i

T H E S K I P N E S S

a n d

L O C H F Y N E

S T E A M E R S

Their History and Successors

P. Donald M. Kelly

© 2004 P. Donald M. Kelly.

© 2004 P. Donald M. Kelly.

The right of P. Donald M. Kelly to be identified as Author of this bookis hereby identified by him in accordance with The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Introduction

I was brought up in the Ayrshire village of Skelmorlie, beside and overlookingWemyss Bay. The Clyde’s Steamers and ships were then very much part ofeveryday life and, my father, The Customs and Excise’s Landing Officer atPrince’s Dock in Glasgow in the 1950’s, had me well schooled in the ways ofthe ships from an early age.

Our house, built by my parents, directly overlooked the start of Skelmorlie’sMeasured Mile and Wemyss Bay’s Pier and Railway Station and, in winter, withthe leaves fallen from the trees, I could see the very spot where the little“Kintyre” had sunk in 1907, the year before my mother was born.

One of the “Kintyre’s” white porcelain toilet pans, in near pristine conditionand brought to the surface in recent years, now has pride of place in ArmitageShanks' historic collection in Staffordshire.

My earliest knowledge of the Campbeltown steamers came from a “non-blood”aunt who had served, in the fruit stalls, on both the old “Davaar” and the“Dalriada”.

Wemyss Bay was no stranger to the Campbeltown ships, a regular port of callon Monday mornings and too a main berth in World War I and at the start ofWorld War II. There were other connections between Skelmorlie and Kintyre.

Skipness House’s owner was a cousin of Skelmorlie Castle’s tenant and whennew sandstone was required it was sent by ‘puffer’ from the quarry at Skelmorlieto Skipness.

Though lying in Kintyre, Skipness was never served by the Campbeltowncompany’s steamers but had instead calls from those ships serving the LochFyne ports and, for that very reason, their combined stories is set out here, thestory of the Campbeltown steamers and the Islay steamers connecting withMacBrayne’s Tarbert and Ardrishaig services being set apart elsewhere.

Acknowledgements

The many ‘standard’ references used to prepare the summaries here includedthe various editions of Duckworth and Langmuir’s “”Clyde River and OtherSteamers” and their “West Highland Steamers”, Alan J.S. Paterson’s “The GoldenYears of The Clyde Steamers (1889-1914)”, Brian Patton’s “Scottish Coastal Steamers1918-1975”, Fraser G. MacHaffie’s “The Short Sea Route”, Fred M. Walker’s“Song of The Clyde” and to many other corroborative items in the pages of “ShipsMonthly” and “Sea Breezes” and to many old and local newspapers and to amiscellany of steamer enthusiast sources and references.

A special note of thanks to my late father who developed my interests inshipping and to Duncan MacMillan of Kintyre’s Antiquarian and HistoricalSociety without whose generosity and support little of this work would havebeen possible, to Duncan Ritchie of Carradale, to Hamish Mackinven ofEdinburgh, to Captain John Leesmoffat, to the late Ian Shannon and to themany other, some long departed, friends that I made through our mutualinterest in ‘steamers’.

Donald Kelly, Kintyre, 2004.

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C o n t e n t s

Skipness and Claonaig 1

Tarbert or Not Tarbert ? 5

The Tarbert Canal 5

Loch Fyne Piers and Ferries 8

The Inveraray Steamers 8

Puffer, Ahoy ! 17

Fancy Tarbert ? 18

MacBrayne’s Royal Route 23

The Turbine Steamers 29

The “King Edward” 31

The “Queen Alexandra (I)” 35

Breakfast, Luncheon, Dinner & Tea 37

“Good Spirits” 38

The “Queen Alexandra (II)”/ “Saint Columba” 39

Clyde Cargo Steamers 41

1935 Fleet Changes 42

The “Duchesses” of Argyll 44

The “Duchess of Montrose” and The “Hamilton” 47

Ayr Ways 49

From “Queen” to “Knooz” 50

Keeping Up Steam 51

The Hovercraft and The Catamaran 51

“Calvin B. Marshall” 56

The “Pibroch” and An “Eagle” 57

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Clyde Steamers On Video

Though the days of the Clyde Steamers are now but distant memories, theatmosphere and prosperity of their times has been captured and preserved on anumber of VHS-video films which will trigger many people’s memories of theirown childhood days and the glories of suumers past.

Readers of “Ships Monthly” and “Sea Breezes” magazines will already be familiarwith the advertisements of companies and indeed individuals from whom suchvideo films can be purchased and a 2004-dated list from Mainmast Books, 251Copnor Road, Portsmouth, Hants. PO3 5EE Telephone number 023-9264-5555 isindicative of those then available.

* CLYDE STEAMER MEMORIES (Part 1) (8356)

recording the period from 1919 to 1949 its commentary given byLargs-based BBC presenter Iain Anderson. Black and White

* CLYDE STEAMER MEMORIES (Part 2) (8357)

continues the story from 1949 through to 1989. Colour

* CLYDE STEAMER MEMORIES (16180)

* DOON THE WATER (16252)

is a compilation of British Transport Commission films, the “Coastsof Clyde”, its commentary by the late Bernard Braden, includes filmof the turbine steamer “Duchess of Montrose” on a trip to Arran.

* WEST HIGHLAND STEAMER MEMORIES (16201)

looks at the MacBrayne fleet and West Highland services.

* PADDLE STEAMERS OF LOCH LOMOND (16195)

covers the steamer history of the loch from 1820 to 1990 when theformer Loch Awe motorship“Countess Fiona” / ”Countess ofBreadalbane” was finally withdrawn.

* THE GOLDEN YEARS OF THE P.S. “Waverley” 1947 - 1997

covers her first 50 years around the coasts. (16196)

* Excursion Ships in The Wake of The Paddlers (16314)

features 21 ships from around the U.K. including “Waverley” and“Balmoral” and the ill-fated “Southsea” which, as the “PrinceIvanhoe”, was wrecked on the Welsh Gower Coast.

* Ships of The Clyde (16194)

shows the vasr variety of ships, from clippers to liners, from paddlesteamers to tugs, which appeared on the Clyde between 1859and 1959.

* Isle of Man Steam Packet - The Island Lifeline (16148)

features the Manx ‘baby-liners’“Lady of Mann” and “Ben-My-Chree”which often sailed from Ardrossan to Douglas and too looks at thecargo ships and ‘ro-ro’ car ferries on the Isle of Man services.

* The Video Film Prices should be checked with advertisers.

