Motor Yachts on the Clyde

on Jan 10, 2015

In the 1860s, a boat yard was built at the mouth of the burn at Rosneath on the Gareloch by Archibald McKellar. In May 1909, the yard was purchased by James Silver, a local man who had served his apprenticeship in the yard, and a yacht designer, John McCallum, and they set about building yachts of high quality. The business failed in 1914 and was taken over by Ferguson and Thompson, Ltd., of Glasgow who retained James Silver as manager and continued the business under the name of James A. Silver, Ltd. A new designer, John Bain, arrived at the yard and became the yard manager when James Silver left in 1916. The firm developed a reputation for the production of high quality motor yachts at Rosneath in the 1920s and 1930s. Their designs and their methods are well documented in the publication “Motor Yacht Building” by John Bain that was published in the late 1930s. The firm closed its...

Dumbarton Steamboats

on Dec 9, 2014

The Dumbarton Steamboat Company was one of the earliest steamboat companies in the world and in its different reincarnations lasted for almost a century. It served the traffic between the town of Dumbarton and the city of Glasgow, was intimately involved in the lucrative tourist trade to Loch Lomond, and in doing so, took advantage of the oft disputed charters that allowed shipping registered at Dumbarton free access to the Glasgow harbour. This article is heavily based on a summary of the sederunt book of the company that is presented in Thomson’s “Affairs of an Early Steamboat Company” (1932). Further details come from Hume and Moss’ “A Bed of Nails,” and several of Donald MacLeod’s books; “God’s Acres of Dumbarton,” (1888), “Castle and Town of Dumbarton,” (1877), “Dunbarton Ancient and Modern,” (1892), and “Loch Lomond Steamboat Companies,” (1888). Additional information comes from...