Sunday Steamers at Dunoon

on Mar 31, 2016

The pier at Dunoon is one of the most important on the Clyde, the major approach to the Cowal peninsula and an important hub for the major tours. The original pier, dating from about 1835, was built by a joint stock company but the rights to the pier and the ferry belonged to the Hafton Estate. This original pier was replaced by a new structure in 1845 and again in 1865 but by the end of the century, the single berth was a major source of congestion for the expanding steamer services on the Firth. The Trustees of the Hafton Estate, who owned the pier had proposed extensions as early as 1880 and had offered the pier to the Burgh on a number of occasions. Agreement on a price was finally reached and the Burgh purchased the structure on 31st December 1895 for £27,000 with an immediate plan to extend and reconstruct the pier for a further £15,000 that was put into action. Glasgow &...

Smaller craft around the resorts

on Jul 5, 2015

A number of small steamers and later, motor boats provided cruises from Rothesay to such destinations as the Kyles of Bute, Loch Striven and Ormidale. They were very popular. Comet in Rothesay Bay (Adamson) The little wooden paddle steamer Comet operated cruises in the early 1890s for Mr. H. McIntyre. She was built in 1892 at Port Glasgow by Robert Rodger and was destroyed by fire in 1894. Unidentified paddle yacht in Rothesay Bay There were other small paddle steamers at Rothesay at this time. Above is an unidentified vessel about to experience the wake of the new Lord of the Isles. Francis Dewar’s Lady Bute With the introduction of the motor boat and motor launch, there was a considerable expansion of these short cruises. Francis Dewar carried on a business as Carpenter and boatbuilder at 14 Watergate Rothesay in the years before the first-world war. He offered cruises with the...

Iona 1864

on May 31, 2015

When Master William Hutcheson performed the naming ceremony on the new Iona as she slid down the ways on 10th May, 1864, from the yard of J. & G. Thomson, it was the start of an era that lasted over 70 years. The new ship was built for Messrs. D. Hutcheson & Co. who would employed her on the “Royal Route” sailing from the Broomielaw to Ardrishaig. She was 255 ft long by 26 ft broad and had deck-saloons with alleyways around them that had been removed from her predecessor when that steamer was converted to a blockade-runner for the Confederates in the American Civil War. Compared with that steamer, the new Iona was 7 ft longer and six inches broader in the beam. The increased breadth of the steamer provided a little more space for passengers between the bulwarks and the deck saloons. Immediately after her launch, the hull was towed to Finnieston Quay where her engines, also...

One Man’s Vision of Dunoon—Edward McGeachie

on Dec 28, 2014

From the 1900s to the early 1930s a photographer, Edward McGeachie, opened for business in Pier Road, Dunoon, N.B., and among his subjects were the steamers frequenting the Cowal coast. McGeachie’s studio was located on the Pier Esplanade and many local families used him for portraits. He also did commercial work with publicity materials for local hotels and produced a number of fine postcards of Dunoon and its immediate surroundings. He was particularly adept in selecting excellent compositions and his negatives were used extensively by other postcard manufacturers.   Dunoon Pier around 1927 with Kenilworth and Kylemore  Edward was born in Newton, Ayr in 1877 where his father, Peter, was manager of the Ayr Chemical Works. His mother Betsy (Galloway) came from Limekilns in Fife. Edward was educated at Newton Academy where he won the due medal for Mathematics and French. By 1901, he had...

Laing’s Dunoon—1868

on Dec 13, 2014

In the mid-Victorian era, Thomas Laing ran a photographic studio at Dunoon midway between the Pier and the Argyll Hotel.  In addition to the usual personal and family portraits he took photographs of the town and its surrounding area.  A number of these photographic views were turned into engravings and published in Colegate’s Guide to Dunoon in 1868, helping to provide an approximate date for the material.  John Colegate was a bookseller and ran a library in Hafton Place.  Excerpts of his guide are included here to provide a context for the photographs. Laing’s Photographic Studio in the shadow of the Parish Church Advert for Laing’s in 1868 In 1868, Dunoon was well equipped for visitors who were interested in sea bathing.  The list of Hotels is:—The Argyll (the principal hotel),—Mrs. Thomson, The Crown,—Mrs. Walker, The Douglas,—Mrs. Douglas, Clark’s Temperance,—Mr. John...