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Skipness and Claonaig

hough Skipness was never served by the Campbeltown company’s steamers,the Ardrishaig and Inveraray cargo steamers had landed passengers and cargoby ferry there since at least 1827. A small sandstone harbour for fishingboats, but unsuited to steamers, was built in 1838 but easterly winds and

seas soon began to erode the structure and it was destroyed without trace in a 1911gale. Skipness’ pier, built at a cost of £3,000, the same as it had cost to build the1838 harbour, opened in 1879, twenty-one years after the first pier at Carradale wasbuilt. A second pier had been built at Carradale in 1870, the first in Scotland to bebuilt in iron and Skipness followed suit in 1879, its pier constructed from ironrailway track, known as ‘Barlow rails’, patented hollow iron rail sections used by I.K. Brunel for his ‘wide-gauge’ railways, bought from The Great Western RailwayCompany who, four years later in 1883, would buy the Campbeltown company’s“Gael” for their cross-channel Weymouth - Cherbourg route.

The success of Skipness’ pier construction was due to the very slimness of the‘Barlow rails’ which gave minimal resistance to wind, wave and current and otherdesigners, such as William Grover and Richard Ward, who had built The BristolChannel’s 1,000-foot long Clevedon Pier, had used similar iron lengths to withstandthe rapid currents and 50-foot tidal range of The Bristol Channel.

Opened in time for the 1879 Glasgow Fair Holidays, Skipness was included inMacBrayne’s summer timetable and calls given by their 1864-built “Iona (III)”which had been displaced from her regular Ardrishaig run by the new “Columba”.The following 1880 season, the “Iona (III)” moved on to Oban to cater for theincreased traffic brought in by the then new Callander & Oban Railway.

During the 1879 season, the Shearer & Ritchie’s 1877-built “Glen Rosa” and Keith& Campbell’s 1869-built “Guinevere” ships had battled for the Glasgow - Arrantrade and, with the withdrawal of MacBrayne’s “Iona (III)” to the Oban station,Shearer’s and Keith’s reached a compromise deal which saw their ships calling atSkipness on alternate days - there was no profit for either in the calls at Skipnessand the “Glen Rosa” was sold off in 1881, first sailing on The Thames and then onThe Bristol Channel, leaving the “Guinevere” free to drop Skipness andconcentrate on the Arran trade. She was sold off to Buchanan’s in 1884, runningfrom Glasgow’s Broomielaw and then, in 1894, sold again to Turkish owners inConstantinople. Sadly, a Clan Line ship witnessed her sinking in The Bay of Biscayand no survivors were found.

From July 1882 onwards, Skipness would be served by The Lochfyne & GlasgowSteam Packet Company’s 140-foot long cargo-passenger steamer “Minard Castle”.The company was essentially successor to Donald Dewar’s Jura SteamboatCompany which had the 1869-built puffer “Jura” in 1876.

The “Minard Castle”, a neat little steamer, two masts and funnel amidships, hadbeen built by a number of local disenchanted Fyneside merchants who setthemselves up to run in opposition to MacBrayne’s. Launched on June 19, 1882,the “Minard Castle” achieved 12 knots on her trials, on July 12.

Her 1910 sailings, like most other years, saw her leaving Inveraray on Mondays,Wednesdays and Fridays at 6 a.m. and Ardrishaig at 8.30 a.m. before going on toSkipness, the Friday call being omitted in winter. Arriving in Greenock for 3 p.m.and then went up-river Glasgow for about 5 p.m.. On Tuesdays, Thursdays andSaturdays, she left Glasgow at 6 a.m., Greenock at about 9.30 a.m. and, picking upa Glasgow - Gourock train and steamer connection at Dunoon, then called at PortBannatyne, Colintraive, Ormidale (it being a Thursday only call), Tighnabruiach,Auchenlochan, Kames and on to Skipness ( the Thursday call being dropped inwinter) then Tarbert, Ardrishaig, Otter Ferry, Crarae, Furnace and Inveraray.Other calls would be made if there had been advance arrangements. On occasion,MacBrayne’s “Aggie”, a ship chartered by them so often for the Loch Fyne run thatshe too was in their official fleet list, would also call at Skipness in the early 1900’s.

During the 1880’s, Campbell’s fleet of Wemyss Bay steamers called fairly regularlyat Skipness on excursion trips. Campbell’s, who ran Wemyss Bay - Rothesay andWemyss Bay - Largs - Millport services, fell out with the railway company andwithdrew from Wemyss Bay in April 1890, their ships then sold.

Campbell’s 1885-built “Victoria”, the first Clyde steamer to be fitted with electriclight, was sold for service on The Thames but came back to The Clyde and, in1897, under the ownership of A. Dawson Reid, tried reviving a daily service toSkipness but it failed and the “Victoria” ended her days across The Atlantic, inBermuda.

On Friday, June 22, 1894, the most notable of all Clyde ships to call at Skipnesswas the Glasgow & South Western Railway Company’s handsome two-funnelledpaddle steamer “Glen Sannox” then on charter to the Trades’ House of Glasgowfor their annual outing. Some three hundred passengers were carried by special trainfrom Glasgow’s St Enoch Station to Prince’s Pier at Greenock and, departing at

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1010 a.m., they sailed to Dunoon, Innellan, Largs, Millport and Lamlash, then onto Skipness where the party went ashore for an official photograph to be taken.

Dinner was served as the steamer made her way through The Kyles of Bute andthen, rounding Toward Point, the “Glen Sannox” met up with The Channel Fleetsteaming up river to anchor at The Tail of The Bank. As they steamed on by,ensigns were respectfully dipped and “Rule Britannia” was sung by the passengers,led by the ship’s band who had already played throughout the day’s cruise.

In 1899, The Lochfyne & Glasgow Steam Packet Company bought the 1868-builtpaddle steamer “Sultana” from John Williamson’s and put her on a daily passenger-cargo run from Glasgow, via Dunoon, Fairlie, Millport and Skipness, to Tarbertand Ardrishaig. The “Sultana” lasted only one season and was sold on March 27,1900 to French owners based in Cherbourg and spent her final days on The Seinebeing eventually scrapped about 1907.

The “Sultana” and the Campbeltown company’s little “Kintyre” had both beenbuilt in 1868 by Robertson’s at Port Glasgow, both were successful and well-likedships. Captain James Williamson, who would later become manager of TheCaledonian Steam Packet Company, had fond memories of his time with the“Sultana” for not only had he served his time as an apprentice engineer withRobertson’s as she was building for his father but too would he be her emergencyengineer and then her skipper.

She was indeed a record breaker and reduced the running time of the Glasgow -Rothesay service by some forty minutes forcing the railway company and theWemyss Bay steamers to bring their own timings down to just eighty minutes forthe through service. For some years too she ran the Princes Pier, Greenock toRothesay service and even though she called at Kirn, Dunoon and Innellan, shecovered the run in just fifty-seven minutes, still a record to this day. On oneoccasion too she had left Greenock as the regular Dublin steamer arrived and,before the Irish steamer’s captain managed to tie up at his berth, the little “Sultana”was back from Rothesay !

