It seems hard to imagine that the Messrs David MacBrayne Ltd., so well known for maintaining veteran steamboats over the years, were early pioneers in the application of oil propulsion in the early 1900s. Their first acquisition was the Win in 1907, renamed the Comet and used initially in the Ballachulish to Kinlochleven service while the aluminium smelter was being built there. Win had been built in 1905 by Messrs Robertson of London and was just 43 tons. She was powered by two 4-cylinder paraffin engines supplied by Messrs Gardner of Manchester, each driving one of her twin screws. Her later career on the Clyde is recorded in a previous article. The second steamer was the Scout, built for the company at Troon by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., in 1907. At 100 tons, she was powered by two 4-cylinder paraffin engines by Messrs Griffin of Bath each driving one of her twin screws. The...

The emergence of the fishing village or Arrochar at the head of Loch Long as a tourist centre during the steam-boat era is almost entirely due to its proximity to Loch Lomond. David Napier, who pioneered sailing on Loch Lomond with the steamboat Marion in 1817 and recognized the attraction of a tour that encompassed both Loch Lomond and Loch Long with the introduction of the Rob Roy, the following year. However, the Rob Roy was used thereafter on the Belfast station, leaving connections at Arrochar in the hands of other operators. Glasgow Herald, July 20, 1818 The early Lochgoilhead steam-boats, Defiance of 1817 and her successor, the Tay of 1814, brought from Dundee in 1818, both doubtless visited Arrochar. Both vessels were withdrawn around 1919 for modifications, the former reappearing as Highland Lad and sailing to the west highlands and the latter in 1822 as the Oscar. In the...

After a disastrous year in 1927, the shipping empire of David MacBrayne was reorganized as David MacBrayne (1928) Ltd., becoming part of a combined Coast Lines  and L.M.S. Railway enterprise. Part of the reorganization involved the construction of four new vessels for the west highland and island trade, and the first of these, the steamer Lochness, entered service in 1929 and has been featured in a previous article on the Stornoway route. Following the steamship Lochness, the company ordered two motor sister ships from the Ardrossan Dockyard Company towards the end of 1929. The Lochearn was launched April 29, 1930, and her sister, Lochmor, launched two weeks later on May 15. The ships were relatively short at 156 feet in length by 29 feet in the beam and 9 ft depth. They were powered by a twin set of Gardiner motors generating 600 b.h.p. and driving two screws. It had been planned that...

Lochgoilhead has been the subject of a previous article where the ships of the Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Co., were featured. This current article is mainly pictorial and will focus on the variety of steamers that visited the pier from the 1850s till the 1950s. During that time period, Loch Goil lost its place as the principal route to Inveraray and the west by the combination of steamboats and coaches through Hell’s Glen. The Royal Route, by sea all the way to Tarbet and Ardrishaig introduced by the Messrs Hutcheson was ascendant, popularized by the visit of Queen Victoria in 1847. The old landing at Lochgoilhead had fallen into disrepair and a new pier was promised for 1850. “Arrochar and Lochgoilhead.—We are gratified to learnt that visitors to these favourite watering-places will, have ample steam accommodation afforded them next season. Arrangements have already been entered...

The pier on Lochgoil that is least well-known is Douglas Pier. Even the date on which it opened is obscure but must be sometime in the mid to late 1850s when the owner of the Glenfinart Estate, Major-General John Douglas, decided to open feuing on the Loch Goil shore a few miles from Lochgoilhead on the south side of the loch. Douglas had led the 11th Hussars in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. “Feuing at Lochgoil.—Of the various localities in the neighbourhood the Firth Clyde, which have of late been brought before the notice the public for feuing, we know of none more likely to become popular than the beautiful ground on the west shore of Lochgoil, belonging Mr Douglas of Glenfinart. The feuing plan of Lettermay shore, at the head of the Loch, is now completed, and the feus ready to be given off there, and on other finely situated parts of the Glenfinart shore....

A notable but much neglected aspect of the shipping that sailed on the Clyde is the variety of coastal sailing craft involved in commerce. Each area developed its own particular craft and the Clyde was no exception. I have used Robert Simper’s “Scottish Sail” and John Anderson’s “Coastwise Sail” to try to educate myself about this difficult subject but in no way can these sources be blamed for the errors that will appear in this little article. This is more a pictorial essay than an in-depth study but I have added what details I have gleaned from a variety of sources. Just as with steam-powered craft, the ships evolved over time with the introduction of new techniques in construction and use. The time frame of the current article stretches from the 1870s when photography became quite common to the 1920s when the sailing craft had largely disappeared. The working coastal sailing vessel...