A strange little newspaper published on Saturday June 4th, 1887 was aimed at providing the public with a “pleasant hour in the wearisome tediousness of a steamship or railway journey” down the water. The editorial statement indicated that it was to be issued every Saturday morning at 47 Oswald Street, Glasgow but that “owing to an accident, we are a little behind this week.”
There are no advertisements in the first issue but they offered to carry advertisements at the rate of 1/6 an inch. Many of the articles have a strange feel for the most part and look to have been lifted piecemeal from an American publication although there are a few domestic “gems”:
“Papa” asked a young hopeful the other day. “Is Queen Victoria’s other name Lize.”
“No my son, why do you ask?”
“Why, you know, I’ver just heard you reading where Shakespeare says, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” and Victoria wears the crown doesn’t she?”
and
“Yes Arthur is quite a poet,” said one lady to another, “and he always writes on an impulse.” “Wouldn’t a desk be handier?” asked the other one with interest.
In this, the first issue, the readers were rewarded with a fine lithograph of the steamship Columba—the finest river steamer that sails from the Clyde.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect was the following statement on the masthead page:
Preying on the uncertainty of the public in offering travel insurance should they be killed on their trip. Clearly not a major fear with the substantially safe transport of the time but one might imagine what might happen with a major accident.
It appears that the last few pages of the paper were not printed in the issue as someone had stolen two pages of type. A reward of £5 was offered for information. It was all for nought, however, as the first issue was the last.