Turbine Steamers Ltd. 1919-1935

on Apr 4, 2017

In World War I, many of the Clyde steamers were called up for Admiralty service, and after the Armistice, it took the fleet many months to return to some semblance of normal peacetime duties. Mr John Williamson was manager of the Turbine fleet that sailed to Campbeltown and Inveraray with the pioneer turbine of 1901, King Edward, and Queen Alexandra, built in 1912 to replace the steamers of the same name. Both steamers had been requisitioned to carry troops across the English Channel and their return was anticipated in 1919. Queen Alexandra required little renovation after the war and she resumed service to Campbeltown at the end of June 1919. Queen Alexandra (Robertson) King Edward (Robertson) However, King Edward was not released until the end of 1919. Both were available in 1920 when Queen Alexandra was placed on the Inveraray route and King Edward sailed to Campbeltown, switching...

Williamson-Buchanan Steamers

on Mar 27, 2017

The Clyde steamers played an important role in World War I, related in an article in February 2015. At the end of hostilities, changes to the different fleets on the Clyde were instituted. This article focuses on the changes that took place with the steamers associated with Messrs Williamson, Buchanan and Turbine Steamers. This part focuses on Williamson-Buchanan steamers. A subsequent article will focus on Turbine Steamers. As the steamers returned to the Clyde in 1919 from their activities during the war, the following announcement appeared in the newspapers. “Amalgamation of Two Firms: The amalgamation is announced of the two well-known firms of Clyde river steamer owners, Messrs Buchanan Steamers (Limited) and Mr John Williamson “Both firms have been associated for a long time with passenger services on the river and estuary, and each has done a great deal to develop this service...

Aerial Views of the Clyde

on Mar 4, 2017

Photographs of the Clyde Harbours and Resorts taken from the air and made into postcards have always been popular. They are an easy way of showing where you stay whether all-year-round, or on holiday. The earliest photographs of the Clyde that were released commercially appear to have been the work of an Edinburgh Company in the years shortly after the First World War, around 1920 or 1921. They are generally marked Aerial Photos Ltd., Edinburgh. They include a good selection of the Cowal Coast, including Dunoon, Rothesay and surrounding areas in Bute, and coastal towns in the Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. The photographs are oblique, taken at an angle, rather than the vertical stereo-pairs associated with mapping of later years. Quite a few show some of the steamers of the day. It is not clear what aircraft were used to obtain these photographs. Hunter’s Quay and the...

Greenock Harbours

on Feb 28, 2017

The origins of the physical development of the harbours at Greenock date from about the time of the Union. In 1710, excavation of the first harbour were completed, occupying roughly where the West Harbour later stood, it established a circular West Quay and East Quay and enclosed the Mid Quay. The cost was £5,555. 11s. 1d., most of which, £5,000, was a loan by Sir John Schaw, to be repaid by a tax on malt brewed into ale in the town. The loan was repaid within thirty years and the harbour brought immediate prosperity to the town. West Harbour West Harbour with the tug Flying Elf (Poulton)   West Harbour with Madge Wildfire at the mid-quay West Quay, renovated in 1880 with steamers laid up for the winter Over the next century, there was significant redevelopment of the West Harbour. The breaking of the monopoly of the East India Company signaled an upturn in foreign trade and increasing...

Cleaning the Clyde

on Feb 11, 2017

The rapid growth of industry and population that occurred in Glasgow in the mid-Victorian years had a devastating effect on the river Clyde. The infrastructure for handling industrial and human waste was limited to gravitation, ending in the river, and the river itself became an open sewer. The problem was studied throughout the 1850s and 1860s but it was a major Parliamentary report by Sir John Hawkshaw in 1876 that focused attention on potentially workable solutions. At the time, Glasgow had a new supply of excellent water from Loch Katrine that supplied 36 million gallons of water annually. Hawkshaw suggested a new system of intercepting sewers that would convey effluent to areas on the margins of the city where it could be treated. There was a suitable location on both sides of the Clyde below Whiteinch where the effluent could be treated with alum, lime and charcoal to precipitate...

