I was met by the usual method--a strike.

The men turned out.

They were abetted by the former manager; and the leading hands hung about the town unemployed, in the hope of my throwing up the post in disgust.
But, nothing daunted, I went repeatedly over to the Clyde for the purpose of enlisting fresh hands.

When I brought them over, however, in batches, there was the greatest difficulty in inducing them to work.
They were intimidated, or enticed, or feasted, and sent home again.
The late manager had also taken a yard on the other side of the river, and actually commenced to build a ship, employing some of his old comrades; but beyond laying the keel, little more was ever done.

A few months after my arrival, my firm had to arrange with its creditors, whilst I, pending the settlement, had myself to guarantee the wages to a few of the leading hands, whom I had only just succeeded in gathering together.