, 8,500 employees seize the yards in a "workin" to prevent their closing.

CHAPTER II: On board his $50,000 41-ft. racing sloop Morning Cloud, off the Isle of Wight, Skipper Ted Heath has an important decision to make. In Parliament, an emergency debate on the shipyard crisis is to be held. Labor M.P.s demand Heath's return from his yachting holiday to answer them personally as captain of the ship of state.

His absence would only underline the criticism of one Labor M.P. who a fortnight earlier had carped: "Does the Prime Minister realize that while he has been playing at this rich man's sport, millions of working-class people have been having their sails trimmed by this reactionary government?" But Heath is also concerned with the state of Britain's ships in the prestigious Admiral's Cup races; at this point, his team is ahead of teams from 14 other nations. As leader of the British team and 1970's English Yachtsman of the Year, he is keen to captain Morning Cloud during the inshore part of the races along The Solent.

At 55, Heath has been a sailor for only five years, but he is now the first Prime Minister to be leading a British team in an international sports competition. He has reached the top in both his fields, not by natural flair, but by carefully learning everything possible about the business of winning. Says Heath, who treats strategy sessions with his seven-man crew like Cabinet meetings, and who captains in the same commanding style he brings to his Conservative Party leadership: "I never cruise, I only race."

The question is whether he can race Morning Cloud and still catch a helicopter for the parliamentary debate. He hesitates long enough for newsmen to make a major issue of his absence, then returns to London, leaving his second in command to race Morning Cloud. Labor is out to gibe at Ted's jibbing, and one Scots-accented Labor M.P. taunts: "Let's have Ted. Or is he fast asleep on his yacht?" Next day Ted returns to continue the Admiral's Cup races. His team is still ahead.

CHAPTER III: A cool rain is falling on Clydebank. Labor's ex-Prime Minister Harold Wilson arrives at 11:45 a.m. outside the iron gates at John Brown's yard. He is just in time for a warm welcome by shop stewards, a quick briefing on the takeover, and a noon lunch with the workers. He pumps hands with worried men in flat checked caps and tells one apprentice: "This is a grim time, lad." After a spot of tea and a puff on his pipe, Wilson climbs onto a chair and says: "I am here on behalf of the Labor movement to assert your right to work." Harold is cheered as he leaves, but his trip has not guaranteed him a hoped-for political boost. The latest public-opinion poll shows that Labor's popular advantage over the Tories has actually been cut from 11% to 5% in the last month.

At Clydebank, meanwhile, the shop stewards man the gates, checking that no machinery or materials are being trucked away. But the first firings are scheduled for this week. Will the peaceful "workin" turn violent? Equally dramatic, if not quite so important: Will Sailor Ted's team win the coveted Admiral's Cup? To be continued.

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