The steam coaster Glenfinart was built by Messrs Burrell & Son in 1892 at their Hamilton Hill yard on the Glasgow extension of the Forth and Clyde Canal. As befits a puffer, for that is what she was, her dimensions conformed to the necessities of the locks on the canal, 65.6 ft length by 17.4 ft breadth and 6 ft depth, 52.47 tons gross and 31.46 net. She was constructed of steel and had a compound, direct-acting vertical engine supplied by Messrs Walker, Henderson & Co., Ltd., Glasgow, that was rated at 10 h.p., driving her single screw.
Glenfinart around 1900 at Blairmore with Caledonia
Her first owner was Robert Muir of Ardentinny, one of a family of fishermen who were about to embark on an adventure in the coasting trade. The name of the vessel was an appropriate one as Glenfinart House and the associated estate were adjacent to Ardentinny on the shores of Loch Long.
Ardentinny Bay and Glenfinart House
Glenfinart House
The Glenfinart sported the colours of the Glasgow and Lochgoil steamers with a black-topped red funnel and narrow bands of white-black-white. The Lochgoil company were regular callers at Ardentinny where there was a ferry but no pier.
The Lochgoil Company’s Windsor Castle at Ardentinny Ferry
Glenfinart at Ardentinny
The trade of the new coaster can be traced to some extent through the columns of the Glasgow Herald. Much of this came through Bowling Harbour which had limited cargo handling and presumably some of the cargo came from and to various locations on the Forth and Clyde Canal. In early August 1892, she was bound from Bowling to Strone with coal; in mid-September she had a cargo of wood from Lochfyne; and in mid-December was headed to Lochfyne with coal.
Not all the journeys are recorded, but it is interesting to see what cargoes she carried to different locations. In 1893 in mid-May she brought timber from Lochfyne; at the beginning of August it was to Campbeltown with bricks and return to Irvine; mid-September saw her back at Bowling with timber from Inveraray; and in early November she arrived at Bowling light from Glasgow to load coal for Arrochar.
In mid-March, 1894 she arrived at Bowling, light from Lochfyne and left a few days later with coal for Arrochar. Mid-April she was at Ayr with timber from Lochfyne and left a few days later, light for Irvine. In mid-May she had timber at Bowling from Lochfyne, in early June, she sailed from Bowling with coal for Carnban (sp) and in early July was back at Bowling with wood from Inveraray. In early September she arrived light at Bowling from Lochfyne and a week later had a cargo of timber at Bowling from Lochfyne. As the lochside communities prepared for winter, it was coal she carried outward from Bowling; in mid-October to Ardrishaig and in early and mid-November two trips to Lochgilphead.
Glenfinart at Inveraray in 1910 with upper-Lochfyne frozen. The St Catherine’s ferry, Fairy, and gabbart Orion are the other vessels.
The pattern is one of timber from Lochfyneside and coal to various locations around the Firth and sea lochs. In 1895 and 1896, there were several runs bringing timber to Irvine and Troon, and coal to Arrochar, Rothesay and Toward.
The puffer seems to have had a rather uneventful career. The following sequence of photographs dates from around 1921.
Glenfinart with Turbine Steamers Queen Alexandra at Inveraray (Spencer)
Glenfinart from Queen Alexandra at Inveraray (Spencer)
At Inveraray with passengers disembarking from the turbine steamer
In 1921, Robert Muir died, aged 91 and ownership of Glenfinart passed to Thomas Muir of Blairmore in 1924. Thereafter, she was sold to Samuel Watson of Greenock and broken up in 1925.
Glenfinart in her last season with the new King George V
R. A. Cage, “A Tramp Shipping Dynasty—Burrell & Son of Glasgow, 1850-1939,” Greenwood Press, Connecticut, 1997.