When the gaiety of the summer season wanes, and the autumn gales begin, some of the Clyde steamers began to slip into their winter quarters, while others batten down the hatches to prepare for a winter providing a vital lifeline for the islands and coast communities. Most of the steamers that are laid up, at first looking rather down at the heel from their hard summer work, were slowly and surely transformed over the following months as they were repaired and reconditioned for the new season. However, there were some vessels, facing an uncertain future, that gradually became more rust streaked and forlorn until they were removed by sale to new owners, or the breaker’s yard. For many years, Bowling harbour was a favourite winter sanctuary for steamers. It was generally a safe shelter from gales and storms, although there was one notable event in February 1856 when a hurricane combined...

Lamlash owes its name to Molaise, the sixth century Celtic Saint who dwelt on the island that shelters the bay and the surrounding coast where the village is situated. Like Campbeltown to the south-west, the bay has provided a safe anchorage and refuge from storms for centuries. It was the base for the Viking King Hakon before the battle of Largs, and in both world war I and world war II was a protected anchorage vital to the defence of Great Britain. Of the early times, there are few reminders in the area. There are the ruins of the Kilbride chapel in the graveyard off the road to Brodick and there is a record of a castle, though its location is uncertain. Until the coming of the steamboat, the population of this sheltered spot was sparse and lived off the crops they could grow and the fish they could catch. In Duchess Anna’s time in the seventeenth century, a small fishing harbour,...

Captain James Williamson’s classic, “The Clyde Passenger Steamer: Its Rise and Progress during the Nineteenth Century,” was published by Messrs James MacLehose & Sons, Glasgow, to great interest and acclaim in 1904. It is one of my favourite books. “The Clyde Passenger Steamer.—Rise and Progress during the Nineteenth Century.—We have received a copy of a book entitled “The Clyde Passenger Steamer: Its Rise and Progress during the Nineteenth Century, from the Comet of 1812 to the King Edward of 1901,” by Captain James Williamson, the well-known marine superintendent the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. No one can rise from perusal of the volume without being conscious of the fact that it is the work of man who has not only had lifelong connection with his subject but thorough acquaintance with and a feeling akin to love for all things pertaining to the steamboat passenger service on...

I’m working on an article on Lamlash and was reflecting on the last time I was in the village with my family, many years ago now. At the time my son had just entered his teens, and the visit to Arran with his grandfather had an impact. A year or so later, he submitted an essay to a Scottish-American magazine and won $100. I thought it might be worthwhile to post it on this Remembrance Day.      My heritage means a lot to me. I was born in Scotland, though I moved to the United States when I was less than a year old. I know a little about my heritage because of the stories that my father occasionally tells me about growing up in Scotland and about my family history. I have visited Scotland on four occasions and enjoy Scottish music and culture. I have also strengthened my heritage by learning to play the bagpipes.      My grandfather was in the 11th (Scottish) Commando during...

This is the final article in the series of negatives and slides from my collection that I have attempted to colourize with the aid of photoshop. For a very few of these slides, photoshop has not worked well and I have resorted to a more comprehensive colouring program that uses multiple layering like an impressionist painting to achieve the coloured image. This I dislike as it leads to some curious effects, but it does a better job on crowded scenes. The previous article featured the privately owned Clyde steamers. In this article the steamers of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co., the Glasgow & South-Western Railway Co., and the North British Railway Co., are portrayed. A slide of steamers at Rothesay Pier. The funnel colours attract immediate attention. The only easily recognized steamer is the Caledonian Steam Packet Co.’s Galatea with her two rather awkwardly spaced funnels....

This is the third article in the series of negatives and slides from my collection that I have attempted to colourize with the aid of photoshop. This article features some of the Clyde steamers. The previous two articles featured the steamers of Messrs MacBrayne and the highlands and islands. Commercial software can often provide a reasonably acceptable representation of the background, although not always, and sky and sea colour are frequently problematic. I have also tried smart iterative software (Photorevive) in a few cases but while it generally does better with details and background, it end up with more complex impressionist-like colouring that I personally dislike. The colorings of steamers and their funnels require special attention. The simplest colourizations are those of the Buchanan and Williamson fleets where funnels are black and white. Some of the earliest slides of...