By the summer of 1890, the Caledonian Steam Packet Company had established a strong position in capturing the bulk of the daily traffic to the Clyde coast. Frequent service from Gourock and Wemyss Bay to Rothesay, Millport, Dunoon, Cowal and the Holy Loch piers with fast and comfortable steamers brought a positive response from the public. In the lower Firth, the service to Arran from Ardrossan by the new Duchess of Hamilton was a great improvement on the opposition’s Scotia. However, the Duchess was a summer butterfly, laid up for the winter, and the provision of a steamer capable of withstanding the rigours of the winter crossing was high on the priority list for the Company. In October, the order was placed for a steamer that was quite a revolution. The hull was constructed by Messrs Russell & Co., of Port Glasgow. She was of similar dimensions of her quasi-sisters built the...

The village of Fairlie, just south of Largs, lies in the shelter of the Cumbraes and was long a summer resort of wealthy Glasgow merchants and lawyers who built villas on the hills behind the row of fishermen’s cottages that fronted the beach. The feudal land-owner was the Earl of Glasgow whose Kelburn Castle is the major estate in the district. Fairlie was a ferry call by the Millport and Ayr steamboats, but traffic was never sufficient to merit the construction of a pier until the Glasgow and South Western Railway planned a branch-line to Largs. Kelburn Castle Apart from fishing, boat building by the Fife family began at Fairlie at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The boatyard produced fishing boats and small trading sloops and smacks, and, for more wealthy clients, yachts and cutters. In 1814, an early steamboat, Industry, came from the yard of John & William Fife, and...

The following article was serialized in “The Evening News” in the summer of 1887, the year before the Great Exhibition in Glasgow of 1888. It contains the reminiscences, memories and results of conversations of an unknown author who had a deep interest in the Clyde and its steamers. It was the intention of the author to publish the work as a small booklet but as far as I can discover, no such booklet was produced. There are eleven articles that appeared on successive Saturdays. The newspaper received many “Letters to the Editor,” and these are collected in the twelfth article, together with the author’s responses. Some point out errors of fact in the article, and there are undoubtedly many of them. I have corrected a few that are elaborated in the letters, but otherwise the text is left as it appeared in the newspaper. The drawn illustrations are also those contained in the original...

“Steamboat Traffic on the Clyde “Article VIII “After much desultory talk, and not a little gossip, by devious and hitherto unfrequented ways, we have reached the concluding paper of this series. Before bidding a final adieu to our public, we may as well disburden our memories of a few stray facts which we did not mention in their natural place, as they have only recently come to our knowledge. Not the least interesting of these relates to the first comet and may be accepted as authentic:—Among the passengers who were bold enough to embark on board Bell’s little steamer on her first regular trio was a certain Glasgow merchant, Mr Bryce, formerly of Parkhall, the estate now possessed, we believe, by Mr Michael Connal, of this city. Mr Bryce would hardly have ventured on board if he had not been almost forced to do so by Henry Bell, an intimate friend of his. The first...

“Steamboat Traffic on the Clyde “Article VII “In our brief notice of certain curiously constructed craft which have plied on the Clyde, we omitted to mention the Queen of Scots, one of the earliest of the iron passenger steamboats, and which ran between Glasgow and Ayr. Her majesty was built like a boiler—one plate over-lapping another, without angled frames, as they are constructed now—and in a moderately heavy sea the vessel waved like a wand, or one of those toy sea-serpents which are now so popular. Among its many peculiarities not the least awkward was its partiality for being under water. The passengers were never quite sure of a dry passage, and among other spots where it sank were the Ayr bar and the harbour. This, by the way, reminds us of one thing which has struck us forcibly in our investigations, namely, the comparative immunity which Clyde steamers have...

“Steamboat Traffic on the Clyde “Article VI “The concluding portion of Article V was devoted to a discussion of one or two of the innumerable improvements which have been made from time to time in the construction of Clyde steamers. One of the most remarkable of these inventions is due to Mr David Napier, and was made in a somewhat remarkable way. As the story is well authenticated, has never before been published, and is of some historical importance, we shall offer no apology for giving it in full. Some time in 1836, or between that and the end of 1838, Mr David Napier, when lying awake one night in his house at Lancefield, now occupied by Napier’s Dock, was suddenly struck with one of those happy ideas or flashes of inventive genius which only occur, and that at intervals, to certain minds. Starting from his bed in great haste, he rang the bell, and sent at once...

“Steamboat Traffic on the Clyde “Article V “In our last article, we reviewed very briefly the history and growth of what may be called the West Highland trade. In the present, we propose saying a word or two about the Largs and Millport traffic some thirty or forty years ago. At the time we speak of there were two lines of steamers contending for the Ayrshire trade, owned respectively by what were known as the “Young” and the “M‘Kellar” companies. Few Clyde skippers were better known than Captain M‘Kellar, of whom we have already spoken and of whom we should say in passing we are largely indebted and to Captain M‘Farlane, the able and energetic superintendent of marine constabulary, for much of the information here presented on this branch of our subject. Captain M‘Kellar was all through the Peninsular war, and fought at Waterloo before he came to settle in Glasgow in...