Corrie Ferry

on Dec 21, 2022

A few miles north of Brodick on the Island of Arran is the village of Corrie. Strung out along the rocky coast with no natural bay but there are natural inlets where at one point a jetty and at another, a quay, provide some shelter for fishing boats and trading craft. For many years there was a trade in lime from mines in the vicinity. The village is particularly picturesque and early attracted visitors as the most direct route for ascending Goat Fell, the tallest peak in the Arran mountains. The early steamboats to the Island, belonging to the Castle Company in the 1820s, sailed from Glasgow and Rothesay for Brodick and Lamlash and would have passed along the shoreline close to the village. It seems likely that passengers for Corrie would have been landed there by ferry, either from the ship’s boat or from a wherry setting out from the shore. Like the rest of the Island, the village...

Port Bannatyne

on Nov 17, 2022

Kames Bay in Bute, and its associated Castle, appear early in the written history of Bute, coming into the ownership of the Bannatyne family before the fifteenth century. In the late eighteenth century, James Bannatyne is recorded to have been laird with a benevolent attitude to his tenants, but doing little to improve the estate beyond the planting of trees. He died in 1786, unmarried, and the estate passed to his nephew, William MacLeod, an advocate in Edinburgh, who became Lord Advocate in 1799. William took a more active interest in the estate and improved the roads through statute labour, and also, in 1801, built a stone quay. However, William, or Lord Bannatyne as he was called, was living beyond his means, and in 1810 the estate was sold to James Hamilton, another Edinburgh advocate, who began selling off many of the assets. James Hamilton died in 1849 and in 1854, his son, Rev....

Sailing on Loch Katrine

on Sep 25, 2022

In the mid-1820s, a traveller climber to the top of Ben Lomond on a September morning to view the sunrise over Loch Lomond, and there met an old highlander. The old man said he had been a guide for the north side of the mountain for forty years but that he would soon go and live with his daughter and her husband near Aberfoyle and give up his outdoor life. Over the years, he explained, he had made a living from tourists “but that Walter Scott, that every body makes such work about; I wish I had him to ferry over Loch Lomond; I should be after sinking the boat if I drowned myself into the bargain; for ever since he wrote his “Lady of the Lake,” as they call it, every body goes to see that filthy hole, Loch Catrine, then comes round by Luss, and I have had only two gentlemen to guide all this blessed season, which is now at an end. I shall never see the top of Ben Lomond again. The devil...

Three turbine steamers

on Aug 18, 2022

Another day on Bute, this time featuring three turbine steamers photographed on colour transparency film. I don’t know whether this was 1951 or perhaps 1952, but the photographs feature the Clyde in the early post World War II days of British Railways and David MacBrayne steamers, before motor vessels began to displace them. The first picture is the turbine steamer, the Marchioness of Graham, one of the three turbine steamers photographed that day. She looks well as she approaches Rothesay, perhaps on an excursion from Ayr. Marchioness of Graham The sequence continues on the way from Rothesay, showing yachts anchored in Port Bannatyne Bay. A peaceful scene The destination, Rhubodach, in reached with a view of a yacht sailing down the Kyles in light winds. Sailing in the Kyles The Rhubodach-Colintravie ferry, is on the Bute shore loading a Meikle and M‘Kellar removal van and a car....

A few days on Bute

on Aug 9, 2022

It is not often that I find a collection of photographs that gives insight into a visit of two or three days to a single location where Clyde Steamers play an important part of the views. In this case, a small collection from a trip to Bute around 1951, mainly featuring Rothesay Pier, where the comings and goings of the daily traffic provide a fascinating picture of the Clyde a year or so before the advent of motor vessels. Saint Columba in Rothesay Bay on her way to Ardrishaig Gingerly approaching Rothesay Pier. This was originally captioned as leaving the pier by as Jim Galt has nicely pointed out it is taken from Albert Pier and he provided the reason for the slow approach Saint Columba at Rothesay Pier At Rhubodach where the bell has summoned the ferry and a motor yacht passes Saint Columba passing up the Kyles Back at Rothesay Pier, Jupiter disgorges her passengers More visitors...

Lochlomond Steamboat Company—Early Years

on Jul 19, 2022

The Lochlomond Steamboat Company formed from an amalgamation of the New Lochlomond Steamboat Company, owners of the steamer Water Witch, and the assets of Messers Napier and M‘Murrich, owners of the steamer Lochlomond, in 1845. The agreement between the companies is presented below. It was drawn up in 1844 but the legal issues to obtain agreement with all the parties took several months. The basic agreement split the 80 shares of the new company equally between the original owners of the Water Witch (40 shares) and Messers Napier (20 shares) and M‘Murrich (20 shares). John M‘Murrich was in ill-health and 15 of his shares were sold to three new shareholders Duncan Mitchell (5 shares), James M‘Kinlay (5 shares), and William M‘Niven (5 shares). This also diluted the power of the Napier faction. Much of the information quoted comes from “Lochlomond Steamboat Companies,” by Donald Macleod...