Nationalization

on Feb 9, 2022

For a small boy, one of the treats when going for a sail on the Clyde or a holiday visit on the Firth in the 1950s was to go to the steamer shop or stationery shop when ashore and, after much deliberation, choose a postcard depicting a favourite steamer of the day. Particularly prized were the photographic cards produced by Messrs W. Ralston, Ltd., the premier marine photographers who were renowned for their images of ships on trials. Their series of cards of Clyde Steamers covered most of the important members of the fleet. With the exception of the MacBrayne vessels, the uniform buff, black-topped funnels of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd., gave the impression that this was standard for a passenger steamer, but careful attention to the photographs gave glimpses of a more colourful age that preceded the utilitarian post-war decade. This article is mostly pictorial in nature. The...

Sailing to Islay

on Feb 13, 2016

Sailings by steamboat from West Loch Tarbert to the Highlands and Islands began with the Maid of Islay in the 1820s. The route became an established connection with the Castle Company and subsequently Messrs Hutcheson and their successor Messrs Macbrayne. The West Loch towards its head was shallow and consequently the steamers serving the Islay and Jura routes were paddle steamers.  By the middle of the 1880s, Messrs Macbrayne were using the Fingal of 1877, sailing to Islay. Fingal at West Loch Tarbert There were complaints about Fingal on the service and in 1890, the veteran Glencoe was placed on the route until replaced by Pioneer in 1905. Glencoe at West Loch Tarbert Glencoe at Port Ellen, Islay, with the puffer Elizabeth Messrs Macbraynes also provided an alternative sea route to Islay using the two-funneled Islay, purchased second-hand as Princess Louise from the Stranraer and...

Sailing Out of Oban with Pioneer and Mountaineer

on Jun 10, 2015

The naturally sheltered waters of Oban Bay, enclosed by the Island of Kerrera to the south and west and farther off, the Islands of Mull and Lismore to the north attracted the earliest steamboats on the West of Scotland trade. The quay at Oban was a low stone built affair and by the middle of the nineteenth century was proving inadequate for the traffic and the expansion of the tourist trade. Around 1848, a ship, the B.C. Bailey, foundered off Lismore at Kilcheran, and the wreck was brought into Oban Bay and lay at the quay for a time until it was built over to form the North Pier. In the first of the old photographs, the outline of the hull can be seen below the pier construction. Oban in the 1850s In the second photograph, the pier is a little more advanced and there are some buildings upon it. The third photograph is from a different angle and shows the corner of the bay. Oban...