Needless to say in these heady days, steamer skippers were almost weekly, someeven bi-weekly, in court to explain their actions and the young Williamson was nostranger to the River Baillies and on such occasions ‘the standard’ appearance feewas invariably £5. As chance would have it, on the very day of young Williamson’swedding, he was ordered to appear yet again before the River Baillie. Fortunately,

the good old fellow had a sense of humour and Williamson found his appearance‘cancelled’ and ‘the fiver’ was spent on the honeymoon !

On Wednesday, August 16, 1899, The North British Railway’s “Redgauntlet” hadbeen engaged on a cruise round Arran with 290 passengers and crew on board whenshe was blown off course, in a near gale-force south westerly wind, on to IronRock ledges at the south end of the island, near Sliddery. She was refloated andreturned to service on Monday, April 16, 1900 and two months later, on Thursday,June 16, 1900 - Tarbert Fair Holiday, ran a ‘Grand Excursion’ to Campbeltownvia Skipness. The sailing times and fares were Ardrishaig at 7 a.m. Cabin 4/6dSteerage 3/-; Tarbert 7.45 a.m. and Skipness 8.15 a.m., the return fares from eitherbeing 4/- for Cabin and 3/- for Steerage and the ship arrived in Campbeltown about10 a.m.. After eight hours ashore, the return trip left at 6 p.m. a band, perhaps thatof The Argyll and Bute Asylum, being engaged to play on board during theexcursion.

On Glasgow Fair Tuesday, July 16, 1901. The “Iona (III)”, on the ‘up-run’, leftTarbert at 6.30 p.m. and, after finishing her service run to Ardrishaig, left there at7.30 p.m. to give a cruise to Skipness, allowing half-an-hour ashore and returning toTarbert at 9.45 p.m. and Ardrishaig at 10.30 p.m., fares 1/-. The previous night shehad given Tarbert and Ardrishaig passengers a cruise Round Minard’s Islands andon the Wednesday evening that week she extended her ‘service run’ to give anevening cruise to Inveraray, fare 1/6.

During the pre and inter-war years, Skipness would continue to be an occasionalport of call for excursions and charters but the growth of lorry traffic and the startof World War II brought the end of Skipness’ iron pier.

Though Lochranza pier was closed to passenger steamers at the end of the 1971season, it was decided to replace the last remnants of MacBrayne’s old ‘RoyalRoute’, the Fairlie - Brodick - Tarbert car ferry service, which had been instituted in1970 by the “Cowal” and to open a new car ferry route, from Lochranza to Kintyre.The following year, on Saturday, July 8, 1972, the new bow-loading car ferry“Kilbrannan” began the service to Claonaig.

The “Kilbrannan” (re-named “Arainn Mhor”), along with three of her sister carferries, the “Morvern” , “Coll” and “Rhum”, were sold to operate the service fromBurtonport to Aranmore, County Donegal and “Arainn Mhor” and “Morvern”more recently sold again to run between the west end of Bere Island andCastletownbere on Bantry Bay.

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Tarbert or Not Tarbert ?

arbert derives its name from the Gaelic compounding of tarruing, to drawand bata, meaning boat. The variations of spelling are as numerous as thewriters are ingenius !

In the oldest records it is Tarbart, then Tarbard. Later it is spelt indiscriminately asTerbert, Tarbert, Tarbett, Tarbet, Tarbatt, Tarbat, Torban, Tarbot, Tarbitt,Terbat, Turbet and too Terbart. Take your pick or phone a friend ?

There was, though no date of its foundation can be traced, a shire of Tarbert whichincluded Kintyre, Gigha, Islay, Jura, Scarba, Colonsay and Mull plus the variousand adjacent smaller islands. Rathlin Island also then reckoned to be within TheSheriffdom of Tarbert. On February 26, 1481, Knapdale too was made made partof Tarbert-shire. Previously it was part of Perth-shire !

Eventually, on Friday, June 28, 1633, Tarbert-shire was amalgamated with theshire of Argyll - The last Tarbert-shire M.P., elected in September 1628, was SirLachlan M’Lean of Morvern.

Tarbert’s famous fair appears in records at least as early as 1705.

The Tarbert Canal

n 1771, James Watt, carried out surveys of possible routes for canals betweenthe East and West Lochs at Tarbert, the isthmus just 1,600 yards wide andbetween Loch Gilp and Loch Crinan.

It would seem that James Watt most likely would have stayed at Barmore House,home of Sheriff Archibald Campbell, while carrying out his survey. Campbellhimself was responsible for instructing an earlier English surveyor to explore a routefor the Sliabh Ghaoil road and the story goes, according to the (then) ‘NewStatistical Account’, that the surveyor “attempted to travel over the ground but therocks were so precipitious, the ferns so gigantic, the Englishman so unwieldly and sounaccustomed to travel such grounds that, after much tumbling and scrambling, hewas obliged to betake himself to his boat and finish his survey by rowing along theshore.

On making his report to Campbell, the surveyor told him that it was an“undertaking for the Empress Catherine of Russia and not fit (financially) forprivate individuals”. Campbell persevered and the road completed before his deathin 1777.

The isthmus at Tarbert, reaching only 47’ above sea-level, might have seemed well-suited for a canal - Watt suggested a channel about 16’ deep and costing some£120,000 - but it was the difficulty of sailing ships having to beat up the narrowchannel of the West Loch that discouraged its establishment.

With Loch Gilp now the preferred option, the Duke of Argyll promoted a newcompany to build The Crinan Canal. John Rennie surveyed two routes, one to thenorth of Loch Crinan and the other to the south. Parliament sanctioned the chosenroute, to the south of Loch Crinan, in 1793 and work eventually began on thecutting, expected to take some five years, in September 1794.

The new company struggled financially from the outset. The company got a£25,000 loan from The Treasury and even the army loaned soldiers to work on theconstruction as it was impossible to attract experienced contractors to carry out thework and even the seasoned navvies quickly left, fearful that they might not get paidfor their labours !

It was indeed a badly built canal that opened in 1801 and it had to be quickly closedwhen, even with a reduced water level, it breeched. It re-opened again, eighteenmonths later, in 1806 and was eventually thought to be complete in 1809, completethat was until two years later, in 1811, a reservoir collapsed.

Thomas Telford, the engineer on the Caledonian Canal, carried out an inspectionand, following implementation of his recommendations, the Crinan Canal, nowunder the management of the Caledonian Canal commissioners, re-opened yet againin 1817 - The Caledonian Canal itself opened in 1822.

