Clyde steamer history is replete with personal anecdotes and reminiscences that add colour and fascination to the more mundane statistics of length and breadth of hull, and horse-power of engines that characterize the vessels themselves. The classic histories such as James Williamson’s “Clyde Passenger Steamers 1812-1901,” and Andrew M‘Queen’s “Echoes of old Clyde Paddle-Wheels,” have preserved much of the lore. There were few earlier accounts published in book form such as Robert Reid’s “About Clyde Steamers and Clyde Skippers, (Senex Afloat),” but the Glasgow newspapers during the Victorian era contained accounts where various anonymous authors have attempted to catalog the history of the steamers in serial form. Some of these have been presented here and here. This is another, shorter, article gleaned from the pages of the North British Daily Mail in 1878, the year the Columba first sailed on the Clyde. It contains some reminiscences of “Old Coaster” who frequented the Clyde Coast in the season and contributed a few articles and letters under his soubriquet to a variety of newspapers over the years. It is followed by a confirmatory “letter to the Editor” from an anonymous correspondent, “Clutha.” The bulk of the illustrations are of a later date, mostly taken from a series of articles on “Older Clyde Steamers” by Alasdair MacFarlane in the Glasgow Evening Citizen in the 1930s.

“Gossip about river steamers.—by an Old Coaster.—This last winter I observed a river steamer receiving a very complete overhaul in Kingston Dock, which recalled one of the most stirring periods in the history of the river passenger traffic—I refer to the Hero now trading between Glasgow and Garelochhead. Though now an old boat she is not the first river steamer of the name, an earlier Hero having been owned by the Largs & Millport Steamboat Company. She was built to compete for the swift morning traffic from Rothesay with the M‘Gill’s Rothesay Castle, which had been withdrawn from the Lochfyne trade and placed on the Rothesay station under the command of Malcolm Campbell, who had for pilot Charlie Brown. Malcolm Campbell, afterwards captain of the Windsor Castle, and a favourite on the Clyde in his day, died while yet a young man, and Charlie Brown, after sailing many ships, is now master of the Dunoon Castle.

Hero (Alasdair MacFarlane)

Captain M’Gill’s Rothesay Castle built by Messrs Caird & Co.

Dunoon Castle (Alasdair MacFarlane)

“At that time it was a sight to see the Rothesay start from the Bridge Wharf at four in the afternoon. She is still allowed to have been the prettiest model of a boat that ever ran on the river, and she was kept in apple-pie order. She had a picked crew, who thought no end of their vessel, and the decks glittered like snow and the brass gratings over the skylights and binding of the bulwarks shone like gold. When the hands of the clock at the foot of Jamaica Street pointed to four, her hurricane and main decks fore and aft were every day crowded with a choice freight of passengers, all having the stamp of well-to-do people; and many of them who were regular travelers seem to regard the steamer as a sort of pet in whose reputation they had a special interest. It was to compete with this special favourite that the Hero was built; but it was felt that the only thing which would give her a chance of success would be superior speed. With her low-set hull, narrow quarter deck, and somber appearance (for her funnel was entirely black), she had no chance in point of attractiveness against the Rothesay. She had the speed, however, the first-year, and it was said that one morning on the run, between Rothesay and Greenock, she actually sailed round her rival. These boats, leaving Rothesay at 7 a.m., usually discharged their passengers at the Broomielaw between half-past nine and a quarter to ten; and I have often wondered why elderly gentlemen of the present day, in easy circumstances, prefer the hustling and crowding at the gangway at Wemyss Bay or Greenock piers with the excited rush to crowded and close railway carriages, to the quiet and restful sail direct by steamboat, when the average difference of time is not above half-an-hour.

“The Hero has seen much service in many services. She was placed on the Arran via Rothesay route under the command of Captain Robert Young, who, last year, sailed the Lord of the Isles. Then she was either sold or chartered out of the Clyde for some time, but came back again and was placed on her old station (to Lamlash) by Captain Reid, formerly of the Craignish Castle, whose son now sails the Guinevere. Captain Reid did not drive her hard, preferring to rest her reputation on the fact that she was a comfortable boat for families going to Arran, and for daily excursionists from the Clyde watering places to the Switzerland of Scotland.

