Graham Brymner

on Oct 1, 2023

Graham Brymner was born on 27th January 1827 in Greenock, the son of Elizabeth (neé Fairlie) and Mr Alexander Brymner, who was the cashier in the Greenock Bank, and was at one time editor of the Greenock Intelligencer. Graham was educated at Greenock Grammar School and afterwards sought his fortune as a planter in the West Indies. On returning to Greenock in the 1840s, he took up office work, and then started a business with his elder brother, Douglas, who was at the time engaged as a shipping clerk. The firm of Messrs D. & G. Brymner were coal and lime merchants, with premises in East Quay Lane. The vessels they used were mainly wooden gabbarts or small schooners. The Alexander, presumably named after their father, was built for them by Messrs Scott & Sons, Greenock. The Mount Stuart was built by Messrs M‘Lea on the slip at Rothesay in 1855 and Strath Clutha the following year...

Wemyss Bay

on Jan 15, 2016

At the half-yearly meeting of the Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway Company on September 30, 1869, the Chairman remarked that the numbers of passengers using the route had dropped in the pervious period, as had passenger receipts but that he was pleased to report the arrangements had been completed with Captain Gillies and Mr Alexander Campbell to run services to Largs, Millport, and Rothesay, taking over from the Wemyss Bay Steamboat Company (Limited) which had withdrawn from the route. The opening of the Wemyss Bay Railway in 1865 running onto a new pier constructed in the shelter of Wemyss Bay promised a new fast route to Rothesay, Largs and Millport. Indeed the M‘Kellar fleet that had dominated the Largs, Millport and Arran trade for almost thirty years had received no new investment since the railway had been announced and quickly went out of business. Largs at Rothesay with Iona...

To Rothesay

on Oct 4, 2015

After almost a decade in a partnership with Captain William Buchanan when they owned the Eagle steamer on the Rothesay route from Glasgow, Captain Alexander Williamson purchased the Sultan steamer in 1862 and set up on his own account. The Sultan had been built the previous year by Messrs Barclay Curle & Co. for Alexander M‘Kellar’s Holy Loch service and had a good reputation for speed and being an easy boat to handle at piers. Captain Williamson sailed her on the Rothesay station, calling at Hunter’s Quay and Greenock to make a connection with the Caledonian Railway. In her first season, Sultan left Rothesay at 7:40 a.m. to meet the 9:15 a.m. up train for Glasgow at Greenock, and then proceeded to the Broomielaw from where she departed on her return to Rothesay at 2:00 p.m. with a rail connection at Greenock leaving Glasgow at 3:00 p.m. Overnight her base was at Kamesburgh or Port...