Loch Awe

on Feb 3, 2017

A letter to the editor of the Morning Journal on September 9, 1858 was headed— “Loch Awe and Steamboat Proprietors” “Sir,—Loch-Awe, as I understand, is the longest fresh-water loch in Scotland; in extent is ‘about thirty miles long, and from one to two broad.’ It starts at the south end, about eight miles north of the west end of the Crinan Canal, and then runs in a northerly direction—through a sequestered district, rich in beautiful scenery—until it reches Glenorchy at the north, at a point leading northeasterly by way of Tyndrum and Taymouth; west by Bonawe and Oban; and east by Tyndrum and Lochlomond. Loch Awe at present—so far as a public conveyance or coach is concerned—can only be reached in the summer months, by coach from Inverary via Kilchrennan (i.e., crossing Loch-Awe about twelve miles from the north end of the loch), and then passing on by Bonawe to Oban. In summer there...

Firth of Clyde Steam Packet Co. Ltd.

on Jan 15, 2017

The history of the steamer Ivanhoe has featured in earlier articles, up to the point when she was laid up in 1906 by the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd. As the new century progressed, the pollution that characterized the upper Clyde began to be ameliorated and there was renewed interest in sailing from the heart of Glasgow. Shipyards on the Clyde were also experiencing full order books and sailing “doon the water” allowed the denizens of the city to see the latest developments that would make the Clyde known throughout the world. It was to accommodate this need that Captain Cameron brought out the Meg Merrilies and the Lady Rowena, and in 1911, the Ivanhoe was brought out of retirement. Ivanhoe in her 1911 color scheme The Firth of Clyde Steam Packet Co. Ltd. was registered on 16th February 1911 with a nominal capital of £6,000 and purchased, for £4,000 from the Caledonian...

John Williamson’s Up-river Revival

on Jan 15, 2017

In 1900, the Glasgow, Rothesay, and Kyles of Bute Steamers of John Williamson provided a summer service to Campbeltown in connection with the Glasgow and Southwestern Railway Co. with their newer vessel, Strathmore, and maintained the year-round Rothesay and Kyles of Bute connection with their veteran, Benmore. The introduction of the turbine steamer, King Edward, the following year, relieved Strathmore except at the very beginning and end of the season, and allowed Williamson to develop the Rothesay trade. This article covers the development of this trade in the years leading up to the first world war. Strathmore leaving Rothesay Strathmore leaving Princes Pier Strathmore passing Scotstoun Benmore passing Scotstoun on her way down river (Robertson, Glasgow) Glasgow Herald, June 20, 1901 Strathmore passing the cruiser Cumberland at Govan Strathmore waiting for her afternoon departure...

Steamers on Loch Tay

on Jan 8, 2017

The possibility of a steamboat service on Loch Tay, one of the natural passages between the east and west highlands, was first broached in 1855, at a time when road communications in the west were developing to expand the tourist trade. “At last, steam will flutter its pennon across the base of Ben Lawer—a company having arranged to start a small steamer to ply on Loch Tay during the summer months. The vessel will be an iron one, and is being constructed in England; its parts, of course, requiring to be put together on the loch. It will perform two trips from either end of the lake in the day.”—Caledonian Mercury, Thursday May 3, 1855 Loch Tay Although the promise of a steamboat on Loch Tay as well as one on Lochearn was mentioned in the following year in connection with coach service between Crieff and Killin, it did not make an appearance. Almost a quarter century passed before...

A New Lord of the Isles — 1891

on Dec 28, 2016

By the beginning of the 1890s, the general standard of facilities offered on-board the new railway steamers meant that the privately owned vessels were largely outclassed. This prompted the Glasgow and Inveraray Steam Packet Co. (Ltd.) to approach Messrs D. & W. Henderson & Co. with a view to replacing their aging tourist steamer, Lord of the Isles. The old steamer, built in 1877, had opened up the tourist traffic to Inveraray from where Oban and Loch Awe could be reached by coach. It had also popularized the Loch Eck tour, connecting Dunoon and Strachur by a combination of coaches and the steamer Fairy Queen on Loch Eck. This provided a round trip that encompassed spectacular scenery on the Loch Eck route and the route by water through the Kyles of Bute and up Loch Fyne and could be performed in either direction. The old Lord of the Isles (Adamson) The old Lord of the Isles...