Lord of the Isles (Alasdair MacFarlane)

Guinevere (Alasdair MacFarlane)

“The kind manner of Captain Reid, and the frank good-nature of his son John, who sailed with him as clerk, made the Hero a favourite with another class of customers—troops of coast hawkers finding her hour of starting and returning the most suitable for them of any of the river steamers. Looking in at the galley door of the Hero shortly after she left the Broomielaw of a morning, a row of tea-cans might be seen standing on the range warming, by the kind permission of the cook, the breakfast beverage of the pedlars in the steerage who had come away without their morning repast. The Reids (father and son) did everything they could to make those people comfortable, and a hawker out of luck could always make sure of a passage with them though he had no funds. Of course the boat was their own, and, they had a right, which some other captains and clerks could not possess, to grant exemption from paying passage money when they thought proper; but I have seen a most undignified contest for the possession of a “bowl basket,” in lieu of fare, between its proprietor on the one hand and the master and owner of a steamer on the other; a contest in which violence, which damaged some of the crockery, was used, and which offered a marked contrast to the dealing of the Reids with their poor passengers. One custom prevailed in the Hero when the Reids had her which I do not remember seeing in vogue in any other river steamer, and that was for the fiddler sometimes to take a trick at the wheel to allow all the hands to attend to some other work. The fiddler who went with her regularly at that time was a long man named Dobson, who had a long wooden leg, and who afterwards exchanged into the Campbeltown boats, where he may still be playing. A very good fiddler he was, and quite as good a steersman; but it was curious to see him when the Hero was pitching in the rough sea between Garroch Head and Corrie taking charge of the wheel, while the “pin-leg” stump-stumped on the hurricane deck as he kept balancing himself to suit the irregular tossing of the boat.

“While the Hero was away from the Clyde her run to Arran was taken by the Spunkie. This steamer, as well as her sister ship the Kelpie, was, built just about the same time as the Hero, if not in the very same year. They were remarkably handsome vessels with two black funnels, one before and one abaft the paddle, and were placed on the Millport route by Todd & M‘Gregor, to run in opposition to the M‘Kellar’s Jupiter and Juno. The one was commanded by Dugald Weir, and the other first by John Campbell and afterwards by Captain M‘Coll, who had sailed a Dunoon boat called the Wellington. Though very fine vessels, they did not realise the expectation which had been formed about them; M‘Kellar’s boats easily holding their own against them. In a short time the Kelpie was sold to run on the Shannon, I think, while for a little the Spunkie occupied the Arran Station. While on that run, a song, called “Through the Kyles wi’ Spunkie,” was written, composed, and sung by an itinerent harper, who still plies his calling, accompanied by a boy with a concertina, in the Wemyss Bay steamers. What was the ultimate fate of this smart steamer I forget; perhaps some of your readers may be able to give the information.

A drawing of Spunkie

Juno (Alasdair MacFarlane)

“While the Largs and Millport trade was always respectably supplied, it could never compete, with the other side in the matter of fast steamers. I do not think the run to Largs from the Broomielaw was ever done much under three hours, while the passage to Rothesay—with stoppages at Gourock, Kirn, Dunoon, and Innellan has been made by the Ruby, under command of Richard Price, in 2h 20m. This is the fastest run I know of; but I shall be glad to learn of a faster one which can be authenticated. Mr Watson’s Rothesay Castle, when commanded by Captain Charlie Brown, must have made the run in very much the same time, but I am not aware of its being accomplished in less. On the run of the Ruby referred to, we made Gourock in 1h 25m, and reached Rothesay, with the calls stated, in other 53 minutes. That same year there was a very swift boat put on by the Napiers; and commanded by Captain M‘Lean, which left Glasgow at a quarter-past four and called at Greenock for passengers by the 5 p.m. train. She was named the Neptune, had two red funnels, and was conspicuous by her, small paddle wheels, which went at somewhere, about 70 revolutions per minute. She made some very fast runs, landing her train passengers in Rothesay in about two hours from the time they left the city. Her call at Greenock, of course, put her time out of any true comparison with that of the other vessels.

Price’s Ruby

Watson’s Rothesay Castle built by Messrs Simons & Co

Neptune

“The keenest racing captain of these days was undoubtedly Richard Price, the master of the Ruby. There were two Prices, brothers. The younger, a quiet man, sailed one of the Dumbarton boats, and was little known; but the captain of the Ruby was a celebrated man in his day. He was everlastingly appearing at the bar of the River Bailie Court to answer to a charge of recklessly managing his boat. On one occasion he went sailing past a quay at which he should have touched, and on which a number of passengers were waiting to be taken on board his vessel, for the sake of passing a rival steamer on which he had been gaining. When spoken to about his conduct by a gentleman on board, he cooly remarked that “there was not 10s worth waiting and what was that to the pleasure of a good race.” He seemed to enjoy the leaving of the passengers who were hurrying up the pier to catch his vessel, setting off at full speed just as they seemed on the point of being successful. His most serious escapade was performed at Dunoon pier on one occasion when, fancying that the passengers were too slow in their movement as they passed along the gangway from the pier to the paddle-box, he became angry, and started his steamer, leaving the crowded gangway half over the pier, where two strong policemen barely managed to hold it from falling with its cargo of human beings into the sea. His ruling idea seemed to be that instead of steamers being made for passengers, passengers only existed for the convenience of steamers. Anything which had the least appearance of a trial of speed was like meat and drink to Captain Price. I remember coming up with the Ruby one morning upon which the Neptune started after us. Though there was no chance of her overtaking us, Price came aft from the paddle-box, and sitting down near the stern watched the progress of the other boat till he made sure we were increasing the distance from her, when with a snort of satisfaction he went forward again.

