In 1847, the Clyde and Western isles steamboat services were in flux. The Greenock Railway had opened six years earlier in 1841 and had challenged the dominance of steamboat companies in providing transportation in the Clyde area. After attempting to attract the steamboat companies to provide ongoing connections with the railway at Greenock, the Railway Company had begun to run its own connections. The principal services to Rothesay and Lochfyne were at this time in the hands of the Castle Steam Packet Company, and in 1845, Messrs. G. & J. Burns, who had hitherto been associated with the Glasgow and Belfast trade, acquired a controlling interest in the Company and its steamers. The following year, they added the steamers of the Greenock Railway and achieved a virtual monopoly of the Clyde connections with the Western Highlands and Islands. The West Highland services themselves were in the hands of the Messrs. Thomson & McConnell who had interests also in the Glasgow and Liverpool trade. There was close cooperation between the Burns and Thomson & McConnell companies and when the latter retired from business in 1850, the services were absorbed by Burns.

The year of the 1847 was also a trying time for the young monarch, Queen Victoria. The previous year, the Peel administration had collapsed over the repeal of the Corn Laws, and Lord Russell led a minority government. The Irish question, and the famine still occupied much of the government’s time; the tail end of the Chartist movement meant that there was continued unrest as the concerns of the working man became more focused on wages and conditions than on the elusive universal suffrage; and much of Europe was in turmoil. On Thursday August 11 of that year, after the general election, the Queen, Prince Consort and their two eldest children, the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, embarked on the Royal yacht, Victoria and Albert, along with the Royal Squadron comprising the tender Fairy, and escorts Garland, Undine, Black Eagle, Scourge, from Osborne Castle on the Isle of Wight for a leisurely trip to Scotland. This was to be the first visit of a monarch of the United Kingdom to the Clyde. By the 13th, they had reached the Scilly Isles, and on the 14th landed at Milford Haven. The next day they made it to Anglesea where they sailed through the Menai Straits in the smaller steam yacht tender, Fairy. On Sunday the 16th, they reached the Isle on Man and on Monday evening made it into Scottish Waters, anchoring overnight in Loch Ryan.

Royal yacht Victoria and Albert and the tender Fairy entering the Clyde

The anticipation for the visit was palpable in Glasgow and the West of Scotland. The program of visits was presented to the public in a letter to the Glasgow Herald on August 13th, and the royal progress was carefully plotted. It was projected that the Queen would visit Dumbarton on Monday 16th. On the Saturday before the visit, the Greenock Railway and the River Steamers were busy with citizens of Glasgow seeking out the best vantage points for viewing the Royal flotilla and securing the best spots before the crowds on Monday. It was thought that 45 of the river and coastal steamers would follow the movements of the six steamers of the Royal squadron. At Dumbarton, viewing stands were set up on either side of Provost Denny’s Wharf, and the landing site “beautifully fitted up and ornamented.”

Guns were transported to the coastal towns that lay on the proposed route so that salutes might be fired when the Royal party passed, and everywhere the local landowners and minor Royalty were in readiness with their finery.

Crowds at the Broomielaw waiting for steamers to see the Royal Party

On the 16th, the crowds descended on the Greenock Railway as early as 4 a.m. Sometime in the morning a rumour started that the flotilla was not yet to be seen through the fog in the lower reaches of the firth and there was a brief hesitation. Many of the institutions of the city were deserted.

Thetis

At the Broomielaw, the departures began at 3 a.m. Detachments of police arrived and the Tug steamer took in tow 30 small boats with four seamen and a policemen in each to line the channel from Dumbarton downwards to keep order. The large number of steamers that ranged from channel vessels to tugs and luggage boats, left without overcrowding—some were rather poorly filled—with fares of 10/- a head, double that for some of the better steamers and in one instance £5 for two days’ sail. Messrs. Burns new cross-channel steamer, Thetis, with the party of the Lord Provost and the City Magistrates and Members of the River Trust on board left around 8:00 a.m.

The Inverary Castle left at 9:30 with the Glasgow Herald’s correspondent on board. They found that two of the earlier boats had grounded in the early morning fog, including the Helen Macgregor that has a detachment of police for Ardrishaig. The police were later taken on board the Craignish Castle and delivered safely. At Dumbarton, the scene was animated and below the town the banks of the river on both sides were lined with crowds sporting Union Jacks by the hundreds. The steamer stood-to around the Cumbraes, awaiting the Royal visitors. By late in the afternoon there was a general recognition that the visit would not take place on Monday. The Royal Yacht had reached the Clyde late in the day and the squadron had repaired to Loch Ryan where the Lord Provost’s Party from Thetis was received by Earl Grey in the evening off Cairnryan. Earl Grey informed them that Her Majesty would receive their addresses the next day at Dumbarton and the Thetis returned to the city. The evening saw a reversal of the morning’s exodus although many decided to remain overnight at the coast.

Next day, the whole enterprise started again. The Victoria and Albert left Loch Ryan at 6:00 a.m., heading for Dumbarton, and was met by the first steamers of the vast flotilla off the Cumbraes. At Wemyss Bay there was a 21-gun salute. Some of the steamers came uncomfortably close to the Royal Yacht to afford the passengers on their crowded decks with a good view of the Queen. The Royal Party transferred to the tender Fairy off Greenock and landed at Denny’s wharf under the shadow of Dumbarton Rock.

