Sailing Out of Oban with Pioneer and Mountaineer

on Jun 10, 2015

The naturally sheltered waters of Oban Bay, enclosed by the Island of Kerrera to the south and west and farther off, the Islands of Mull and Lismore to the north attracted the earliest steamboats on the West of Scotland trade. The quay at Oban was a low stone built affair and by the middle of the nineteenth century was proving inadequate for the traffic and the expansion of the tourist trade. Around 1848, a ship, the B.C. Bailey, foundered off Lismore at Kilcheran, and the wreck was brought into Oban Bay and lay at the quay for a time until it was built over to form the North Pier. In the first of the old photographs, the outline of the hull can be seen below the pier construction. Oban in the 1850s In the second photograph, the pier is a little more advanced and there are some buildings upon it. The third photograph is from a different angle and shows the corner of the bay. Oban...

Linnet

on Jun 5, 2015

When Iona entered service in 1864, the connection with the Crinan steamer was accomplished by the horse drawn track-boats Maid of Perth and Sunbeam. The improvements made by the addition of the Chevalier in 1866 were enhanced by a small screw steamer, Linnet, that was built by J. & G. Thomson at Govan for Messrs. Hutcheson.  The Linnet provided the link through the Crinan Canal between Ardrishaig and Crinan. Track-boat Sunbeam on the west bank at Ardrishaig. The Linnet had two screws and at 34 tons and she was launched in a fairly complete condition.  Just 86 ft long and 16 ft broad with a shallow draft, she could fit into the locks of the canal.  Her blunt canoe-shaped bow was designed to allow her to push into the opening canal lock gates. Linnet at Crinan with Chevalier in the background Linnet at Crinan with Countess of Kellie in 1888 Linnet at Crinan Linnet heading for...

Chevalier 1866

on Jun 3, 2015

The Glasgow Herald of Friday April 13, 1866 contained the following article: “Launch of the Chevalier.—Yesterday, there was launched from the ship-yard of Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, at Govan, a handsome paddle saloon steamer, named the Chevalier, for Messrs. David Hutcheson & Co.’s swift-line of West Highland steamers. The Chevalier is of 500 tons and 150 horsepower. She will be elegantly fitted up in similar style to the Iona of the same line, with commodious saloon on deck, dining saloon, &c. Her station will be betwixt Crinan and Corpach, in connection with the Iona on the Ardrishaig side, and a new saloon steamer building by Messrs. Thomson, to be called the Gondolier, on the other or Banavie side of the line. Thus this magnificent route will be amply and admirably supplied during the coming season. With a service of handsome saloon steamers, to which will be added, in...

Iona 1864

on May 31, 2015

When Master William Hutcheson performed the naming ceremony on the new Iona as she slid down the ways on 10th May, 1864, from the yard of J. & G. Thomson, it was the start of an era that lasted over 70 years. The new ship was built for Messrs. D. Hutcheson & Co. who would employed her on the “Royal Route” sailing from the Broomielaw to Ardrishaig. She was 255 ft long by 26 ft broad and had deck-saloons with alleyways around them that had been removed from her predecessor when that steamer was converted to a blockade-runner for the Confederates in the American Civil War. Compared with that steamer, the new Iona was 7 ft longer and six inches broader in the beam. The increased breadth of the steamer provided a little more space for passengers between the bulwarks and the deck saloons. Immediately after her launch, the hull was towed to Finnieston Quay where her engines, also...

Early Clyde Steamboats II

on Apr 27, 2015

In September 1812, hard on the heels of Comet, her first rival Elizabeth was announced. The following intimation was published in the Glasgow Herald of 25th September. “We are glad to have it in our power to inform the public that a gentleman of this city is at present erecting a flat-bottomed Steam-Boat at Port Glasgow, of 12 horse-power, under the superintendence of an able engineer, upon a much improved principle, both with respect to the quickness of sailing and the accommodation of passengers. It is to be so constructed so that neither wind nor tide will prevent its sailing at a certain hour–a circumstance which will be most beneficial to the public. The boat, we understand, will be ready to start in about three or four weeks.” The Elizabeth, was launched in November, 1812, and she began sailing on the Greenock station on 9th March 1813, again from the yard of John...

Early Clyde Steamboats I

on Apr 26, 2015

Henry Bell was born at Torphichen in 1767 and, after a solid but unspectacular education, he tried his hand to various professions with little distinction before returning to Glasgow in 1790 where he spent several years as a joiner. Towards the end of the century, Bell became interested in the application of steam to ship propulsion and was in contact with Symington who was experimenting at this time with the Charlotte Dundas on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Henry Bell To escape the squalour of urban life, many of the better-off Glaswegians were following the fashion set by the Prince of Wales of “taking the waters.” Favourite places for this practise were Largs, Gourock and the town of Helensburgh that had been laid down as a model town in the latter part of the eighteenth century by Sir James Colquhoun but had failed to attract any industry. In 1808, Henry Bell moved to the recently...