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...

With the outrageous incidents on the Sunday steamers in the late 1870s, the Church Courts and others sensed they had the upper hand in public opinion and pressed the Lord Advocate to move on the issue in the new decade. The wheels of justice, however, move slowly. “The Sunday steamer.—following memorial from the Sabbath Observance Committees of the United Presbyterian and Free Church Presbyteries of Glasgow has been sent to the Lord-Advocate about the sailing of pleasure steamers on the Sundays, licensed to sell intoxicating drink:— “To the Right Honourable the Lord-Advocate for Scotland.—The respectful memorial of the Glasgow United Presbyterian and Free Church Presbyterial Committees on Sabbath Sanctification. Humbly sheweth,—That your memorialists believe that all men everywhere are required by Divine law to ‘remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy’—that observance of this Divine...

This essay on the Sunday breakers of the mid-Victorian era is a continuation of a previous posting. The photograph by George Washington Wilson below shows the Broomielaw in the late 1870s and gives a good flavor of the steamers then on the river. In the centre of the photograph is the white-funneled, Holy Loch steamer Benmore canting with ropes stretching across the river. Further down river on the left is the two-funneled Hero, and the smaller Balmoral on the right. Directly behind Balmoral can be seen the two-funneled Sunday breaker, Dunoon Castle, bow-in to the quay in front of the Royal Route saloon steamer Iona. Astern of the Iona at the quay is the Ayr saloon steamer Bonnie Doon with the Rothesay and Kyles of Bute steamers Athole, Sultana, Viceroy, in that order progressing upstream, and finally the white funnel of the Holy Loch steamer, Vesta. Only one of the steamers, Dunoon...

This essay is a continuation of a previous series on Sunday breakers in the mid-Victorian era and it covers the introduction of the steamer Dunoon Castle to the trade in 1874. The demise of the Petrel at the end of 1873 would seem to have left the Clyde with the slow Kingstown alone sailing to Gourock on Sundays. In fact Mr. Henry Sharp had procured a new steamer was for the principal Sunday sailings in 1874. The Dunoon Castle was built as recently as 1867 for the Dunoon and Rothesay Carriers by Messrs Thomas Wingate & Co., of Whiteinch, Glasgow. Her dimensions were 192 feet in length by 18 in breadth with a depth of 7½ feet and at 170 tons gross she was slightly larger than the Petrel. When built she was distinctly old-fashioned in looks, with her funnel aft of the paddle-boxes, but had proved to be reliable. She had passed through other hands before coming to Mr Sharp, but had...

This is the first in a series of essays on the steamers that sailed on Sundays in the mid-Victorian era. Early developments on Sunday sailing were recounted in essays in 2015 featuring the Emperor and the Battle of Garelochhead and the addition of more Sunday steamers into the business. This essay takes over the story starting in 1860. The first photograph is the wonderful view of the Broomielaw in 1856 and gives a good idea of the steamers of the day. Two of the steamers featured in this article are depicted. The Petrel is the two-funneled vessel with narrow white bands in the center of the photograph and the Cardiff Castle is one of the steamers on the opposite bank, with a single black funnel and narrow white band.   The advent of Sunday sailing for pleasure on the Clyde with the Emperor in 1853 was not well received by the Established Church, and more particularly, the Free Church,...