The trials and tribulations of the Largs and Millport Union Steam Boat Company have been related up until the close of 1856. At that point, the company had a fleet consisting of the new Jupiter, the Venus and Vesta that were relatively new, the Star that was ageing but strongly built, and two of the original steamers of the company, Lady Brisbane, and Lady Kelburne, both strongly built but more than 10 years old. Alexander M‘Kellar was now the leading light, and was master of the Jupiter. The two-funnelled steamers Jupiter and Venus were most commonly to be found on the Arran Service, the Star and the Lady Kelburne, generally on the Ardrossan and Ayr route, and Lady Brisbane and Vesta serviced Largs and Millport, with the latter catering to excursion traffic. Lady Brisbane and Lady Kelburne in 1845 It was in 1854 that the company first experienced serious competition for the summer...

The Diamond was a steamer that appeared on the Glasgow to Arran route in the summer of 1857, and the mystery was that she is recorded as having been built in 1853 by Messrs James Henderson at Renfrew. There is no record of a steamer named Diamond building on the Clyde that year, and so it seems likely that she was built under a different name. What was the name of the steamer? What had happened to her in the interim? Why was the name changed? The oft reported answer to these questions owes its provenance to a letter in the Glasgow Herald in the summer of 1897 that states “I am in possession of a list made out in 1856 or 1857 by a relative officially then connected with the shipping of the port.  According to that list, the following river steamers had within the previous year or two left the river:—Mars, Invincible, Merlin, Reindeer, Baron (came back as Diamond in 1857), Dunrobin...

This the third in a series of essays on the Largs steamer route; the first two cover the early days, and the rise of the M‘Kellar family to prominence. This essay covers the early 1850s, a relatively brief time period, but an important one, bridging the transition in leadership from Captain Duncan M‘Kellar to his son Alexander. In 1846, the Largs and Millport Union Steam Boat Company was formed from two rival companies, one headed by Captain Duncan M‘Kellar with the steamers Invincible and Mars, and the other that had been headed by Captain William Young with the steamers Lady Kelburne and Lady Brisbane. The amalgamation was facilitated by the retirement of Captain Young from the business in 1845, and the uninsured loss of his steamer the Countess of Eglinton that year. The four steamers were under the management of Mr Langlands, with Mr Thomas Seath as company clerk. Sailing both...

When the Glasgow & South-Western Railway received Parliamentary approval to own a fleet of steamers in the summer of 1891, one of the steamers it purchased was the Chancellor, thereby gaining goodwill and access to the Loch Lomond tour. Chancellor had been built at Dumbarton in 1880 for the Lochlomond & Lochlong Steamboat Co., to provide the Clyde portion of the Loch Lomond tour. In 1885, she had passed to the Lochgoil & Lochlong Co., and thence to the G. & S.-W. Railway. Chancellor was equipped with deck saloons, and served the railway company well for a decade, but she was out of date in the efficiency, speed, and passenger comforts expected for a tourist steamer in the new century. She was sold to Spanish owners in 1901, and the G. & S.-W. Railway solicited tenders for a steamer, capable of 16 knots and dimensions roughly those of the year-round boats Minerva and...

The Dalmadan website has been ongoing for 10 years now, a fact that amazes me. I have managed to post at least once a month over that time, and admit that some of the material would have fared better with more time and better editing and I hope to do better in future. I have greatly enjoyed the input from comments, pointing to errors, adding to the subject matter, and suggesting new areas for research. I plan to continue writing about the Clyde and its ships and resorts, mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but I also want to contribute a few more articles on the Vale of Leven. I was born and brought up in the Vale of Leven in the 1950s and 60s, a time when the towns and villages had changed very little for half a century. It was a privilege to be able to talk to older generations who could embellish the history of familiar buildings and places. It was a simple matter to relate...

This is the third article on Rothesay and deals with the west end of the town, Argyll Place, and Ardbeg. An early view of the west end of the town in the 1870s. The rocky area in the foreground was the location of the Gallows Rock. The esplanade is in the course of construction along the west side of the bay towards Ardbeg Another view of the west side of the bay during the construction of the esplanade Ardbeg from Chapel Hill The previous shot was likely taken from around the old Rothesay Academy building that dominates the sky-line The west end of Rothesay Bay also had its boat hirers Boat Hirers The sandy shore on the corner of the bay was a safe place for children to enjoy the water Children’s corner looking to the pier Children’s corner around 1910. In the background, just before Skeoch Woods there was a Floating Waterchute that attracted some attention The Floating...