Craigendoran Steamers between the Wars

on Apr 27, 2017

The North British paddle steamers sailing out of their base at Craigendoran were able to maintain services well into the early years of the First World War. In 1915, Waverley continued sailing to Arrochar and Lochgoilhead until September when she was called up to join Marmion which had gone in June. Kenilworth had been reboilered early in the year and appeared that season with her fore-saloon extended to the full width of the hull and her bridge brought forward of the funnel. She served the Dunoon and Holy Loch connection along with Talisman while Lucy Ashton maintained service to the Gareloch piers. Dandie Dinmont was the spare boat. It was 1917 before Talisman and Kenilworth went to war, leaving Lucy Ashton and Dandie Dimont to cover the Craigendoran services for the remainder of the emergency. Dandie Dinmont approaching Dunoon around 1920 (McGeachie)   Kenilworth in Rothesay Bay...

Turbine Steamers Ltd. 1919-1935

on Apr 4, 2017

In World War I, many of the Clyde steamers were called up for Admiralty service, and after the Armistice, it took the fleet many months to return to some semblance of normal peacetime duties. Mr John Williamson was manager of the Turbine fleet that sailed to Campbeltown and Inveraray with the pioneer turbine of 1901, King Edward, and Queen Alexandra, built in 1912 to replace the steamers of the same name. Both steamers had been requisitioned to carry troops across the English Channel and their return was anticipated in 1919. Queen Alexandra required little renovation after the war and she resumed service to Campbeltown at the end of June 1919. Queen Alexandra (Robertson) King Edward (Robertson) However, King Edward was not released until the end of 1919. Both were available in 1920 when Queen Alexandra was placed on the Inveraray route and King Edward sailed to Campbeltown, switching...

Williamson-Buchanan Steamers

on Mar 27, 2017

The Clyde steamers played an important role in World War I, related in an article in February 2015. At the end of hostilities, changes to the different fleets on the Clyde were instituted. This article focuses on the changes that took place with the steamers associated with Messrs Williamson, Buchanan and Turbine Steamers. This part focuses on Williamson-Buchanan steamers. A subsequent article will focus on Turbine Steamers. As the steamers returned to the Clyde in 1919 from their activities during the war, the following announcement appeared in the newspapers. “Amalgamation of Two Firms: The amalgamation is announced of the two well-known firms of Clyde river steamer owners, Messrs Buchanan Steamers (Limited) and Mr John Williamson “Both firms have been associated for a long time with passenger services on the river and estuary, and each has done a great deal to develop this service...

Aerial Views of the Clyde

on Mar 4, 2017

Photographs of the Clyde Harbours and Resorts taken from the air and made into postcards have always been popular. They are an easy way of showing where you stay whether all-year-round, or on holiday. The earliest photographs of the Clyde that were released commercially appear to have been the work of an Edinburgh Company in the years shortly after the First World War, around 1920 or 1921. They are generally marked Aerial Photos Ltd., Edinburgh. They include a good selection of the Cowal Coast, including Dunoon, Rothesay and surrounding areas in Bute, and coastal towns in the Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. The photographs are oblique, taken at an angle, rather than the vertical stereo-pairs associated with mapping of later years. Quite a few show some of the steamers of the day. It is not clear what aircraft were used to obtain these photographs. Hunter’s Quay and the...

Greenock Harbours

on Feb 28, 2017

The origins of the physical development of the harbours at Greenock date from about the time of the Union. In 1710, excavation of the first harbour were completed, occupying roughly where the West Harbour later stood, it established a circular West Quay and East Quay and enclosed the Mid Quay. The cost was £5,555. 11s. 1d., most of which, £5,000, was a loan by Sir John Schaw, to be repaid by a tax on malt brewed into ale in the town. The loan was repaid within thirty years and the harbour brought immediate prosperity to the town. West Harbour West Harbour with the tug Flying Elf (Poulton)   West Harbour with Madge Wildfire at the mid-quay West Quay, renovated in 1880 with steamers laid up for the winter Over the next century, there was significant redevelopment of the West Harbour. The breaking of the monopoly of the East India Company signaled an upturn in foreign trade and increasing...

Cleaning the Clyde

on Feb 11, 2017

The rapid growth of industry and population that occurred in Glasgow in the mid-Victorian years had a devastating effect on the river Clyde. The infrastructure for handling industrial and human waste was limited to gravitation, ending in the river, and the river itself became an open sewer. The problem was studied throughout the 1850s and 1860s but it was a major Parliamentary report by Sir John Hawkshaw in 1876 that focused attention on potentially workable solutions. At the time, Glasgow had a new supply of excellent water from Loch Katrine that supplied 36 million gallons of water annually. Hawkshaw suggested a new system of intercepting sewers that would convey effluent to areas on the margins of the city where it could be treated. There was a suitable location on both sides of the Clyde below Whiteinch where the effluent could be treated with alum, lime and charcoal to precipitate...