But, given the introduction of steamships, there was still interest in the canalproposals for Tarbert and, in 1828, Henry Bell, who had built the “Comet”, made afurther survey.

Just two years later, writing from his death-bed on August 23, 1830, atHelensburgh, Bell addressed a letter to ‘The Gentlemen, Freeholders andMerchants of Argyleshire’.

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“The straight cut 50’ wide at the bottom, 60’ wide at the top and 3’ deep giving 15’of depth at high water, the cut of 6’ depth giving 18’ and that of 9’ giving 21’ at highwater and, the cuts being made in a straight line, through solid rock and withoutlocks or draw-bridges, the total expense being £90,000.

“Two stone (road) bridges would be needed, high enough to allow vessels to passthrough the arches under full sail. Their arches being 70’ and their breadth 25’.

“The monies needed raised by a joint stock company and by passage chargessuggested as 2s 6d (12 ½ pence) for small rowing boats, 5 shillings (25 pence) for½ decked fishing wherries and for other vessels of 10-50 tons @ 1 shilling (5pence) per ton, 50-100 tons @ 9 d (3+ pence) per ton and 100 tons upwards @ 6d(2 ½ pence) per ton to amply repay shareholders.

Fifteen years after Bell’s letter, in 1845 and the defects of the Crinan Canalbecoming more and more apparent, an Act of Parliament was passed to enablework to begin on the Tarbert Canal but, due to the monetary crisis of 1847, worknever began and the company dissolved in 1849.

Another attempt to revive the proposal - and another Act of Parliament passed -in 1882 also came to nothing, the projected revenue in this case was expected to bein the region of some £11,750 from passage dues.

Loch Fyne Piers and Ferries

nly small vessels could tie up at Tarbert’s quay, in the ‘inner’ harbour andin 1825 the laird, Campbell of Stonefield, extended the harbour and builtthe ‘New Quay’. Again it would be the Stonefield laird, Colin GeorgeCampbell, who built the outer pier, East Loch Tarbert’s pier, in 1866

and it was itself rebuilt in 1879 when MacBrayne’s new 301-foot long paddlesteamer “Columba” arrived on the scene, too long to go alongside the 1866 pier.

The early steamers made a weekly call at Sir John Orde’s Kilmory Pier, on the eastside of Loch Gilp, until 1817 when the remedial work finished on The Crinan Canaland Ardrishaig Pier extended, in 1817.

The Otter Ferry - from ‘oitir’, or sandbank - was of great antiquity and thoughthere was a small stone quay there, a steamboat pier was built, just a mile to the

north, Largiemore Pier, in 1900. Other ferries, Lochgair and Minard andFurnace, also were given steamer calls.

Crarae Pier would be built in 1880 to supersede a stone jetty at the quarry andStrachur Pier built in 1877. Inveraray’s stone jetty was replaced in 1821 and awooden gangway and ‘T-shaped’ frontage added in 1877.

There were also two ferry services across the head of Loch Fyne to Inveraray. Onefrom Cairndow and another, served by the 1865-built “Fairy Queen”, at St.Catherine’s, which closed eventually in the late 1950’s when ferryman HopeMcArthur retired. The Portavadie ferry, again of antiquity, was re-established onlyin July 1994.

The Inveraray Steamers

ntil 1768, when the 93rd Regiment repaired the old military road over TheRest and Be Thankful and it became possible for stage coaches to travelfrom Tarbet and Arrochar to Inveraray, the only other roads for thoseseeking to make for Glasgow were by Loch Eck, to Ardentinny and by

Hell’s Glen, to Lochgoilhead. Despite these routes, the sea route down Loch Fynewas the most convenient and the coming of the steamboats would almost run thehorse-drawn coaches off the roads.

The first recorded steamer to enter the Glasgow - Inveraray trade was the“Rothesay Castle”, entering Loch Fyne in the spring of 1816, the year of herbuilding. Other sources suggest that it was the 1814-built, note the spelling,“Inverary Castle (I)” that began the service in 1816 but, regardless, the Loch Fynetrade became the preserve of The Castle Steam Packet Company and, by 1818, the“Dumbarton Castle” too had become a regular sight on the loch. In 1820 camethe “Inverary Castle (II)” she being joined by the “Toward Castle” two yearslater.

In 1826, the fleet was joined by the new “Dunoon Castle” and she and the“Rothesay Castle” became the main Inveraray steamers from Glasgow calling dailyat Port-Glasgow, Greenock, Gourock, Dunoon, Rothesay, Tarbert andLochgilphead as they plied to and from Inveraray and, in competition to them, ranthe 1824-built “George Canning” and David Napier’s own 1825-built “JamesEwing” and it is entirely due to Napier’s imspiration that the famous ‘Loch EckTour’ began.

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Some time around 1820, David Napier had built The World’s first iron steamship,the little “Aglaia” and placed her in service running up and down Loch Eck, herpassengers transferring to horse-drawn coaches connecting to Inveraray ferry and tothe early steamers calling at Kilmun, the traditional burial ground of The Dukes ofArgyll. Such was the success of this venture that, in 1827, Napier built a newsteamboat pier and hotel at Kilmun and then contructed a proper road for his newsteam-driven coach to carry passengers to the foot of Loch Eck and had the little“Aglaia” was replaced by another new paddle-steamer.

In the same year, 1827, through his uncle Robert Napier, blacksmith to The Dukeof Argyll, David Napier was able to avoid the first year’s cost of pier dues atInveraray and placed the new “Thalia” and the “Robert Bruce” into service onLoch Fyne. Based at Inveraray, they gave a 7.30 a.m. sailing to Cairndow, thethrough Glasgow connections being via Loch Lomond on Napier’s own paddle-steamer “Marion” and a 10 a.m. sailing to Strachur to link up with the “Aglaia” onLoch Eck and then with Napier’s steamers, “Venus”, “Loch Eck”, “Kilmun” and“St. Mun” sailing from Kilmun to Glasgow. The new through service was butshort-lived, the steam-driven Kilmun - Loch Eck coach was accused of damagingthe roads for horse-drawn traffic and soon disappeared as too did the little LochEck paddle-steamer, the Loch Eck service not being renewed until 1878.

Napier’s withdrawal from the Inveraray ferry services was no doubt persuaded bythe fact that The Duke of Argyll was a shareholder in The Loch Goil and LochLong Steamboat Company, established on February 9, 1825, which had taken overthe “Oscar”, operating, since 1818, the Lochgoilhead - Glasgow service. WhereasNapier had been content to operate the Inveraray services without seeking anysecurity of ferry rights, simply paying the official “ferriers” a proportion of hisreceipts, The Loch Goil and Loch Long Steamboat Company, The Duke of coursea shareholder, secured a 35-year lease on the crossings, effective from 1829onwards and placed their own small steamer on the St. Catherine’s run, crossingdaily in winter and twice daily in summer, a four-horse coach making the seven milehaul through Hell’s Glen to connect with the Lochgoilhead steamers. For the final16 years of the ferry rights’ lease, the company built the paddle-steamer “Argyll”.

