Clyde steamer

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Paddle steamer Waverley steaming down the Firth of Clyde. PS Waverley off Greenock 1994.jpg
Paddle steamer Waverley steaming down the Firth of Clyde.
Turbine steamer Queen Mary laid up in Greenock. TS Queen Mary 1981.jpg
Turbine steamer Queen Mary laid up in Greenock.

The Clyde steamer is the collective term for several passenger services that existed on the River Clyde in Scotland, running from Glasgow downstream to Rothesay and other towns, a journey known as going doon the watter. [1]

Contents

The era of the Clyde steamer began in August 1812 with the very first successful commercial steamboat service in Europe, when Henry Bell's Comet began a passenger service on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock. The Comet undertook her official trial run on 6 August 1812. Henry Bell himself was on board, along with John Robertson, maker of Comet's engine, and William McKenzie, formerly a schoolmaster in Helensburgh, acting as skipper. According to the Glasgow Courier newspaper two days later, the journey was completed in three-and-a-half hours. [2] After this success, other operators sprang up in competition, and the Firth of Clyde became immensely popular with holidaymakers. By 1900 there were over three hundred Clyde steamers operating, and the industry was still in full swing by the early 1960s. Then, competition from new forms of holiday travel brought the era almost to a close, but PS Waverley continues to provide excursions.

From the outset, steamboat services were aimed at holidaymakers, with a stop at Helensburgh bringing passengers to Bell's Baths Hotel. Within ten years, there were nearly fifty steamers on the Firth of Clyde, sailing as far as Largs, Campbeltown and Inveraray, and the Glasgow Magistrates had introduced a five-pound fine for services running late to prevent "the Masters of Steam Boats, from improper competition and rivalship, postponing their departure for considerable and uncertain periods, after the times they had previously intimated to the Public". Steamer services were also introduced onto the inland lochs, with the Marion appearing on Loch Lomond in 1816.

With the Industrial Revolution and rapid industrialisation and population growth of 19th-century Glasgow, great numbers were eager to be released from the grimy city on Fast Days, and during the annual Glasgow Fair week they went on a cruise down the Clyde to clean, unspoilt scenery. Tiny villages, perhaps with a stone jetty, soon became resorts with wooden piers and villas, hotels and public houses. Local residents would let out rooms, and boarding houses developed. Established towns like Dunoon and Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute, became major resorts. The wealthy built sandstone villas at places like Kilcreggan, Blairmore and Innellan, to which they could commute daily, or weekly, during the summer.

The first turbine-powered merchant vessel, the Clyde steamer TS King Edward, was built in 1901. Her successor, the TS Queen Mary of 1933, was a floating restaurant on the River Thames in London until 2009. She was rescued by the Friends of TS Queen Mary, and she is now undergoing restoration on the Clyde in preparation for a return to passenger service in summer 2024. [3] [4]

The PS Waverley, built in 1947, is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world. This ship sails a full season of cruises every year from places around Britain, and has sailed across the English Channel for a visit to commemorate the 1940 sinking of her 1899-built predecessor at the Battle of Dunkirk. The 1900 steamer SS Sir Walter Scott still sails on Loch Katrine, while on Loch Lomond the PS Maid of the Loch is being restored.

Vessels

The journey down the Clyde to Rothesay is immortalised in the song "The Day we Went to Rothesay O". [6]

Neil Munro celebrates a trip 'doon the watter' on a Clyde steamer in his Erchie MacPherson story "A Quiet Day Off", first published in the Glasgow Evening News of 23rd May 1908. [7]

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PS <i>Waverley</i> 1946-built preserved seagoing paddle steamer

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PS <i>Comet</i> First commercial steamboat in Europe

The PSComet was built in 1812 for Henry Bell, a Scottish engineer who with his wife had become proprietor of the Baths Hotel offering sea bathing in Helensburgh. On 15 August 1812, Bell's ship began a passenger service on the River Clyde, connecting Helensburgh to Greenock and Glasgow. This was the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe. Bell obtained the engine from John Robertson of Glasgow, and the ship was built for him by John and Charles Wood of Port Glasgow.

PS <i>Maid of the Loch</i> Clyde-built paddle steamer (1953 - now)

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Para Handy is a character created by the journalist and writer Neil Munro in a series of stories published in the Glasgow Evening News between 1905 and 1923 under the pen name of Hugh Foulis. He is the crafty Gaelic skipper of the Vital Spark, a Clyde puffer (steamboat) of the sort that delivered goods from Glasgow to Loch Fyne, the Hebrides, and the coast of Argyllshire and Inverness-shire in the early 20th century.

MV <i>The Second Snark</i> Passenger ferry built in 1938 in Scotland

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TS <i>King Edward</i>

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David MacBrayne is a limited company owned by the Scottish Government. Formed in 1851 as the private shipping company David Hutcheson & Co. with three partners, David Hutcheson, Alexander Hutcheson and David MacBrayne, it passed in 1878 to David MacBrayne.

PS <i>Caledonia</i> (1934) Clyde-built paddle steamer (1934 - 1980)

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PS <i>Jeanie Deans</i> Clyde-built paddle steamer (1931 - 1967)

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PS Waverley was a Clyde-built paddle steamer that carried passengers on the Clyde between 1899 and 1939. She was requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a minesweeper during World War I and again in World War II, and was sunk while participating in the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. The current PS Waverley, launched in 1946, was built as a replacement for this vessel.

PS <i>Eagle III</i> Clyde-built paddle steamer (1910 - 1946)

PS Eagle III was a passenger-carrying paddle steamer that was built and sailed on the Clyde, and was twice requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a minesweeper during the world wars.

PS <i>Duchess of Fife</i> (1903)

PS Duchess of Fife was a paddle steamer built in 1903 for the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. She spent most of her career serving passenger routes in the Firth of Clyde and was requisitioned for use as a minesweeper during both World Wars. In 1940 she took part in the Dunkirk evacuation, rescuing a total of 1,633 allied troops.

PS Waverley was a Clyde-built paddle steamer that carried passengers on the Clyde between 1885 and 1887, then on the Bristol Channel from 1887 until 1916, when she was requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a minesweeper during World War I.

PS <i>Lucy Ashton</i> Clyde-built paddle steamer (1888 - 1951)

PS Lucy Ashton was a Clyde-built paddle steamer that carried passengers on the Clyde between 1888 and 1949. She was one of the longest serving Clyde steamers.

References

  1. "Scottish phrase of the week: Doon the watter". The Scotsman . 21 October 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  2. Clark, Andrew (2012). Pleasures of the Firth; Two Hundred Years of Clyde Steamers. Catrine, East Ayrshire: Stenlake Publishing. p. 17. ISBN   9781840335859.
  3. "BBC London News: Victoria Embankment has taken a step back into its past with the towing away of the Queen Mary pub boat". BBC News. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  4. "Historic steamer TS Queen Mary to sail on River Clyde again". BBC News. 11 March 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 John COLEGATE (1868). Colegate's Guide to Dunoon, Kirn, and Hunter's Quay. Second edition. [With plates.]. John Colegate. p. 13. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  6. "The Day We Went to Rothesay O". Scotland's Songs. Education Scotland. Archived from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  7. Munro, Neil, "A Quiet Day Off", in Osborne, Brian D. & Armstrong, Ronald (eds.) (2002), Erchie, My Droll Friend, Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh, pp. 324 - 328, ISBN   978-1-84158202-3
Bibliography