The Royal Party at Dumbarton—note the contrast of this view from the popular contemporary pictorial press with the more demure setting in the painting at the head of the article

The Queen was dressed in a light printed gown with a black silk cloak with a white bonnet and a light-green parasol. She was received by Sir James Colquhoun, Lord Lieutenant of the County and Provost Risk of Dumbarton and other officers. On entering the Castle, the Queen heard addresses from the City of Glasgow and the County of Dumbarton welcoming the Queen and expressing the loyalty of her subjects. The Prince Consort and the Royal Children climbed to the summit of the rock and enjoyed a good view of the surrounding countryside. Around 3:00 p.m., the Fairy departed and after taking almost 30 minutes to cross the sand-bar at the mouth of the Leven, sailed past the waiting steamers followed by the Undine to join the rest of the squadron. One incident recorded was the amusement of the Queen at a highlander dancing a highland-fling in full costume on the paddle-box of the Chieftain. The flotilla made for Loch Long and eventually, around 8:00 the party dropped anchor in Rothesay Bay where the Queen and her party transferred to the Victoria and Albert and graciously greeted the crowds on the shore by holding up the Royal Children so the spectators could get a better view of them. A battery of ten guns had been installed next to the shipbuilding yard to provide a salute.

Fairy leaving Dumbarton with the channel lined with steamers 

On the following day, Wednesday, the Royal Party sailed through the Kyles of Bute in Fairy to Ardrishaig. The Victoria and Albert then sailed round the Mull while the Fairy continued with the Queen to Inveraray. After luncheon with the Duke and Duchess of Argyll and other dignitaries, the Queen returned to Lochgilphead where a special wharf was erected to connect with the Royal Barge on the Crinan Canal.

Royal Barge, Sunbeam

The Royal Barge, named Sunbeam, was fitted up at the Broomielaw by Messrs. Thomson & McConnell and Messrs. G. & J. Burns under the “tasteful direction” of Mr. David Hutcheson. She was 80 ft long by 20 feet broad with a cabin 20 feet long by 12 feet broad and a retiring cabin 12 feet by 6 feet. There was an outside canopy 18 feet by 10 feet providing additional shelter. “The ends of the cabin were of wainscoat oak, upon which were placed mirrors, having richly-carved frames. Along the sides were placed sofas covered with crimson cloth and edged with gilded beadings. The windows were of plate glass, in single sheets, and to each there were rich crimson draperies and curtains. The floor was covered with flowered carpeting, and the tables with beautiful cloth of gold, upon which were placed china vases containing gorgeous bouquets of flowers….The barge was dragged by four well-matched blood horses, that were ridden by jockeys dressed in the royal livery of scarlet and gold….The Sunbeam had been taken down river from the Broomielaw under tow by the Dunoon Castle at 4:00 a.m. on the 15th. The Dunoon Castle ran aground near Erskine but soon floated off on the rising tide and neither steamer nor barge was damaged, and the Sunbeam was delivered safely to the Crinan Canal.

Passing through the Crinan Canal

At Crinan, the Queen joined the Victoria and Albert and on Thursday morning sailed for Oban. Around 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, they passed Easdale where they received a 21-gun salute from guns and a fort especially erected for the occasion. The citizens of Oban heard the salute and all eyes were trained to the point when the Scourge followed by the Royal Yacht entered the bay around 10:30 to further salutes from batteries on the shore.

Royal Yacht passing Dunolly Castle

The Royal Squadron cruised around Oban Bay and viewed Dunolly Castle before sailing through the Sound of Tobermory to visit Staffa and Iona in the afternoon. Off Staffa the Queen and her Party used a Royal Barge to enter the largest of the caves.

Royal Squadron off Staffa

Queen’s barge at Fingal’s Cave

That evening the flotilla was scheduled to anchor in the Sound of Iona but returned to Tobermory Bay instead. On Friday, they sailed to Fort William and thence to their ultimate destination Advereckie on Loch Laggan.

Royal Salute off Tobermory

The interest taken in the Royal visit provoked a huge increase in tourist traffic as many of Victoria’s middle- and upper-class subjects came to the see the sights that the Queen had so enjoyed. Good advertising labeled the tour the “Royal Route” and the “swift steamer” connection between Glasgow and Oban by way of track-boats on the Crinan Canal, established in 1839, became one of the premier tourist routes, rivaling even the Loch Lomond and Trossachs Tour. Messrs. Burns consolidation of the services in 1850 lead to a reorganization and the following year, the Rothesay and Lochfyne connections together with the West Highland and Island services passes to Mr. David Hutcheson. Messrs Burns thereafter concentrated on the Belfast service although the coming of the railway to the north bank of the Clyde in 1851 allowed the enterprise to introduce a new steamboat service from Glasgow to Bowling by the Plover, connecting by train to Balloch where the Pilot, one of the steamers acquired from the Greenock Railway, was placed on Loch Lomond.