Early Clyde Steamboats I

on Apr 26, 2015

Henry Bell was born at Torphichen in 1767 and, after a solid but unspectacular education, he tried his hand to various professions with little distinction before returning to Glasgow in 1790 where he spent several years as a joiner. Towards the end of the century, Bell became interested in the application of steam to ship propulsion and was in contact with Symington who was experimenting at this time with the Charlotte Dundas on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Henry Bell To escape the squalour of urban life, many of the better-off Glaswegians were following the fashion set by the Prince of Wales of “taking the waters.” Favourite places for this practise were Largs, Gourock and the town of Helensburgh that had been laid down as a model town in the latter part of the eighteenth century by Sir James Colquhoun but had failed to attract any industry. In 1808, Henry Bell moved to the recently...

Victoria on the Clyde—1847

on Apr 19, 2015

In 1847, the Clyde and Western isles steamboat services were in flux. The Greenock Railway had opened six years earlier in 1841 and had challenged the dominance of steamboat companies in providing transportation in the Clyde area. After attempting to attract the steamboat companies to provide ongoing connections with the railway at Greenock, the Railway Company had begun to run its own connections. The principal services to Rothesay and Lochfyne were at this time in the hands of the Castle Steam Packet Company, and in 1845, Messrs. G. & J. Burns, who had hitherto been associated with the Glasgow and Belfast trade, acquired a controlling interest in the Company and its steamers. The following year, they added the steamers of the Greenock Railway and achieved a virtual monopoly of the Clyde connections with the Western Highlands and Islands. The West Highland services themselves were...

The Allan Line

on Apr 6, 2015

To the south of the main channel of the Clyde behind Plantation Quay, lay Princes Dock where much of the Transatlantic Passenger Traffic from Glasgow originated. Construction of the Dock, originally called Cessnock Dock was begun in 1886 and completed in 1897. There were three basins. The North Basin was the berth of the Allan Line and the above picture by Brandon shows three Allan Line ships lined up alongside Shed A. The steamship in the foreground is the State of Nebraska, built by the London & Glasgow yard at Govan in 1880 for the State Line, but taken over with the rest of that Line in 1891 by the Allan Line. On the south side of the Basin alongside Shed B there is a U.S. Lines steamship with its narrower white band and what appears to be another Allan steamship, with a large sailing vessel nearest the entrance to the Basin. The tall chimney of the hydraulic pumping station...

The Teetotal Steamer—Ivanhoe

on Apr 5, 2015

Drunkenness and unruly behaviour on the river steamers of the Clyde were problems that “respectable” working class folk had to deal with in the period leading up to 1880. In that year, a syndicate was formed by Mr. Alexander Allan of the Allan Line, Mr. George Smith and Captain James Brown, both of the City Line, Mr. Robert Shankland, of Greenock and Captain James Williamson to obtain and run a steamboat run on temperance principles. Captain James Williamson, one of three sons of Captain Alexander Williamson of the “Turkish Fleet” was to manage the company and was to command the new steamer Ivanhoe for nine seasons until he assumed management of the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. Drinking on a river steamer—frowned upon! The new steamer was to sail on one of the most attractive excursions from Helensburgh to Whiting Bay on the Island of Arran by way of Rothesay and the Kyles of Bute,...

Killarney—Langlands Cruises

on Mar 28, 2015

The venerable company of Langlands had its founding in the early days of coastal steam navigation when, in 1836, Mr. Matthew Langlands became the Glasgow agent for the Glasgow & Liverpool Royal Steam Packet Company. The company had an extensive interest in coastal trade around the shores of Britain and also briefly participated farther afield in the trans-Atlantic trade. As M. Langlands and Sons Ltd., they provided a regular service between Liverpool and Glasgow and in addition ran a series of cruises to the Clyde and West of Scotland with a number of well-appointed screw steamers.  The black funnel with two white bands and black between was well known on the Clyde. Princess Royal on the Clyde The first to be illustrated is the Princess Royal, the fifth of the name for the company. Built in 1876 by the London & Glasgow Engineering and Shipbuilding yard in Govan, she was...

The Loss of the Janet McNicol

on Mar 22, 2015

The Janet McNicol was an Ardrossan registered wooden smack owned by Mr Alexander McNicol of Brodick, Arran. She had been carvel built by Messrs J. & H. Halliday at Rothesay in 1875 and was 42.5 feet in length, 14.8 feet in breadth and had a depth of hold of 6.4 feet, giving her a gross tonnage of 23.15 tons and registered tonnage of 19.49 tons. Janet McNicol at Lamlash Quay around 1900 On 8th October 1907 at Irvine, the Janet McNicol, loaded a cargo of bricks for Brodick and sailed at 10:00 a.m., under the command of Mr. John B. McNicol, son of the owner. The crew consisting of Neil Stewart, mate, and Alexander Russel, deck hand. The Janet McNicol sailed over to Lamlash Bay where she anchored near the north-west end of Holy Isle, about three hundred yards from the shore. It was a safe anchorage, almost opposite a farm-house and the farmer, Mr. John McIntyre noted that the master...