The 1816-built “Rothesay Castle” was sold off in 1830 and wrecked off Beaumarisin August 1831, the “Inverary Castle (II)” also being sold in 1831, she, in 1836under the ownership of one Alexander Barlas, sailing from Oban, via Tobermory,to Staffa and Iona. During 1834 -35, the 96-foot steamer, the “Dolphin” put in abrief appearance on the Glasgow - Loch Fyne route but was quickly sold off to

Malcolm McLeod to trade to Tobermory, Barra, South and North Uists and toSkye.

The “Tarbert Castle (I)” appeared in 1836 but lasted only till 1838 when, becauseof the introduction of the rival “Argyle”, she was replaced by the faster “TarbertCastle (II)”, which had an even shorter life being wrecked in a storm on the SilverRocks off Ardmarnock Beach in Kilfinan Bay on January 17, 1839, the rival“Argyle” coming to give assistance found that all had been saved. The steepleengine from the “Tarbert Castle (II)” was fitted into the new “Inverary Castle(III)” which then took up service at the end of 1839.

During the summer of 1842, the second, note the spelling, “Rothsay Castle” leftGlasgow at 6 a.m. on Saturdays for Inveraray. In September 1842, the last of the“Castle” steamers to be built with the Inveraray run in mind was the “DuntroonCastle”, she was to be involved in a collision with the Campbeltown company’s“Duke of Cornwall” off the Cloch Light on Saturday, October 26, 1850 andthough, as The High Court judge remarked, the actions of the master of the“Duntroon Castle ” were the cause of the collision, the Campbeltown master wascharged but then necessarily acquitted unanimously by the jury !

For a time, each “Castle” ship had been owned by a separate company and it wasnot until 1832 that the various ships were transferred to The Castle Steam PacketCompany which, in September 1842, was renamed The Glasgow Castle SteamPacket Company which, in June 1846, was taken over by G. & J. Burns and theirGlasgow and Liverpool Steamship Company.

The general manager of the “Castle” steamers until their sale to Burns was CaptainJohn M’Arthur, son of Tarbert harbour-master Alexander M’Arthur. G. & J.Burns, determined to get control of the Clyde passenger traffic, now reduced theirfares to an all-time record low conveying passengers between any two piers of theirchoice for just two-pence ! The fare-cutting exercise failing to increase Burns shareof the passenger traffic and their fleet was then sold.

In 1847, Glasgow merchant William Roxburgh ordered the 75-foot long, schooner-rigged screw steamer “Lochfine” from Denny’s Dumbarton yard and, thoughappearing on the Loch Fyne run, she was often trading out through the CrinanCanal to the West Highlands. In 1850, she was also acquired by G. & J. Burns, justbefore Burns’ own heads of department, David and Alexander Hutcheson andBurns’ nephew, David MacBrayne formed David Hutcheson & Company, inFebruary 1851, to take over Burns’ West Highland services. From April 1851, the

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Loch Fyne cargo-passenger services were operated by The Glasgow & LochfineSteam Packet Company, one of its directors being the same William Roxburghwho had first built, then later sold, the “Lochfine” to the G. & J. Burns.

Initially, under charter, the “Inverary Castle (III)” and the second “RothsayCastle” continued the Inveraray services and then, in August 1851, the newcompany bouught the former and replaced the latter with the 1846-built steeple-engined paddle-steamer “Mary Jane” from Sir James Matheson in Stornoway. Amonth later, in September 1851, they also bought the wooden hulled “DunoonCastle”, she was sold off in November 1854. The ‘Lochfine’ company was takenover by Hutcheson’s in February, 1857.

In 1864, the St. Catherine’s ferry running unprofitably and unreliably and The LochGoil and Loch Long Steamboat Company now at the end its lease of the ferryrights, a group of Inveraray businessmen, including The Duke of Argyll, bid for theferry rights and, forming The Inveraray Ferry and Coach Company, put the littlepaddle-steamer “Fairy (I)” on the St. Catherine’s run, she was replaced by “Fairy(II)” in 1894, the latter, foundering in a gale in December 1912, then beingreplaced by a series of motor ferryboats which served until September 1963.

The “Mary Jane” continuing on the Inveraray run till 1875, when she waslengthened and re-named “Glencoe” , the “Inverary Castle (III)”, being re-registered officially as the “Inveraray Castle (III)” in 1874, continuing on the runtill 1891, the only alteration to her sailings being the inclusion of a weekly call atOrmidale from February 1875 onwards.

Making her first appearance at Inveraray on February 17, 1857, the 1844-builtpaddle-steamer “Dolphin(I)” was regularly on the run till 1862 when she was soldas an American blockade-runner in which trade she had a bit more luck thanHutcheson’s “Iona (I)” and “Iona (II)”, both sunk before they could even leaveBritish waters . “Dolphin(I)” was captured by the Federals in 1863, taken as prizeto New York then sold in July 1864 and immediately sold on to, the Confederates !Renamed “Ruby”, she was intercepted near Key West and again taken to New Yorkto be used as a patrol vessel. Sold to a Memphis, Tennesse owner in 1867, she waswrecked in an 1874 gale.

There being no replacement for the “Mary Jane” and the steadily ageing, nownamed, “Inveraray Castle (III)” left to serve Inveraray and the other Loch Fyneports, a new company, The Glasgow & Inveraray Steamboat Company, formed in1877 and subscribed to by some of the shareholders of ‘The Lochgoil Company’,

ordered the fine paddle-steamer “Lord of The Isles (I)” from D. & W. Henderson’syard. The main purpose being to revive David Napier’s ‘Loch Eck Tour’,abandoned at the end of the 1820’s and to provide a regular daily summer service onthe ninety-mile long Glasgow to Inveraray route, an excursion service that wouldcompete directly against ‘The Royal Route’ service to Ardrishaig. So successful wasthe new steamer that Hutcheson’s ordered a new paddle-steamer for the 1878season, the “Columba”.

To operate the Lock Eck service itself, Napier’s original steamers having beenbroken up nearly fifty years earlier, a new 80-foot long single screw steamer, the“Fairy Queen” was built at Seath’s Rutherglen yard and, after re-assembly on thelochside, launched on February 28, 1878. Although badly damaged by fire at theend of the 1879 season, she was soon refurbish and indeed lengthened to cope withthe demand for this popular tour which now ran through Dunoon instead ofKilmun, the old Napier ‘interchange’.

