Graham Brymner

on Oct 1, 2023

Graham Brymner was born on 27th January 1827 in Greenock, the son of Elizabeth (neé Fairlie) and Mr Alexander Brymner, who was the cashier in the Greenock Bank, and was at one time editor of the Greenock Intelligencer. Graham was educated at Greenock Grammar School and afterwards sought his fortune as a planter in the West Indies. On returning to Greenock in the 1840s, he took up office work, and then started a business with his elder brother, Douglas, who was at the time engaged as a shipping clerk. The firm of Messrs D. & G. Brymner were coal and lime merchants, with premises in East Quay Lane. The vessels they used were mainly wooden gabbarts or small schooners. The Alexander, presumably named after their father, was built for them by Messrs Scott & Sons, Greenock. The Mount Stuart was built by Messrs M‘Lea on the slip at Rothesay in 1855 and Strath Clutha the following year...

Herald and Gael

on Jan 25, 2018

This article highlights some of the opposition to the Campbeltown and Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Company’s near monopoly of the Campbeltown route in the latter half of the 1800s. In the earlier part of the century, Campbeltown was served by this locally owned company from 1826 and the centenary history is presented in another article. In addition, in those early years, the Londonderry steamers regularly called at Campbeltown and picked up some of the trade, but gradually this connection was withdrawn. It was in the aftermath of the American Civil War with Clyde shipyards, now expert in building fast, sturdy coastal craft, that excess capacity meant prices for new ships began to drop and Messrs Little & Co., with a long history in coastal trading, began a new enterprise in 1866, placing a fast paddle steamer, Herald, on the route from Glasgow and Greenock to Campbeltown....

Glen Sannox of 1925

on Sep 16, 2017

The Rock magazine of March 1925 records: “The name of an old and popular Clyde steamer has been revived in the Glen Sannox, which was launched on 24th February. The new ship which was built for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway Company, for their Clyde services, is 250 feet long by 30 feet broad by 10 feet 6 inches to the main deck, and she will be fitted with three Parsons’ independent steam turbines, each driving a separate shaft with one propeller, capable of developing a speed of about 20¾ knots. The Glen Sannox is, in many respects, similar to the Duchess of Argyll, which has proved such a successful unit of the L.M.S. fleet, and which many people maintain is the most graceful craft on the Clyde. At the request of the owners, there was no formal ceremony at the launch, but as the vessel left the ways she was gracefully named by Miss Rosamund Denny, the youthful daughter...

Glasgow & Southwestern Railway Steamers

on May 15, 2016

The opening of the Gourock and Ardrossan routes by the Caledonian Railway and the associated steamer services had immediate impacts of the business of the Glasgow & Southwestern Railway and Captain Alexander Williamson who ran his steamboats in association with the railway at Greenock and Captain William Buchanan who provided the service from Ardrossan to Arran. New steamers at Craigendoran had also secured for the North British Railway, the bulk of the Arrochar traffic in connection with their Loch Lomond tours. Faced with these inroads in multiple fronts, the Glasgow & Southwestern Railway made application to Parliament to run its own steamboat service. The Bill was passed in August 1891 but it placed some restrictions on the Glasgow & Southwestern steamers, preventing them sailing to the Lochfyne and Kintyre ports, and the west coast of Arran. They also could not extend...

To Rothesay

on Oct 4, 2015

After almost a decade in a partnership with Captain William Buchanan when they owned the Eagle steamer on the Rothesay route from Glasgow, Captain Alexander Williamson purchased the Sultan steamer in 1862 and set up on his own account. The Sultan had been built the previous year by Messrs Barclay Curle & Co. for Alexander M‘Kellar’s Holy Loch service and had a good reputation for speed and being an easy boat to handle at piers. Captain Williamson sailed her on the Rothesay station, calling at Hunter’s Quay and Greenock to make a connection with the Caledonian Railway. In her first season, Sultan left Rothesay at 7:40 a.m. to meet the 9:15 a.m. up train for Glasgow at Greenock, and then proceeded to the Broomielaw from where she departed on her return to Rothesay at 2:00 p.m. with a rail connection at Greenock leaving Glasgow at 3:00 p.m. Overnight her base was at Kamesburgh or Port...

The Teetotal Steamer—Ivanhoe

on Apr 5, 2015

Drunkenness and unruly behaviour on the river steamers of the Clyde were problems that “respectable” working class folk had to deal with in the period leading up to 1880. In that year, a syndicate was formed by Mr. Alexander Allan of the Allan Line, Mr. George Smith and Captain James Brown, both of the City Line, Mr. Robert Shankland, of Greenock and Captain James Williamson to obtain and run a steamboat run on temperance principles. Captain James Williamson, one of three sons of Captain Alexander Williamson of the “Turkish Fleet” was to manage the company and was to command the new steamer Ivanhoe for nine seasons until he assumed management of the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. Drinking on a river steamer—frowned upon! The new steamer was to sail on one of the most attractive excursions from Helensburgh to Whiting Bay on the Island of Arran by way of Rothesay and the Kyles of Bute,...