Queen Mary—534

on Dec 26, 2015

During the roaring twenties, with prohibition in the United States, the Transatlantic trade expanded rapidly. Cunard with Mauritania and the Clyde built Aquitania, were experiencing severe competition from White-Star, the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and German Norddeutscher Lloyd. The advent of the Bremen in 1929 demanded a response and while the French line laid down Normandie, and White-Star planned a new vessel, to be named Oceanic, Cunard planned to have its own vessel built on the Clyde. Yard number 534 The steamship with yard number 534 was laid down in John Brown’s yard in December 1930. Good progress was made with the construction of the hull but the project fell victim to the depression that followed the Wall Street crash. Work was suspended late in 1931 as the Cunard Company could not raise the capital to complete the ship. The partially completed hull lay...

Campbell and Kilmun

on Nov 29, 2015

The pier at Kilmun, the first on the Cowal peninsula, dates from 1828 when David Napier purchased land on the north shore of the Holy Loch. Napier’s vision opened up the feuing of the region and he built a number of villas along the shore. It also opened up a new route to Inveraray by way of Loch Eck and Strachur and his efforts to popularize this route will be found in other articles on this site. In Napier’s biography an advertisement of 1829 is quoted “At Kilmun there is now a substantial quay built, where passengers can land at all times. Houses to let, ground to feu,” and Napier had his steamers Kilmun and Earl Grey built to serve the needs of his feuars and the new route patrons. The boiler explosion of the Earl Grey steamer in 1835 signaled the end of David Napier’s interests in owning a steamboat fleet on the Clyde. The steamers, Kilmun, Saint Mun, Cupid, and the wreck of the...

Two birds: Merlin and Plover

on Nov 15, 2015

The invention of a new method for the propulsion of steamships was news of importance for the shipbuilders and ship owners on the Clyde. Like many others, the idea presented by John Kibble was not entirely new and had been tried in a form on the steamboat Highland Lad on the Lochgoil route as early as 1826. Kibble’s proposed use of a continuous belt of small paddles instead of the normal paddle wheels had some merit, and as events evolved, showed some promise in the steamboat that he had built to demonstrate the invention. It eventually failed but the story and subsequent happenings are well worth examination. The patent submitted by Kibble has the details of his invention. “Specification of the Patent granted to John Kibble, of Glasgow, Gentleman, for Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling Vessels.—Sealed November 2, 1843. “With an engraving. To all to whom these presents shall...

Kronprinzessin Cecilie

on Oct 23, 2015

A little photograph of an unidentified steamer at Oban in August 23, 1913 reveals an interesting story.  The steamer is the Kronprinzessin Cecilie, built at Kiel in 1905 she was carrying a group of German Doctors on a cruise of British seaside resorts. A contemporary report tells of the reaction they had from the natives of Oban. “German Doctor’s Cruise.—Impressions of their visits to seaside resorts. “About 150 German doctors, who are on a cruise round the British Isles after their visit to the International Medical Congress in London, arrived at Oban in the Hamburg-American liner Kronprinzessin Cecilie. Most of the doctors came ashore, and many drove in brakes to Dunstaffanage Castle. Several expressed surprise that Oban was so unlike most seaside resorts, with no beach, promenade, band, or pierrots. ” “Why are the people at your watering-places so very...

The Turkish Fleet

on Oct 23, 2015

In earlier articles the history of Captain Alexander Williamson’s career has been detailed. He and Captain William Buchanan owned the Eagle in the 1850s but the partnership dissolved around 1861 and Captain Williamson struck out on his own in 1862 with the Sultan,a fast river steamer built the previous year. Sultan (Williamson) The Sultan was put on the Rothesay and Kyles of Bute station, sailing from Glasgow with a connection at Greenock with the Glasgow trains.  In the winter she sailed from Kamesburgh or Port Bannatyne as it is better known nowadays but during the season she sailed to Tignabruaich and Ormidale. Her schedule meant an early morning sailing from the Kyles of Bute, connecting with a train at Greenock before sailing to Glasgow.  In the afternoon, the journey was repeated in the opposite direction. Williamson had the Sultana built by Messrs Robertson & Co. in...

