Before the advent of steamboats on the Clyde, coastal sailing craft, ranging from gabberts, wherries and scows to smart sailing packets maintained communications between the various communities on the Firth. On occasion one or other of these would proceed up the shallow river to Glasgow but progress was possible only at certain points in the tidal cycle, making the river unusable for traffic of any urgency.

Around 1792, the shipbuilder, Mr. William Nicol of Greenock, designed and built suitable sailing craft with a shallow draft that could be used successfully on the river. These fly-boats as they were called, were built for three owners: John Fairlie, Malcolm Campbell, and Andrew Rennie, and they dominated the trade on the river between Glasgow and Greenock for over thirty years. The boats were about 28 feet long in the keel and from 7½ to 8 feet beam, 8 tons burthen, drew 4 feet of water, were wherry rigged and could make the down-river passage in four hours with a following wind and an ebb tide. A small awning aft of the main-mast, provided shelter for the passengers, who sat on longitudinal benches. According to regulations approved by the Burgh of Glasgow in 1801, a fly-boat could not take on board more than forty passengers, with adults paying 1s. 6d. for passage all the way, and each boat being restricted to £3 as its total freight for goods and passengers.

Some improved fly-boats had a more substantial deck or cabin in which the sides could be lifted up on hinges in fine weather to allow the passengers to view the scenery. A narrow gallery ran along the edge of the deck, outside, to allow the seamen to pass from forward to the stern where the steersman sat without disturbing the passengers. In fair weather, the more intrepid passengers could sit on the deck with their feet on the gallery to take the air and enjoy the scenery to better advantage.

While the down-river passage was accomplished with relative ease, the up-river movements were more difficult. The boats generally started from Greenock with the tide in flood if possible, and if the wind was favourable, the passage to Glasgow might be made in four or five hours. However, light or unfavourable winds demanded that the crew undertake the arduous task of rowing the vessel and passages of a dozen or more hours were the norm. It was not uncommon for the crew to make for Dunglass or Bowling and the nearest hostelry to await the next tide. The passengers in the meantime were left to their own devices. Frequently the boats would ground between Dumbarton and Renfrew. When this happened, the crew would go over the side and drag the boat to deeper water. If the grounding were serious, the passengers also might have to disembark to lighten the craft and help with the task. The Greenock Town Council passed a resolution in 1797 to ask the owners and masters to “abstain from immoderate use of spiritous liquor, to prevent such misuse of it by the passengers, and to put a stop to obscene and improper language on board.”

Fly-boats at the Broomielaw in 1802

There are accounts of voyages on the fly-boats. The Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg, relates about a voyage in 1808; “At Glasgow, we tarried no longer than to breakfast, and call upon one of our countrymen; and the morning coaches being all gone, we took our passage for Greenock in the flyboat. It is not easy to conceive any thing of the same nature more delightful than was our passage down the river that day. There was a brisk breeze from the south; the atmosphere was pure and light after the rain, and objects discernible with perspicuity at a great distance; and tho’ the vessel run with unusual velocity, yet, so smooth and steady was the motion, that we were obliged to call in the aids of philosophy to convince us that we were not quite stationary; and that the mountains, rocks, towns, and villages, were not all flying away like chaff before the wind.

“We were landed safely on the quay at Greenock in less than three hours from the time we left Glasgow…”

Andrew McQueen tells the following story but does not vouch for its veracity. “It was late in the evening and quite dark, and the tide having reached full flood, the boat was ready to start from the Broomielaw. There was no wind, so the oars were resorted to, to assist the ebb-tide in carrying her down. The river and harbour were not lighted in those days, and the skipper at the tiller peered earnestly into the darkness for some landmark that might indicate the vessel’s position. At length, as the first indications of dawn appeared, his eagle eye seemed to descry a familiar outline. “Noo, Tonal,” he shouted, “shust give her some draws more; there’s the Dumbarton Castle; she’ll soon be at Greenock noo.” The increasing daylight soon showed that the skipper’s eyes had deceived him, and that the vessel, strange to relate, was still at the Broomielaw. An investigation into the cause of this phenomenon disclosed that, as the skipper expressed it, “She had been rowin’ a’ nicht wi’ thon boo’d airn thing in”—in other words, they had forgotten to raise the anchor before starting to row.”

The town-drummer of Greenock, Andrew Rennie, was one of the early owners of fly-boats. He suggested to Mr. Nicol an improved design involving propulsion by paddle wheels attached to the sides of the craft instead of oars. Mr. Nicol refused to build the craft and so Rennie went to another builder, John M‘Kechnie, who built a slightly broader boat with two wheels, one on either side. Known as “Rennie’s Wheel-boat,” it was used to make several trips to the Broomielaw, but the manual labour involved was less convenient than the use of oars and the boat was sold.

Memorials of the Lineage, Early Life, Education, and Development of the Genius of James Watt, by George Williamson, esq., Watt Club, Greenock, 1861.

Historical and Descriptive Anecdotes of Steam-Engines, and of their Inventors and Improvers by Robert Stuart, Wightman and Cramp, London, 1829.

History of Town of Greenock, Daniel Weir, Robertson & Atkinson, Glasgow, 1829

Old Greenock from the Earliest Times to the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century by George Williamson, Alexander Gardner, Paisley, 1886.

Hutcheson’s Greenock Register, Directory, and General Advertiser for 1841-1842, John Malcolm, Greenock.

Echoes of Clyde Paddle Wheels by Andrew McQueen, Gowans & Gray, Glasgow, 1924.

Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow with Charters and Other Documents from 1796-1808, Robert Renwick, Glasgow, 1914.

The Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany, Edinburgh, 1808.

Views and Notices of Glasgow in Former Times, Robert Stuart, Glasgow, 1848.