David Napier and the Belfast trade

on May 28, 2019

Most of what is known of the career of Mr. David Napier, the eminent engineer responsible for many of the early advances in the application of steam to navigation on the Clyde and around the coasts of Great Britain, comes from his autobiographical memoir and the associated biographical notes published in 1912. It would appear that Napier was setting down these memoirs around 1860 when he was resident in Worcester, and at that time he engaged in a letter-writing campaign with the newspapers in Glasgow and Greenock. In a few essays, it is my aim to document the impact that Mr. Napier had on the steamboat traffic on the Clyde and on Loch Lomond. In this first part, the early years of Napier’s career as an engineer and steam-ship owner are covered, with an emphasis on the cross-channel shipping that initially brought him to the public’s attention. David Napier was born on October 29, 1790...

Glenfinart

on Apr 26, 2019

The steam coaster Glenfinart was built by Messrs Burrell & Son in 1892 at their Hamilton Hill yard on the Glasgow extension of the Forth and Clyde Canal. As befits a puffer, for that is what she was, her dimensions conformed to the necessities of the locks on the canal, 65.6 ft length by 17.4 ft breadth and 6 ft depth, 52.47 tons gross and 31.46 net. She was constructed of steel and had a compound, direct-acting vertical engine supplied by Messrs Walker, Henderson & Co., Ltd., Glasgow, that was rated at 10 h.p., driving her single screw. Glenfinart around 1900 at Blairmore with Caledonia Her first owner was Robert Muir of Ardentinny, one of a family of fishermen who were about to embark on an adventure in the coasting trade. The name of the vessel was an appropriate one as Glenfinart House and the associated estate were adjacent to Ardentinny on the shores of Loch Long....

Duchess of Montrose (1930)

on Mar 16, 2019

The addition of the Duchess of Montrose to the L.M.S. fleet in 1930 was a successful attempt to improve facilities for cruising on the Clyde. The previous addition to the fleet, Glen Sannox, was based on the model of the Duchess of Argyll, built in 1906, and although the builders, Messrs William Denny and Sons, had provided high-pressure geared-turbine propulsion machinery for the King George V, the L.M.S. returned to the lower-pressure direct-drive turbine model for the new vessel. However, rather than a copy of the Glen Sannox, the accommodation and facilities were much more up-to-date, and for the first time, the ship was designed for one-class of passenger, giving much more flexibility for the comfort of passengers. “New Clyde turbine launched.—On Saturday the new triple-screw steamer Duchess of Montrose was successfully launched by William Denny & Brothers (Ltd.), Dumbarton....

MacBrayne’s Comet

on Feb 21, 2019

The twin-screw motor vessel Win was built on the Thames by Messrs A. W. Robertson & Co. in 1905. She was just 65 feet long and 14 feet in the beam, 43 tons, and was powered by two 4-cylinder paraffin motors. In 1907, Messrs MacBrayne acquired the little craft and renamed her Comet. For the next ten years she was employed on Loch Leven and the Caledonian Canal. In 1917, Comet was transferred to the Clyde and became the Lochgoil Mail Steamer sailing from Greenock and Gourock to Lochgoilhead. The route by road to Lochgoilhead was difficult and the direct sailing was viewed as an essential lifeline for the villagers, especially over the winter months. Comet at Gourock (Robertson) Glasgow Corporation received the Ardgoil Estate as a gift from Mr A. Cameron Corbett in 1906. During the summers, Lochgoilhead was a popular destination for steamers that allowed the good folk of Glasgow...

Mr MacBrayne’s Gael

on Feb 15, 2019

The steamer Gael was built for the Campbeltown & Glasgow Steam Packet Company in 1869 by Messrs Robertson & Co. of Greenock. Her early history can be found in two articles on the Company and on the Herald, the competitor that led to the introduction of the large, powerful Gael. Although originally flush-decked, a deck saloon was added to Gael in 1879, but without competition for the Campbeltown traffic, the Gael was found expensive to run and was sold to the Great Western Railway in 1884. The Gael returned to Scottish waters when Mr. MacBrayne purchased her in 1891 as one of a number of vessels that aided the expansion of their services to the outer isles and northwest coast. “Purchase of Greenock-built steamer. The paddle-steamer Gael, belonging to the Great Western Railway Company, has, it is stated, been purchased by Mr D. MacBrayne, who will utilise her on the outside Clyde...

The Upper Navigation

on Jan 24, 2019

Mr. Thomas Bollen Seath was well acquainted with Clyde shipping by the time he set up a shipbuilding concern at Meadowside in Partick in the middle of the 1850s. He had been associated with captain M‘Kellar’s Millport and Arran steamers for a number of years. His second ship was the Nelson, a small steamer that inherited the engines of the ill-fated Eclipse that was wrecked on the Gantocks. The third and last steamer he built at Partick was named the Artizan and it is about this vessel that this article first focuses. In 1856, Seath sold his yard at Meadowside and moved to a new location in Rutherglen, well above the weir on the Clyde that demarcated the extent of the harbour of Glasgow. There he planned to build ships of a size limited by the depth of the river and the tricky negotiation of the weir, something Messrs Seath & Co. accomplished with considerable success for almost...