In June 1879, at the age of 65, David MacBrayne, now the sole partner of DavidHutcheson & Company, began to trade in his own name but, there still being nomention of any replacement for the “Mary Jane”, a group of businessmen formedThe Lochfyne & Glasgow Steam Packet Company, in 1882, to build the “MinardCastle”, she was later transferred to the like-named shipping company in 1913.This neat little 12-knot ship, sailing from Glasgow to Skipness, the various LochFyne ports and Inveraray, had a long and successful career, being replaced by ClydeCargo Steamers’ “Minard” and broken up at Port Glasgow in 1926.

Rather than refit and refurbish the 1877-built ship, the ‘Inveraray Company’directors placed an order for “Lord of The Isles (II)” in the autumn of 1890, theoriginal being sold for service in The Thames that September. Her career there, asthe “Jupiter”, was short-lived and she returned to the Clyde under the ownership ofA. Dawson Reid who renamed her “Lady of The Isles” and, after unsuccessfulattempts to find a place in the Glasgow excursion trade, she was scrapped in 1904.

The “Lord of The Isles (II)”, launched on Saturday, April 25, 1891 by Miss MaryMaclean, daughter of the owning company’s chairman, made her trial trip toInveraray on Wednesday, May 20, 1891 with a party of invited guests, her timingfrom Rothesay to Inveraray bettering that of her predecessor by some twentyminutes.

Peter M’Farlane, Chief Engineer of the “Lord of The Isles (II)”, had been anengineer on the Lochgoilhead steamer “Alliance”, built in 1857. Her designer

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George Mills, son of a one time Lord Provost of Glasgow, was, in turn, asteamboat agent, shipbuilder, newspaper proprietor, then chemist. The 140-footlong, 30-foot beam, “Alliance” was in fact double-hulled, a catamaran and, inconsequence, she had a central paddle-wheel. She was also the very first ClydeSteamer to have saloons on the main deck. She must have been successful for shewas sold off as a blockade-runner and, though nothing of her later career is known,she at least safely crossed The Atlantic.

The now elderly “Inveraray Castle (III)” which had been off the Inveraray run,with a broken paddle-shaft, for five weeks in the summer of 1889, was withdrawnin the winter of 1891-92. MacBrayne’s had bought the 1857-built, ex-ChannelIslands’ paddle-steamer “Cygnus”, which they rebuilt in 1892 as the “Brigadier”,to replace her but soon moved her to Strome Ferry and once again, as hadhappened before, the Loch Fyne cargo service was operated by chartered ships suchas the “Battle Isle”, first chartered in the summer of 1891 and the “Rossgull”, in1893-94. Fish salesmen, McKinney & Rafferty’s ships, “Nellie”, “Marie” and“Aggie”, were well-suited for the Loch Fyne cargo service and the “Aggie” waschartered so frequently into the early 1900’s that her name was eventually includedin the official company fleet list.

In 1902, with the appearance of the new “Queen Alexandra (I)” on theCampbeltown run and the “King Edward” sailing ‘south about’, round theGarroch Head to Ardrishaig - the run being extended to Inveraray, but then viaThe Kyles of Bute, in 1909, both the “Columba” and the “Lord of The Isles (II)”extended the length of their sailing seasons. To publicise the ‘Loch Eck Tour’connections, the ‘Inveraray Company’, having built a brand new four-in-hand,thirty passenger, charàbanc, drove it through the centre of Glasgow, its driver andguard dressed in red coats and white satin hats on the first Monday of May as it setoff on its long delivery run to its Dunoon base.

The “Lord of The Isles (II)” herself left Glasgow at 7.20 a.m., called at Prince’sPier, Greenock for train connections from London (St Pancras), the Midlands andthe Midland Railway’s overnight service to Scotland, then Gourock for passengersfrom The Caledonian Railway and the ‘West Coast’ route passengers from London’sEuston Station and then to Dunoon to connect with The North British Railway’ssteamer bringing passengers from Edinburgh and the east coast of Scotland andEngland, a highly integrated timetable and one that, a century later, would seemdoomed to failure were it presented to the managements of the modern rail networkoperators.

MacBrayne’s own cargo service to the Loch Fyne ports and Inveraray had, since thedeparture of the old “Mary Jane” in 1875, been operated by a succession of smallchartered ships, most often the “Aggie”. In 1903, the company had put in handthe building of three new screw passenger-cargo ships, near ‘sisters’, of about 135-feet in length. While “Lapwing (II)” had been already delivered by the end of theyear, there was still a lot of work to be done on the “Plover (III)” and “Cygnet(II)” when MacBrayne’s first ever twin-screw ship, the “Flowerdale”, boughtsecond-hand in 1889, went ashore on Lismore at the start of 1904 and became atotal loss. Her machinery and boilers were however salved and, one of her boilersand her port engine, with its right-handed propellor, was given to the new “Plover(III)”, the other boiler and the starboard engine, with its left-handed propellor,being fitted in “Cygnet (II)” - Here, it is not the ‘economy’ of the supply which isinteresting but rather, it is the curiosity of the “Flowerdale” being fitted, veryunusually, with inward-turning propellor shafts that bears note. “Flowerdale”, itmight be added, had been built for The Independence Marine Salvage and SteamPump Company in 1878 and, observers noted that, though externally of very roughfinish, the machinery was remarkably solid and dependale to the end.

Despite the “Texa” now ‘partnering’ the new “Cygnet (II)” and the oftenchartered “Aggie” on the Loch Fyne cargo service, the “Texa” herself left theInveraray and upper Loch Fyne calls to the “Cygnet (II)” and the “Aggie”. LeavingGlasgow at 6 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for Ardrishaig, the“Texa” lay the weekends at Ardrishaig before returning to Glasgow.

Even before the death of their veteran manager Malcolm Turner Clark, the‘Inveraray Company’ was in serious difficulties, the turbine-driven “King Edward”now often well on her homeward journey before the “Lord of The Isles (II)” hadeven reached Inveraray. In 1909, both The Glasgow & Inveraray SteamboatCompany and its close associate, The Lochgoil & Lochlong Steamboat Company,in liquidation, a new company, The Lochgoil & Inveraray Steamboat Company wasformed to take over their assets.

Three years later, in April 1912, the month in which the “Titanic” was sunk,Turbine Steamers Ltd., in association with David MacBrayne Ltd., who hadacquired shares in the former, purchased and registered both the “Lord of The Isles(II)” and the ‘Lochgoil Company’ steamer “Edinburgh Castle” which remained onthe Lochgoilhead service until November 1913 when she was sold for scrapping.With the “King Edward” now running the Inveraray day excursions, TurbineSteamers put the “Lord of The Isles (II)” on Glasgow - Round Bute excursions,these continuing after World War I and the ship continuing these and other

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excursion services until the end of the 1927 season. In the spring of 1928, the“Lord of The Isles (II)” was employed briefly on the Greenock - Ardrishaig mailrun and then, MacBrayne’s “Iona (III)” being called to Oban, covered the Glasgowto Lochgoilhead and Arrochar run till the end of that season when, too costly torun, she was broken up at Smith & Houston’s Port Glasgow yard.

