Lost in fog

on May 13, 2022

On Sunday, November 14, 1909, a stubborn anticyclone settled in to dominate the weather pattern over the West of Scotland and Northern Ireland over the following week. On Monday morning, November 15, the weather forecast for Glasgow predicted light to moderate north-easterly breezes; cloudy to fair or fair, with local rain, hail, or sleet, nothing particularly out of the ordinary for mid-November. It was a cold morning, and inland there was widespread frost. The Campbeltown steamer Kinloch sailed from the Kintyre port at 3:30 p.m. for Carradale, Pirnmill, Lochranza, Gourock, Greenock, and Glasgow. There was only one steamer on the service at this time of the year, and she was expected to return from Glasgow the following morning at 6 a.m., connecting with the 7:55 am. train from St Enoch at Prince’s Pier and with the 8:35 a.m. train from Central at Gourock Quay. On her inward journey...

Captain William Buchanan’s Eagle

on Mar 10, 2022

There can be few steamers that are so completely associated with an individual owner as Captain William Buchanan’s Eagle of 1864. The ship was the second of the name with Buchanan associations. The first Eagle, built in 1852 by Messrs Denny at Dumbarton for the Glasgow and Rothesay service they had inherited from the Messrs Burns when they disposed of their Clyde fleet, was purchased the following year by Messrs Alexander Williamson, William Buchanan and John Cook. Captain Buchanan thus had his first command of a river steamer. The partnership broke up in 1862 when Captain Buchanan, John Cook and James Davie purchased the steamer and the following year sold her as a blockade runner, earning a considerable premium on the sale that allowed them to order a new vessel. The new vessel, larger and more powerful than the first, was launched in April 1860, and through the following weeks, her...

Nationalization

on Feb 9, 2022

For a small boy, one of the treats when going for a sail on the Clyde or a holiday visit on the Firth in the 1950s was to go to the steamer shop or stationery shop when ashore and, after much deliberation, choose a postcard depicting a favourite steamer of the day. Particularly prized were the photographic cards produced by Messrs W. Ralston, Ltd., the premier marine photographers who were renowned for their images of ships on trials. Their series of cards of Clyde Steamers covered most of the important members of the fleet. With the exception of the MacBrayne vessels, the uniform buff, black-topped funnels of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd., gave the impression that this was standard for a passenger steamer, but careful attention to the photographs gave glimpses of a more colourful age that preceded the utilitarian post-war decade. This article is mostly pictorial in nature. The...

Excursions from Ayr

on Aug 14, 2021

In the summer of 1906, a well-to-do family took a house in Ayr, the town of “honest men and bonnie lasses”. There was at least one of the family with an interest in photography and this article highlights the results of the various activities and excursions undertaken that were contained in an old photograph album. None of the photographs is captioned and so what follows is a best attempt to describe the routes and the scenes. Many of the excursions were by sea, in the Ayr excursion steamer, Juno, built in 1898 by Messrs John Brown & Co., at Clydebank. The “big, beamy, beautiful Juno” was larger and more heavily built than most of the contemporary Clyde railway steamers and was ideal for excursions from the lower Firth. While few of the photographs show steamships, they do provide an interesting perspective of the scenes viewed from on board. Consequently, photographs from the...

Gourock Railway Pier

on Jun 18, 2021

In 1865, the Caledonian Railway Company purchased the harbour and pier at Gourock. The move anticipated the changes taking place as their main rival, the Glasgow and South Western Railway company sought access to the coast at Albert Harbour in Greenock through the proposed Greenock and Ayrshire Railway, that also provided a route to Greenock from Glasgow. The Greenock Railway, taken over by the Caledonian in 1851, had long enjoyed a monopoly of access to the coast and had built up connecting services to the coast towns and resorts with the private steamboat owners. This monopoly was threatened, not only by the Glasgow and South Western Railway, but also by the North British Railway, on the cusp of the opening of the Helensburgh line providing access to the coast on the north bank of the Clyde, and the Wemyss Bay Railway, offering services provided by the Caledonian itself. The...

Mambeg Pier

on Jun 4, 2021

In the Glasgow Herald of October 2, 1857, an advert announced: “Feuing on the Roseneath Estate.—The new pier at Mambeg, on the Gareloch, is now open to the public. The ground on either side affords some very desirable sites for villas. For particulars, apply to James Dalgleish, Esq., W. S. Edinburgh; or Smith & Wharrie, Surveyors, 54 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. Duncan Campbell at Mambeg Farm, will give all local information.” The pier was about equidistant from Garelochhead and the hamlet of Rahane where there was a ferry across the loch to Shandon, but the proximity of the pier was not well populated. A number of villas were built and advertised for summer lets but the pier remained in a fairly isolated spot. Despite limited local trade, the pier was popular with excursionist parties such a Sunday-school trips with ready access to suitable fields for picnics and games. The beauty...