Roseneath and Kilcreggan

on Dec 24, 2020

The ferry at Roseneath was in existence long before steamboats graced the waters of the Gareloch. William Mauchan in his book “Rosneath Past and Present,” (Alexander Gardner, Paisley, 1893) recalls that the boat was large open wherry that was generally put under sail and took, sheep, cattle, horses and farm produce as well as passengers to Greenock. A similar craft was operated from the more exposed village of Kilcreggan by the M‘Farlane family of ferrymen. The Duke of Argyll used a six-oared barge to cross from Roseneath to Cairndhu between Row (Rhu) and Helensburgh, across the mouth of the Gareloch. The Helensburgh and Gareloch steamboats called at Roseneath Ferry, lying off the Ferry Inn, but it was expansion of feuing that brought about the promise of new piers to encourage the construction of summer residences for the affluent of Glasgow. In the Glasgow Herald of March 16, 1846,...

The Greenock and Helensburgh Steamboat Company

on Nov 26, 2020

The Clyde in 1865 had seen the long-awaited opening of the Wemyss Bay Railway that was expected to provide a convenient terminus for sailings to Rothesay, Largs, Millport, and Arran. The Largs, Millport and Arran routes had been the province of the steamers of Captain Duncan M‘Kellar and his sons, John and Alex, sailing from Glasgow. Anticipating the competition from the Railway, their steamers had been sold; their two flyers, Jupiter and Juno, going to the Confederates to run the blockade. However, the expected strong competition from the railway owned steamers did not immediately materialize, largely through mismanagement, and there were opportunities for an enterprising steamboat owner. On the north bank of the Clyde, the railway had reached Helensburgh in 1858 and efforts had been made to improve the town’s pier. Again, the coming of the railway had resulted in a running-down of...

Dumbarton’s Castle Pier

on Oct 12, 2020

The county town of Dumbarton on the river Clyde owes its origins to the rock that dominates the skyline and its bridge over the river Leven that provided access to the west. In its early history, Dumbarton was a sea-port of some importance but the industry of its larger neighbour, Glasgow, in deepening the Clyde diminished the trade. By virtue of an agreement made at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Dumbarton owned ships were exempt from the dues payable to Glasgow for the use of the waterway, and Glasgow worked over the years to remove this exemption, first limiting it to ships owed by burgesses of Dumbarton in 1825, then in 1858, after the railway had all but driven the Dumbarton steamboats from the river, it was removed altogether after compensation was paid by the Clyde Trustees, though ship-owning burgesses who served before that date were given continued exemption....

Clynder Pier

on Sep 14, 2020

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the villages on the western shore of the Gareloch were poorly served with piers to connect with the frequent steamboat services from Glasgow and Greenock. The sometimes difficult means of boarding was by ferry boat and there were ferries at Rahane, Crossowen and at Roseneath. It was in 1845 that a pier opened at Roseneath, just south of the narrows that mark the boundary of the Gareloch proper. The good folk of the village of Clynder had either to walk to Roseneath or use the ferry at Crossowen, north of the village, where the ferryman was James Campbell, . Archibald Chalmers was born on March 22, 1836, the son of James Chalmers and Sarah M‘Cunn who lived, along with other members of the Chalmers family at Little Rahean. He was baptized on May 5 of the same year. James farmed Little Rahean with his older brother Robert who also had a son,...

A trip to Lochgoilhead

on Aug 10, 2020

The steamer Iona was placed on the Lochgoilhead and Arrochar service from the Broomielaw in 1922. I came across this exclusive story by the well-known humorist J. J. Bell in the July 16, 1922 copy of the Sunday Post. James Joy Bell created a number of characters, including Wee Macgreegor, with his Grandpa Purdie. This tale of Mrs M‘Leerie is told in similar vein. The accompanying illustrations are mainly taken from a small album of photographs that must have been taken on a similar trip around the same date. The photograph above shows Iona at Arrochar, the final destination for the day trip where she rested for an hour or two before returning to Glasgow by Lochgoilhead and the other calling places. The cartoons are taken from the original article in the Sunday Post. Mrs M‘Leerie’s Trial Trip, by J. J. Bell —Exclusively Written for The “Sunday Post.”— “Well, that’s that!” exclaimed Mrs...

