Sailing Out of Oban with Pioneer and Mountaineer

on Jun 10, 2015

The naturally sheltered waters of Oban Bay, enclosed by the Island of Kerrera to the south and west and farther off, the Islands of Mull and Lismore to the north attracted the earliest steamboats on the West of Scotland trade. The quay at Oban was a low stone built affair and by the middle of the nineteenth century was proving inadequate for the traffic and the expansion of the tourist trade. Around 1848, a ship, the B.C. Bailey, foundered off Lismore at Kilcheran, and the wreck was brought into Oban Bay and lay at the quay for a time until it was built over to form the North Pier. In the first of the old photographs, the outline of the hull can be seen below the pier construction. Oban in the 1850s In the second photograph, the pier is a little more advanced and there are some buildings upon it. The third photograph is from a different angle and shows the corner of the bay. Oban...

Linnet

on Jun 5, 2015

When Iona entered service in 1864, the connection with the Crinan steamer was accomplished by the horse drawn track-boats Maid of Perth and Sunbeam. The improvements made by the addition of the Chevalier in 1866 were enhanced by a small screw steamer, Linnet, that was built by J. & G. Thomson at Govan for Messrs. Hutcheson.  The Linnet provided the link through the Crinan Canal between Ardrishaig and Crinan. Track-boat Sunbeam on the west bank at Ardrishaig. The Linnet had two screws and at 34 tons and she was launched in a fairly complete condition.  Just 86 ft long and 16 ft broad with a shallow draft, she could fit into the locks of the canal.  Her blunt canoe-shaped bow was designed to allow her to push into the opening canal lock gates. Linnet at Crinan with Chevalier in the background Linnet at Crinan with Countess of Kellie in 1888 Linnet at Crinan Linnet heading for...

Chevalier 1866

on Jun 3, 2015

The Glasgow Herald of Friday April 13, 1866 contained the following article: “Launch of the Chevalier.—Yesterday, there was launched from the ship-yard of Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, at Govan, a handsome paddle saloon steamer, named the Chevalier, for Messrs. David Hutcheson & Co.’s swift-line of West Highland steamers. The Chevalier is of 500 tons and 150 horsepower. She will be elegantly fitted up in similar style to the Iona of the same line, with commodious saloon on deck, dining saloon, &c. Her station will be betwixt Crinan and Corpach, in connection with the Iona on the Ardrishaig side, and a new saloon steamer building by Messrs. Thomson, to be called the Gondolier, on the other or Banavie side of the line. Thus this magnificent route will be amply and admirably supplied during the coming season. With a service of handsome saloon steamers, to which will be added, in...

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...

The Royal Route

on May 28, 2015

Steamboat travel from Glasgow to Oban and the West Highlands and Islands by way of the Crinan Canal originated with the Comet in 1819. As trade developed in the succeeding years, there were a number of innovations to reduce the time taken on the journey. The most important of these came in 1839 when cooperation between the owners Thomson & MacConnell and J. Martin and J. & G. Burns who dominated the trade, allowed the introduction of a “swift steamer” service where passengers could arrive “at Oban, Tobermory, or Fort William in the evening of the day they leave Glasgow, and at Portree and Inverness in the afternoon of the second day.” To accomplish this, the passengers had an early start leaving at 5:00 in the morning on Robert Napier’s Brenda, now running for Thomson & MacConnell, direct for Lochgilphead from there they transferred to the new track-boat Thornwood for...

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...