Meanwhile the 1909-formed Lochgoil & Inveraray Steamboat Company continuedto own and operate the “Fairy Queen”, on Loch Eck. After the end of World WarI, an attempt was made to run her in 1919 but, this unsuccessful, she was scrappedon the lochside during the following year. Though no longer owning any steamers,the company continued to operate motor coaches on the ‘Loch Eck Tour’ route andthe names of the “Fairy Queen” and the “Lord of The Isles ” survived on two ofthe company’s vehicles till 1936 when the company was finally wound up.

From August 19, 1915, until, at least notionally, December 31, 1948, theLoch Fyne cargo services would be operated first by Clyde Cargo Steamers Ltd.and then, from March 4, 1937, their successors, The Clyde & CampbeltownShipping Company, the majority of the latter’s shares being owned by TheMacBrayne Trust Ltd..

The “Minard Castle” continued to operate independently until 1922 when she waspurchased by Clyde Cargo Steamers and then ‘partnered’ the former MacBrayne’s“Lapwing(II)” after her purchase in July 1923. The “Minard Castle”, having beensucceeded by a new steamer, the “Minard”, in January 1926, was broken up at PortGlasgow towards the end that year and too, at the beginning of 1926, on Burns’Night, January 25, 1926, the “Lapwing(II)” had been renamed “Cowal (I)”, shewould be sold in April 1930, two years after the introduction of the new “Ardyne”.Clyde Cargo Steamer’s “Arran (III)” was wrecked off Barmore Island, north ofTarbert, on December 31, 1932, just six hears after MacBrayne’s “Chevalier (II)”had also gone aground near the same point.

By early 1940 and now until the very end of the Loch Fyne cargo service, the 1928-built “Ardyne” was on her own and sailing thrice-weekly, on alternate days, toTarbert, Ardrishaig and the upper Loch Fyne ports.

After World War I, in 1919, the turbine-driven “Queen Alexandra (II)”, whichhad rammed and sunk the German submarine “UB-78”, west of Cherbourg, onMay 9, 1918, took up the daily excursion run to Inveraray. She continued throughthe seasons until the new turbine steamer “King George V”, which had only jonedthe fleet at the very end of the 1926 season, took up the Inveraray excursions until

the end of the 1935 season, both she and the “Queen Alexandra (II)” wereMacBrayne’s. In 1936, the “Queen Alexandra (II)”, now given a third ‘dummy’funnel and renamed “Saint Columba” took up ‘The Royal Route’ sailings toTarbert and Ardrishaig.

Now, from 1936 till the outbreak of World War II in Septwember 1939, TheCaledonian Steam Packet Company’s turbine steamer “Duchess of Argyll” wastransferred to the Inveraray run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the turbine“Duchess of Montrose” giving a fourth excusion sailing on Thursdays.

After World War II, in 1946, the “Duchess of Hamilton” restarted the summerexcursions, the “Duchess of Montrose” being refurbished and the Inverarayexcursion consequently restricted to Tuesday sailings only. With the return of the“Duchess of Montrose” in 1947, Inveraray was now reduced to a twice a week,Tuesday and Thursday, sailings, these continuing until the end of 1964 when the“Duchess of Montrose” was withdrawn and sold for scrapping in Belgium.

Yet again, the Inveraray sailings were reduced to Tuesday only sailings, the“Duchess of Hamilton” back on the run from 1965 till her withdrawal at the end ofthe 1970 season and then the “Queen Mary II” taking over until the end of the1973 season when regular sailings to Inveraray were abandoned.

Now, thwarted by Loch Fyne’s great length and the need to operate at an economicspeed, it is a rare occasion even for “Waverley (IV)” to make the trip to Inveraray,not even for Inveraray’s world-famous Highland Games.

Puffer, Ahoy !

The supreme marine achievement of man’s invention !

mongst the host of small cargo-carrying Clyde sailing craft were the gabbarts,some schooners but most ketches of about 50 registered tons, 60-feet long,15 to 17-feet in beam and about 7 to 9-feet in depth.

Their shallow draft, flat-bottomed hulls, suitable for grounding on beaches wherethey could discharge their cargoes, were full-bodied with a good sheer, had generallyrounded, though some were square, short counter sterns and outside rudders andall of a size able to fit the locks on The Forth and Clyde Canal. All were cutter-rigged with gaff main and topsails, jib and staysail.

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More than fifty years had passed since the “Charlotte Dundas” had shown theviability of steam-power on the canal, a technical success which was not thenfollowed through by the canal proprietors who feared the effect of thesteamer’s wash on the canal banks.

Now, in 1856, James Milne, the canal engineer, fitted a twin cylinder, 10” strokeand 6½” bore, atmospheric engine, powered by a 3’ diameter boiler working at 35lbs pressure, into the “Thomas”, a ‘standard’ canal barge at a cost of £320.

With a four-foot pitch ‘screw’ and the engine turning at 130 revolutions per minute,the “Thomas”, capable of carrying some 70 or 80 tons of cargo, was able to dosome 5 mph and ‘the puffer’ was born, her atmospheric engine ‘puffing’ merrily alongexhausting steam directly into the atmosphere and sky !

As an ordinary canal barge, she had been worked by two boatmen, a horse and ahorseman, now the “Thomas” needed just two crew.

The following year, 1857, at Kelvin Dock, the Swan brothers, David, John andRobert, built and engined the “Glasgow”, the first purpose-built ‘puffer’ and in thesame year one James Hay set up business at Port Dundas as a shipping agent. Tenyears later, as J. & J. Hay, James and his brothers John and Robert, both engineers,took over Crawford & Company’s boatyard at Kirkintilloch to build ‘puffers’, mostgiven ‘tribal’ names, for themselves.

Fancy Tarbert ?

“Dream no more southern rambles ! Snowy Alp or Castled Rhine;Step on board the good “Columba”, Book for Tarbert on Loch Fyne !”

n September 2, 1812, just a month after making her debut sailing betweenGlasgow and Greenock, Henry Bell’s “Comet” extended her route viaTarbert and The Crinan Canal to Oban, Port Appin and Fort William, thereturn journey taking four days. The first “Comet” was wrecked near

Crinan on December 13, 1820.