Iona (Alasdair MacFarlane)

Windsor Castle (Alasdair MacFarlane)

“The Windsor Castle, a vessel steel-plated and drawing only three feet of water, was put on to sail in company with the Rothesay Castle a year or so after the Hero was built. This vessel was the first I remember having her funnel in front of the paddle boxes; while she was fitted with an expansion valve which enabled her to put on a spurt for a few minutes when it was an object to take a quay from a rival. She was a very swift steamer at all times, making over 19 miles an hour. Malcolm Campbell was transferred from the Rothesay Castle to her paddle-box, while Charlie Brown got command of the Rothesay. For a couple of seasons at any rate made three single trips to Rothesay every week day, the steamer which lay at Glasgow one night lying at Rothesay the other. For both these seasons they took steerage passengers for 6d, and the boat which left Glasgow at a quarter to seven in the morning reached Rothesay in time to return at ten. As the afternoon steamer started from Rothesay at four, passengers going down by the morning boat had thus six hours to enjoy themselves on Bute, which was a glorious Saturday’s outing to working people for a shilling. There is little doubt that the average speed of the river steamers is much higher now than it was twenty years ago, but there is really not much difference in the speed of the crack boats of the present day and what was got out of the racers of twenty years ago. I have it on good authority that the first Iona under Captain M‘Gown made the passage from Ardrishaig to Greenock in three hours, a run which even the best vessels now in the trade would have some difficulty bettering.”—North British Daily Mail, June 17, 1878

“Gossip about river steamers.—Sir,—l can corroborate most of the statements made by your correspondent in this day’s Mail anent the various steamers he mentions—having sailed in them all, except, perhaps, the Spunkie or Kelpie. As to the Hero, she was doubtless a fast boat, but scarcely equal to M‘Gill’s Rothesay Castle, which was as celebrated for her regularity as her speed. Season, after season, I sailed in her between this and Gourock, and when the tide was favourable she was abreast of Dumbarton Castle in precisely one hour after starting from the Bridge Wharf, and generally reached Gourock in one hour and thirty or thirty-five minutes. On one occasion the run was made in one hour and twenty-five minutes The Rothesay was also as celebrated for her regularity as for her speed, and residents at the Coast were never at a loss to know “what o’clock” it was when she was on the station. I happened also to be on board during the last run of the Hero on the Rothesay trade, and a tight race we had. It was the Hero’s turn to start first, and as the tide was low, kept ahead till nearing Port Glasgow, when full steam was put on, and the Rothesay Castle fairly passed her spirited rival, and reached Gourock Pier first. I was also well acquainted with Captain Price of the Ruby, which for a time took the 4 P.M. hour to Rothesay, and made numerous splendid runs, very often beating the train on the up run—that is, her passengers were landed at the Bridge Wharf ere the train passengers reached Bridge Street. On one occasion, when engaged by the Clyde Trust on their annual visit to the lighthouses, she made probably her fastest run, doing the distance between the Cumbrae Lighthouse and the Custom-House Quay at Greenock, including a call at Wemyss Bay to land Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, and at Innellan to land the Rothesay magistrates, in 55 minutes. On that occasion all the river steamers we fell in with gave us a wide berth to let us pass, and one of these was the Spunkie. Captain Price certainly was the foremost racer of his day; yet, as a rule, no one ever managed a boat better than he did the Ruby, and although now and then hauled up before the River Bailie, it was usually on some trumpery charge of not slowing sufficiently when passing those standing nuisances to passenger steamers, deepening machines. On such occasions, the case generally turned on the evidence of the Trustees’ employees, who were always glad of any sort of excuse to get a day ashore. “Alas! poor Yorick.” Captain Price has for many a long day been under a cloud which, it is feared, may never pass away in this lower sphere, where all are subject to trial and subjection.—Yours, &c., June 17, Clutha.”—North British Daily Mail, June 18, 1878