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...

Cleaning the Clyde

on Feb 11, 2017

The rapid growth of industry and population that occurred in Glasgow in the mid-Victorian years had a devastating effect on the river Clyde. The infrastructure for handling industrial and human waste was limited to gravitation, ending in the river, and the river itself became an open sewer. The problem was studied throughout the 1850s and 1860s but it was a major Parliamentary report by Sir John Hawkshaw in 1876 that focused attention on potentially workable solutions. At the time, Glasgow had a new supply of excellent water from Loch Katrine that supplied 36 million gallons of water annually. Hawkshaw suggested a new system of intercepting sewers that would convey effluent to areas on the margins of the city where it could be treated. There was a suitable location on both sides of the Clyde below Whiteinch where the effluent could be treated with alum, lime and charcoal to precipitate...

Loch Awe

on Feb 3, 2017

A letter to the editor of the Morning Journal on September 9, 1858 was headed— “Loch Awe and Steamboat Proprietors” “Sir,—Loch-Awe, as I understand, is the longest fresh-water loch in Scotland; in extent is ‘about thirty miles long, and from one to two broad.’ It starts at the south end, about eight miles north of the west end of the Crinan Canal, and then runs in a northerly direction—through a sequestered district, rich in beautiful scenery—until it reches Glenorchy at the north, at a point leading northeasterly by way of Tyndrum and Taymouth; west by Bonawe and Oban; and east by Tyndrum and Lochlomond. Loch Awe at present—so far as a public conveyance or coach is concerned—can only be reached in the summer months, by coach from Inverary via Kilchrennan (i.e., crossing Loch-Awe about twelve miles from the north end of the loch), and then passing on by Bonawe to Oban. In summer there...

Firth of Clyde Steam Packet Co. Ltd.

on Jan 15, 2017

The history of the steamer Ivanhoe has featured in earlier articles, up to the point when she was laid up in 1906 by the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd. As the new century progressed, the pollution that characterized the upper Clyde began to be ameliorated and there was renewed interest in sailing from the heart of Glasgow. Shipyards on the Clyde were also experiencing full order books and sailing “doon the water” allowed the denizens of the city to see the latest developments that would make the Clyde known throughout the world. It was to accommodate this need that Captain Cameron brought out the Meg Merrilies and the Lady Rowena, and in 1911, the Ivanhoe was brought out of retirement. Ivanhoe in her 1911 color scheme The Firth of Clyde Steam Packet Co. Ltd. was registered on 16th February 1911 with a nominal capital of £6,000 and purchased, for £4,000 from the Caledonian...

John Williamson’s Up-river Revival

on Jan 15, 2017

In 1900, the Glasgow, Rothesay, and Kyles of Bute Steamers of John Williamson provided a summer service to Campbeltown in connection with the Glasgow and Southwestern Railway Co. with their newer vessel, Strathmore, and maintained the year-round Rothesay and Kyles of Bute connection with their veteran, Benmore. The introduction of the turbine steamer, King Edward, the following year, relieved Strathmore except at the very beginning and end of the season, and allowed Williamson to develop the Rothesay trade. This article covers the development of this trade in the years leading up to the first world war. Strathmore leaving Rothesay Strathmore leaving Princes Pier Strathmore passing Scotstoun Benmore passing Scotstoun on her way down river (Robertson, Glasgow) Glasgow Herald, June 20, 1901 Strathmore passing the cruiser Cumberland at Govan Strathmore waiting for her afternoon departure...

Steamers on Loch Tay

on Jan 8, 2017

The possibility of a steamboat service on Loch Tay, one of the natural passages between the east and west highlands, was first broached in 1855, at a time when road communications in the west were developing to expand the tourist trade. “At last, steam will flutter its pennon across the base of Ben Lawer—a company having arranged to start a small steamer to ply on Loch Tay during the summer months. The vessel will be an iron one, and is being constructed in England; its parts, of course, requiring to be put together on the loch. It will perform two trips from either end of the lake in the day.”—Caledonian Mercury, Thursday May 3, 1855 Loch Tay Although the promise of a steamboat on Loch Tay as well as one on Lochearn was mentioned in the following year in connection with coach service between Crieff and Killin, it did not make an appearance. Almost a quarter century passed before...