Kilmun—David Napier on the Severn…and briefly on the Clyde

on Oct 21, 2015

The saga of David Napier’s rotatory steamer, Dumbarton, on the Clyde, and his frequent references to the success of a steamer on the rotatory principle on the Severn merits investigation. Napier had moved his business dealings to London in the middle of the 1830s but by 1850, he was living in Gloucester, though he maintained connections in London and Glenshellish near Loch Eck. He also owned and fued land in the vicinity of Kilmun where had built and still owned the pier. David Napier The first attempt to bring a steamboat to the upper reaches of the Severn in 1850 appears to have had limited success.  The Star was too long for the locks and the twisting navigable channel. The improved patent suggests that the Star might have had a rotary engine. “Passenger steamer on the Severn.—A steamer has arrived in the Severn from Glasgow. She is named the Star, and is intended to trade between...

Helensburgh Quay

on Oct 21, 2015

The coming of the railway to Helensburgh was met with great anticipation, not least among those who saw the prospect of improvements promised to the quay. The magistrates in the town entered into an agreement with the Dumbartonshire Railway Co. who were to provide the funding to upgrade the pier but the collapse in railway funding in the early 1850s meant that the project was delayed. The Dumbartonshire Railway realized that the costs would exceed their initial estimates and offered a lump-sum to the payment to the town who responded by taking the matter to the courts. The “pier at Helensburgh—one of the most beautiful watering places on the Clyde…is not only rough and uneven in surface, so as to be altogether useless to visitors as a promenade, and exceedingly inconvenient in passing to and from the steamers, but it is positively dangerous to land at in certain states of the weather.”...

To Rothesay

on Oct 4, 2015

After almost a decade in a partnership with Captain William Buchanan when they owned the Eagle steamer on the Rothesay route from Glasgow, Captain Alexander Williamson purchased the Sultan steamer in 1862 and set up on his own account. The Sultan had been built the previous year by Messrs Barclay Curle & Co. for Alexander M‘Kellar’s Holy Loch service and had a good reputation for speed and being an easy boat to handle at piers. Captain Williamson sailed her on the Rothesay station, calling at Hunter’s Quay and Greenock to make a connection with the Caledonian Railway. In her first season, Sultan left Rothesay at 7:40 a.m. to meet the 9:15 a.m. up train for Glasgow at Greenock, and then proceeded to the Broomielaw from where she departed on her return to Rothesay at 2:00 p.m. with a rail connection at Greenock leaving Glasgow at 3:00 p.m. Overnight her base was at Kamesburgh or Port...

Girvan to Ailsa Craig

on Sep 5, 2015

Visiting Ailsa Craig, the remarkable volcanic plug that rises from the seabed in the lower reaches of the Firth of Clyde, has been tradition dating back to the earliest times. With the advent of the steamboat, a trip around the island was an early feat to demonstrate the reliability of the vessels. Duchess of Hamilton rounding Ailsa Craig around 1905 Throughout the 1800s, passengers were landed briefly on the island from special sailings of steamers when the weather was amenable, but the main communication was with Girvan on the Ayrshire coast. Sailing coasters and fishing smacks brought not only tourists, but also transported the quarrymen to the quarries set up by the Marquis of Ailsa to supply curling stones to the world. Sailing smacks and yachts from Girvan landing visitors at Ailsa Craig Towards the end of the century, William Girvan, who was involved in transporting the granite...

Railway connections and racing

on Aug 23, 2015

When the Caledonian Railway took over the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway in August 1851, the relationship between the railway and the steamboat owners had reached a low point. However, matters on the water had also greatly changed with the withdrawal of Messrs. G. & J. Burns from the river trade and the proliferation of new ownership. In the following year, 1852, the Caledonian Railway made a determined effort to run its own steamers to the coast resorts and bring the revenue earnings of the railway closer to their potential. “We observe the Caledonian Company have advertised frequent trains to run on the Greenock section of their line after 15th April, which will afford great facilities to our citizens and to the inhabitants of Paisley who reside during the summer months on the coast, by means of these trains and the present steam vessels on the river, as also a superior...