Arrochar Pier

on Aug 1, 2020

The Royal visit to Arrochar in 1849 appears to have been the trigger that persuaded the local landowner, Sir James Colquhoun, that the time was right to erect a pier. There had been a jetty before, to facilitate visitors from the steamers getting in and out of the small boats that conveyed them between ship and shore. Sir James had endeavoured to extend this to facilitate the Royal visitors but it had been incomplete. Perhaps there was sufficient additional lumber to convert the jetty into a pier suitable to berth a steamer, or perhaps Sir James wanted to be prepared for a future visit by Royalty. A pier had been erected at Tarbet on Loch Lomond in 1846. Nevertheless, the pier at Arrochar was ready for the 1850 season to hansel in a new “Royal Route.” Sir James was not the only one inspired by the Royal visit. At the Dumbarton yard of Messrs William Denny & Brothers, progress was...

Lochinvar

on Jul 15, 2020

It seems hard to imagine that the Messrs David MacBrayne Ltd., so well known for maintaining veteran steamboats over the years, were early pioneers in the application of oil propulsion in the early 1900s. Their first acquisition was the Win in 1907, renamed the Comet and used initially in the Ballachulish to Kinlochleven service while the aluminium smelter was being built there. Win had been built in 1905 by Messrs Robertson of London and was just 43 tons. She was powered by two 4-cylinder paraffin engines supplied by Messrs Gardner of Manchester, each driving one of her twin screws. Her later career on the Clyde is recorded in a previous article. The second steamer was the Scout, built for the company at Troon by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., in 1907. At 100 tons, she was powered by two 4-cylinder paraffin engines by Messrs Griffin of Bath each driving one of her twin screws. The...

To Arrochar before the pier

on Jul 6, 2020

The emergence of the fishing village or Arrochar at the head of Loch Long as a tourist centre during the steam-boat era is almost entirely due to its proximity to Loch Lomond. David Napier, who pioneered sailing on Loch Lomond with the steamboat Marion in 1817 and recognized the attraction of a tour that encompassed both Loch Lomond and Loch Long with the introduction of the Rob Roy, the following year. However, the Rob Roy was used thereafter on the Belfast station, leaving connections at Arrochar in the hands of other operators. Glasgow Herald, July 20, 1818 The early Lochgoilhead steam-boats, Defiance of 1817 and her successor, the Tay of 1814, brought from Dundee in 1818, both doubtless visited Arrochar. Both vessels were withdrawn around 1919 for modifications, the former reappearing as Highland Lad and sailing to the west highlands and the latter in 1822 as the Oscar. In the...

MacBrayne’s Lochearn and Lochmor

on Jun 26, 2020

After a disastrous year in 1927, the shipping empire of David MacBrayne was reorganized as David MacBrayne (1928) Ltd., becoming part of a combined Coast Lines  and L.M.S. Railway enterprise. Part of the reorganization involved the construction of four new vessels for the west highland and island trade, and the first of these, the steamer Lochness, entered service in 1929 and has been featured in a previous article on the Stornoway route. Following the steamship Lochness, the company ordered two motor sister ships from the Ardrossan Dockyard Company towards the end of 1929. The Lochearn was launched April 29, 1930, and her sister, Lochmor, launched two weeks later on May 15. The ships were relatively short at 156 feet in length by 29 feet in the beam and 9 ft depth. They were powered by a twin set of Gardiner motors generating 600 b.h.p. and driving two screws. It had been planned that...

Portincaple

on May 26, 2020

Portincaple from the water in 1952 (Valentine) Situated on Loch Long, directly opposite the entrance to Loch Goil, the hamlet of Portincaple hosted a ferry of some antiquity. With the advent of the steam-boat, the ferry was a calling point and the few residents and visitors could hail vessels on the Lochgoilhead and Arrochar stations. Greenock Telegraph, May 23, 1871 The coasters of the West Highland Trading Company were active in bringing coal and supplies to Lochlongside in the 1880s, and it was in the early 1880s that feuing was extended, coinciding with a proposal to build a railway from Helensburgh to Garelochhead and Portincaple. This eventually became a reality a decade later with the West Highland Line from Craigendoran. Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1880 “A station is to be placed at Portincaple, Loch Long, when the West Highland Railway is completed, and a new steamer will run...