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...

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...

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...