Carrick Castle Pier

on Mar 19, 2020

The picturesque ruin of Carrick Castle at the mouth of Loch Goil has attracted visitors over the years. Hugh Macdonald in his classic book on the Clyde published in 1857, Days at the Coast, mentions the grandeur of the surroundings and the antiquity of the site. The photograph below by Annan of Glasgow comes from an edition of his book from 1868. “As the good steamer continues to churn her way, a gentler and a more interesting picture floats into our ken. On the left, we find the mountains standing apart as it were, and leaving a sort of tiny valley with a few level acres of green in its breast, and a picturesque old castle projecting into the margin of the loch. This is Carrick Castle, an ancient seat of the Dunmore family, but which, according to one tradition, was erected by the Danes, and by another, by Robert the Bruce, when he was Earl of Carrick. We suspectthe latter supposition...

Southbank Grouping and Tartan Lums

on May 21, 2017

The Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd. had all of its steamships called up for duty in World War I and had to rely on chartered vessels for much of the emergency. As with the other companies that had steamers serving, most of those that had survived the dangerous war time duties returned in dribs and drabs during 1919. Two of the steamers, Duchess of Hamilton and Duchess of Montrose, had been lost while minesweeping during the war. At the beginning of April, Duchess of Fife returned to the Clyde, followed a few days later by Caledonia, damaged badly in a collision with a freighter on the Seine. In the last week of the month, Duchess of Rothesay arrived and a few days later, the turbine Duchess of Argyll, while Marchioness of Breadalbane appeared on the first of May. The remaining unit of the fleet, Marchioness of Lorne, did not return until 1921 and was laid up in Bowling Harbour for a...

Caledonian and Southwestern Advances

on Aug 28, 2016

By 1894, the resurgence of the Glasgow & Southwestern Railway connections had eclipsed the efforts of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. at Gourock to dominate the Clyde Coast trade. A new station edifice at Princes Pier was nearing completion and the fleet of modern steamers, well designed for the routes that they supported, were quickly supplanting the steamers initially purchased from the Turkish Fleet. That year, Neptune was placed on the popular Arran by way of Rothesay service from Princes Pier, taking over the route from Buchanan’s Isle of Arran. By sailing on the outward leg through the Kyles and returning by Garroch Head, she was in direct opposition to James Williamson’s Ivanhoe. The route also provided a circular tour to Arran where passengers could return by the Glen Sannox to Ardrossan. Neptune in Rothesay Bay (McGregor, Kilmarnock) Early in the year, Captain James...

Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd.

on May 7, 2016

The opening of Princes Pier in 1870 for the Greenock and Ayrshire Railway Co. had signaled a downturn on the coast traffic carried by the Caledonian Railway Co. to Greenock Central with its remote and inconvenient approach to Greenock Quay. The situation was exacerbated when the Greenock and Ayrshire was absorbed into the Glasgow and South Western Railway Co. in 1872. While most steamers called at both Greenock Piers, the bulk of the traffic used the South Western route and with fast steamers such as Messrs Williamson’s Sultana on the station, the express services could even compete on the Rothesay station with the shorter crossing from Wemyss Bay. A plan to extend the Caledonian Railway further down the coast to Gourock was floated in 1877 but the proposal was rejected after opposition from the Greenock Harbour Trust. The North British Steam Packet Co. route through Craigendoran...