One Man’s Vision of Dunoon—Edward McGeachie

on Dec 28, 2014

From the 1900s to the early 1930s a photographer, Edward McGeachie, opened for business in Pier Road, Dunoon, N.B., and among his subjects were the steamers frequenting the Cowal coast. McGeachie’s studio was located on the Pier Esplanade and many local families used him for portraits. He also did commercial work with publicity materials for local hotels and produced a number of fine postcards of Dunoon and its immediate surroundings. He was particularly adept in selecting excellent compositions and his negatives were used extensively by other postcard manufacturers.   Dunoon Pier around 1927 with Kenilworth and Kylemore  Edward was born in Newton, Ayr in 1877 where his father, Peter, was manager of the Ayr Chemical Works. His mother Betsy (Galloway) came from Limekilns in Fife. Edward was educated at Newton Academy where he won the due medal for Mathematics and French. By 1901, he had...

Paisley Steamers

on Dec 24, 2014

On June 27, 1816, there was a notice in the Glasgow papers:— “We understand the Prince of Orange steamboat arrived at the quay of Paisley upon the evening of Tuesday last, and sailed next morning with passengers for Greenock and Gourock. This having been the first steamboat that had sailed up the Cart, a vast crowd assembled to witness her arrival at Paisley.” Steamboat sailings from Paisley are occasionally documented through the following years but it was in the 1830s that a regular service was introduced, leading to the first serious attempt to improve the Cart for navigation. David Napier brought out the little wooden paddle steamer Cupid in 1828. Her hull was constructed by John Wood’s yard and the 10 h.p. engine was built by Napier himself. Initially Cupid was placed on the Glasgow to Greenock and Kilmun station. However, at that time, railways were beginning to compete with the...

Laing’s Dunoon—1868

on Dec 13, 2014

In the mid-Victorian era, Thomas Laing ran a photographic studio at Dunoon midway between the Pier and the Argyll Hotel.  In addition to the usual personal and family portraits he took photographs of the town and its surrounding area.  A number of these photographic views were turned into engravings and published in Colegate’s Guide to Dunoon in 1868, helping to provide an approximate date for the material.  John Colegate was a bookseller and ran a library in Hafton Place.  Excerpts of his guide are included here to provide a context for the photographs. Laing’s Photographic Studio in the shadow of the Parish Church Advert for Laing’s in 1868 An early photograph of East Bay (Douglas, Edinburgh) In 1868, Dunoon was well equipped for visitors who were interested in sea bathing.  The list of Hotels is:—The Argyll (the principal hotel),—Mrs. Thomson, The Crown,—Mrs. Walker, The...

Daniel Adamson

on Dec 11, 2014

When, in 1862, the Dumbarton Steamboat Company sold their two-funneled Chancellor to run the blockade for the Confederates in the American Civil War, sailings to Arrochar were left in the hands of the Lochgoil Steamboat Company. The important tourist connections with the steamers on Loch Lomond at Tarbet were neglected and as a result, there was an opportunity for the Loch Lomond Company to provide its own steamboat to complete the popular circular tour. A new company was formed, the Loch Long Steam Boat Company, and the new Chancellor was ordered from Blackwood and Gordon. She was 171 tons with a length of 163 ft and breadth almost 19 ft and her single diagonal engine provided 80 hp, giving her a comfortable speed for the tourist traffic. She was designed as a saloon steamboat with deck saloons the full width of the hull and the alleyways created by carrying the sponsons from stem to...

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...

James Gallacher

on Dec 8, 2014

In the Post Office Directory for Glasgow for 1838-1839 there is an intriguing entry referring to a steamboat James Gallacher of 25 tons, listed as sailing to Dalmuir. Who was James Gallacher and why was there a steamboat carrying passengers to Dalmuir? To add to the intrigue, in “The Fouling and Corrosion of Iron Ships” (1867) by Charles F.T. Young, the James Gallacher is claimed to be none other than the Aglaia, built by David Napier in 1827 and reputed to be the first iron steamer. Young notes that Aglaia had an iron bottom, and wooden sides above water, and that her dimensions were; length, 62ft 8in; breadth, 13ft 0in; depth, 4ft 6in; gross tonnage, 49 and 36/94 tons. Is there really a connection between the Aglaia and the James Gallacher? In 1826 Napier had purchased the estate of Glenshellish at the north end of the Loch Eck and built Kilmun pier to which he ran his...