GREENOCK, gren'ok. An important seaport and manufacturing town in Renfrewshire, Scot land, on the left bank of the Firth of Clyde, 22 miles west-northwest of Glasgow (Map: Scotland, D 4). Its chief industries are ship-building, dat ing from 1760; sugar-refining, since 1765; the manufacturing of steam-engines, ironwork, chain cables, anchors, ropes, sails, paper, woolen goods, etc. Fisheries employ a large number of boats. Its harbor works, commenced in 1707, comprise six tidal basins, a wet dock, and five dry docks; at the Tail of the Bank outside it possesses the best anchorage in the Clyde. Trade is carried on with Ireland, North America, and the West and East Indies. Over 19,500 vessels of more than 3,500,000 tons enter and clear its port annually. The town is built irregularly, and extends for four miles along the shore and on the slopes of the adjacent hills. The central busy portion has overcrowded, narrow streets and lanes, hut the west end has wide, well-paved streets, planted with trees, handsome residence§, and an esplanade 114 miles long. Besides fine
municipal buildings, handsome churches and parks, the town contains various educational and charitable institutions, and the Watt Monu ment, an edifice dedicated to James Watt, the perfecter of the steam-engine, who was born at Greenock. The town owns its water-works, and its water-power is extensively used in the fac tories. It also owns its harbors, gas, electric lighting plant, tramways, artisans' dwellings, and cemeteries. It is the seat of an American consular agency. In 1635 Greenock, an obscure fishing village, consisting of one row of thatched cottages, became a burgh of barony. It owes its growth and prosperity to the Shaw family, and to the Union of 1707, which facilitated foreign trade. Population, in 1891, 63,000; in 1901, 67,645. Consult Campbell, Historical Sketches of the Town and Harbors of Greenock (Glasgow, 1879-81).