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...

Herald and Gael

on Jan 25, 2018

This article highlights some of the opposition to the Campbeltown and Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Company’s near monopoly of the Campbeltown route in the latter half of the 1800s. In the earlier part of the century, Campbeltown was served by this locally owned company from 1826 and the centenary history is presented in another article. In addition, in those early years, the Londonderry steamers regularly called at Campbeltown and picked up some of the trade, but gradually this connection was withdrawn. It was in the aftermath of the American Civil War with Clyde shipyards, now expert in building fast, sturdy coastal craft, that excess capacity meant prices for new ships began to drop and Messrs Little & Co., with a long history in coastal trading, began a new enterprise in 1866, placing a fast paddle steamer, Herald, on the route from Glasgow and Greenock to Campbeltown....

Turbine Steamers Ltd. 1919-1935

on Apr 4, 2017

In World War I, many of the Clyde steamers were called up for Admiralty service, and after the Armistice, it took the fleet many months to return to some semblance of normal peacetime duties. Mr John Williamson was manager of the Turbine fleet that sailed to Campbeltown and Inveraray with the pioneer turbine of 1901, King Edward, and Queen Alexandra, built in 1912 to replace the steamers of the same name. Both steamers had been requisitioned to carry troops across the English Channel and their return was anticipated in 1919. Queen Alexandra required little renovation after the war and she resumed service to Campbeltown at the end of June 1919. Queen Alexandra (Robertson) King Edward (Robertson) However, King Edward was not released until the end of 1919. Both were available in 1920 when Queen Alexandra was placed on the Inveraray route and King Edward sailed to Campbeltown, switching...

Aerial Views of the Clyde

on Mar 4, 2017

Photographs of the Clyde Harbours and Resorts taken from the air and made into postcards have always been popular. They are an easy way of showing where you stay whether all-year-round, or on holiday. The earliest photographs of the Clyde that were released commercially appear to have been the work of an Edinburgh Company in the years shortly after the First World War, around 1920 or 1921. They are generally marked Aerial Photos Ltd., Edinburgh. They include a good selection of the Cowal Coast, including Dunoon, Rothesay and surrounding areas in Bute, and coastal towns in the Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. The photographs are oblique, taken at an angle, rather than the vertical stereo-pairs associated with mapping of later years. Quite a few show some of the steamers of the day. It is not clear what aircraft were used to obtain these photographs. Hunter’s Quay and the...

Captain Williamson and the Turbine Syndicate

on Nov 25, 2016

When the experimental turbine-powered steamship Turbinia created a sensation when she sped between the lines of warships at the Spithead Naval Review in June 1897. As a means of propulsion, the turbine had arrived and the initial commercialization fell to a syndicate composed of the Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company of Wallasey-on-Tyne, who supplied the turbines, William Denny and Brothers, who built the hull and boilers and finished the ship, and Captain John Williamson who had a need for a speedy craft for the service he provided to the distant Campbeltown in connection with the Glasgow and Southwestern Railway. King Edward on trials (Adamson) King Edward Dining Room (Turbine Steamers) King Edward Social Hall Lounge (Turbine Steamers) The King Edward was launched at Dumbarton on May 16, 1901, by Mrs, Parsons, wife of Hon. Charles A. Parsons. She was 250 ft long and 30 ft in...

Campbeltown Steamboat Company

on Oct 16, 2016

The Campbeltown and Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Coy. Ltd., had a long history, stretching back to 1826. Rather than writing a separate account, I have chosen to use the company history that was published for the centenary in 1927 and illustrate it with some of the original illustrations augmented with some photographic material of my own. The Campbeltown route by the west coast of Arran has a special place in my family’s history. My mother was brought up in Tangy, just north of Campbeltown, and later removed to High Dougarie farm on the west coast of Arran. The family travelled often on the Campbeltown steamers. The steamers were particularly handsome with their well recognized funnel-coloring: black-red-black. With black hulls and pink water-line, they presented an attractive picture, particularly the yacht like Kintyre and Kinloch. Funnel colors and houseflag The period...