A brush with Samuel Walters

on Jan 4, 2023

I recently had occasion to re-examine some of the cartes-de-visite that I accumulated over the years by the renowned marine artist Samuel Walters. He was very active in the middle of the nineteenth century. Most of his work is focused on the Mersey, and I had not paid much attention to the subject matter, but I decided to do a little more research as I have to hand the biography, “Samuel Walters—Marine Artist,” by A. S. Davidson, published by Jones-Sands, Coventry, in 1992. I will return to the reasons for my renewed interest towards the end of the article, but will begin with an incident that I knew little about. One of the cdvs features a painting of the barque, Lotty Sleight that exploded in the Mersey on January 15, 1864. The explosion created a sensation on Merseyside and a quick reference to Samuel Walter’s biography, reveals that the photograph of the painting was registered...

Lost in fog

on May 13, 2022

On Sunday, November 14, 1909, a stubborn anticyclone settled in to dominate the weather pattern over the West of Scotland and Northern Ireland over the following week. On Monday morning, November 15, the weather forecast for Glasgow predicted light to moderate north-easterly breezes; cloudy to fair or fair, with local rain, hail, or sleet, nothing particularly out of the ordinary for mid-November. It was a cold morning, and inland there was widespread frost. The Campbeltown steamer Kinloch sailed from the Kintyre port at 3:30 p.m. for Carradale, Pirnmill, Lochranza, Gourock, Greenock, and Glasgow. There was only one steamer on the service at this time of the year, and she was expected to return from Glasgow the following morning at 6 a.m., connecting with the 7:55 am. train from St Enoch at Prince’s Pier and with the 8:35 a.m. train from Central at Gourock Quay. On her inward journey...

Bowling

on Apr 1, 2022

Until the latter years of the eighteenth century, the Bay of Bowling was best known for its sandy beach in the bend of the Clyde just upriver from the rocky Dunglass Point where the ancient keep of the Colquhoun Family stood in ruins. There was an inn and a hotel and it was a pleasant, sheltered spot for bathing. At Littlemill, on the Auchentorlie Burn, there was a disused mill that by the early 1770s had been at one time used as a bleaching works and then taken over as a distillery. It was the designation of Bowling as the western terminus of the Forth and Clyde canal that changed the Bay’s fortunes. Originally, the canal was meant to enter the Clyde at Dalmuir, but this was changed in 1785 when Robert Whitworth was appointed chief engineer of the Canal Company. Over the next few years the sea-lock and canal basin were excavated to meet the western extension of the canal from...

A Mersey Interlude

on Jan 4, 2022

Many of the older Clyde steamers, when past their prime, tended to migrate to the ferry services on the Mersey and my own interest has pushed me to collect old photographic material from the Liverpool area in the hopes that a familiar name or silhouette might present itself; alas to no avail. A quick read of the chapter on Mersey Ferries in Duckworth and Langmuir’s “West Coast Steamers,” reveals a history complicated by changes in ownership that will surely not be elucidated here. However, this small collection of photographs may be of interest to readers and shows the development of the Mersey ferries from flush-decks to deck saloons. I will present them here with whatever identification I have made so far. I welcome any other information on the photographs. I have also added a few more illustrations of some coastal traders from the Mersey. An unidentified vessel, likely a tug...

Clyde Industrial Training-Ship Empress

on Oct 19, 2016

 Towards the close of 1868, a number of philanthropic Glasgow gentlemen came together to try to address the problems in the city with “destitute boys found homeless and parentless in our streets.” The organization was called “The Clyde Industrial Training-Ship Society,” and it had the object of the establishment and maintenance of a training-ship on the Clyde, under the provisions of “The Industrial Schools Act,” for boys coming within the meaning of that Act. The training-ship would provide the necessary instruction for lads who had a liking for the sea and, when they took up employment, improve the character and efficiency of merchant seamen. They applied to the Government for a suitable ship and set about raising the funds to bring the ship to the Clyde and convert it to its new purpose. The Government provided the Cumberland, a three-decker built at Chatham in 1842 and she was...

More Sunday Steamers

on Aug 3, 2015

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...