Alliance | Clyde River and Firth

The pioneering Sunday Steamer, Emperor, began sailing in 1853 amidst strong opposition from the Scottish Sabbatarians. The opposition culminated in the “battle of Garelochhead” and an ensuing court case that raised an interdiction against Sunday sailing. At the end of 1853, the Court refused to grant the interdict and so Sunday sailing could continue. In the new year, 1854, the Emperor began to sail in mid March with a celebratory visit on March 19 to Row and Garelochhead and a week later to Dunoon and Kilmun. With a court judgement in its favour, the future on Sunday sailing seemed assured. On April 12, 1854 the Scotsman reported that two additional Sunday steamers would sail that season but they did not make an appearance. Much of the animosity had died down but there were still crowds of Sabbatarians, admittedly smaller than the previous year, to greet the steamer at the piers she...

In 1861, the Glasgow Publisher, John Cameron, produced a five-part serialization of Hugh Macdonald’s “Days at the Coast.” The parts were entitled “The Frith of Clyde, Descriptive Sketches of its Watering Places, Scenery, and Associations” and were illustrated with a number of engravings not found in earlier or indeed subsequent editions. One of the engravings illustrates an odd-looking craft sailing down the Gareloch off the village of Row, unmistakable because of its church spire. The odd looking craft is undoubtedly the Alliance, and a she was a complete departure from the sleek, fast greyhounds that comprised the usual craft on the Clyde. The origins of the Alliance come from the jaundiced eyes of some who had discovered the luxurious amenities available in many of the steamboats that sailed on the rivers of America. The idea of offering such craft on the Clyde dates to 1854 when...