A second “Comet (II)” was built in 1821, one of the shareholders was Neil Malcolmof Poltalloch, at Lochgilphead, who subscribed £50. So seemingly too did his wifewho, like her husband, very trustingly left the cash in Henry Bell’s own hands !Bell too was financially embarrassed at the time and one report has it that Bell had

never settled accounts for the first “Comet” ! The new “Comet (II)” was run downand sunk off Gourock by the “Ayr” on October 21, 1825 !

The little 1815-built “Greenock”, which, in 1844, would become a ferry ‘cross TheMersey, was advertised to take farmers and ‘trippers’ to Tarbert Fair in August 1815- The Battle of Waterloo was, of course, on June 18, 1815.

Only small vessels could actually tie up alongside Tarbert’s Old Quay, in theharbour and the bigger, early, steamers had to rely on ferries to land and loadpassengers and cargo.

After Tarbert, the early steamers made a call at Sir John Orde’s Kilmory Pier, onthe east side of Loch Gilp, until 1817 when the remedial work finished on TheCrinan Canal and Ardrishaig Pier extended, in 1817.

In 1825 the laird, Campbell of Stonefield, extended the harbour and built the ‘NewQuay’. Again it would be the Stonefield laird, Colin George Campbell, who builtthe outer pier, East Loch Tarbert’s pier, in 1866 and it was itself rebuilt in 1879when MacBrayne’s new 301-foot long paddle steamer “Columba” arrived on thescene, too long to go alongside the 1866 pier.

For the better part of the first thirty years of steamer services, Tarbert’s trade was inthe hands of the ‘Castle’ steamer owners - The first Hutcheson (MacBrayne)steamers did not ‘cast off’ till Monday, February 10, 1851.

Despite their seemingly common fleet names, the Castle steamers, nearly twenty,were each owned by separate companies and ‘the company’ served Loch Goil aswell as Loch Fyne. The first to appear in Loch Fyne was the 1816-built “RothesayCastle”, which would be joined later by the 1814-built “Inveraray Castle (I)”.

In 1822, Loch Fyne would be served thereafter by the 1820- built “Inveraray Castle(II)“ and the new 1822-built “Toward Castle” and then the 1826-built “DunoonCastle” partnering the old “Rothesay Castle” till the end of the 1820’s when thelatter was sold, later lost and a large number of passengers drowned off Beaumaris.

A daily service was given every lawful day - not Sundays - between Glasgow andInveraray with calls at Port Glasgow, Greenock, Gourock, Dunoon, Rothesay,Tarbert and Lochgilphead, each ship returning the following day.

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The ‘company’, advertising its, then four, ships as ‘Royal Mail Steam Packets’, alsooperated a steamer to run mail on Sunday mornings from Rothesay, at 8.30 a.m. toGreenock, leaving there for the return trip at 11 a.m. It too, then in 1829, rantwice a week from Glasgow to Brodick and Lamlash. Running to Lochgilphead,thrice weekly, were 1825-built “James Ewing”, “St. Catherine” and the 1830-built“Superb”.

In 1832, the “Windsor Castle (I)”, owned by the consortium of Finlay, Watsonand Miller. Under the command of Captain Don Currie, she was on the Glasgowto Inveraray run until 1838 when replaced by another, “Windsor Castle (II)” givena figure-head of Queen Victoria.

Then came the 1836-built, three - masted “Tarbert Castle” which was wreckedopposite Tarbert at Ardmarnock Beach on January 17, 1839. By the time the new1838-built “Argyle”, owned by James Fleming, James McDonald and WilliamEwing, went to her assistance everyone had been safely evacuated.

The ‘Tarbert’, known as ‘the long Tarbert’, was refloated but her hull beyondeconomic repair, her machinery was salved and given to the new 1839-built“Inveraray Castle (III)”, now built to oppose the “Argyle” !

The origins of The Castle Steam Packet Company are somewhat obscure but its titleis noted in 1832 when the ‘Castle’ steamers were transferred to its trustees. Thecompany was reconstituted in April 1842 as The Glasgow Castle Steam PacketCompany and among its trustees was one Robert Thom, a Rothesay cotton spinner.

In the summer of 1842, the 1837-built “Rothsay Castle” - note the spelling - leftGlasgow at 6 a.m. every weekday morning for Greenock, Dunoon, Rothesay,Tarbert and Lochgilphead, on Saturdays she extended her run to Inveraray. AtTarbert, she linked with the “Toward Castle” which had been on the West Loch toIslay run since 1838. Now the 1842-built “Duntroon Castle”, a single funnel and afemale figure- head. She was unusual in that she had two masts, both of themrigged to carry square-sails !

The next ship, the 1844-built “Cardiff Castle”, the first Clyde Steamer to be fittedwith a ‘double diagonal’ engine, is of particular interest for two other reasons,firstly, because it is generally agreed that she inaugurated the famous ‘Royal Route’ toThe Isles and, secondly, because she ended up in the ‘Sunday Trade’, fromGlasgow to Millport, in 1866, under the ownership of Glasgow publican HarrySharp, a sorry end for an otherwise interesting ship.

Her builder’s certificate is one of the oldest known Clyde Steamer records reads“We, Caird & Co., engineers and founders in Greenock, County of Renfrew, builtin our building yard here, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-fourand launched from thence on the third day of June of the same year the steamer“Cardiff Castle”, John Campbell, master, being a square-sterned, clinker-builtiron vessel, constructed to be propelled by steam, rigged, two-masted schooner,with one deck, a scroll head and quarter pieces and that her length, from the innerpart of the main stem to the fore part of the stern post aloft, is one hundred andseventy feet three-tenths, Her breadth amidships on deck is nineteen feet; depth ofhold amidships, nine feet three-tenths; and the admeasures after deducting theengine room. And that William Campbell Esq. of Tilliechewan; John Watson Esq.,merchant, Glasgow; James Hunter Esq. of Hafton; Alexander Struthers FindlayEsq., merchant in Glasgow and other partners of The Castle Steam PacketCompany, are the first purchasers and sole owners and that the said vessel was neverregistered before. Given under our hands at Greenock this eighteenth day ofSeptember, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four. Caird & Co..”

A new “Windsor Castle (III)” was built in 1845, the fastest ship on The Clydecovering the Glasgow to Rothesay run in a record 2 hours and 28 minutes ! She wasindeed a very ‘tender’ ship and was scrapped after her very first season and herengines would be fitted into the 1846-built “Dunrobin Castle” which wasoccasionally on the Loch Fyne run till 1851 when she was sold to Russia.

Now, in June 1846, The Glasgow Steam Packet Company, though its steamerscontinued to be advertised till 1848 under its name, was acquired by G. & J. Burns,the ships being registered in the name of the Trustees of The Glasgow & LiverpoolSteamship Company, in whose name all Burns’ Highland ships were registered.

When Burns had introduced through shipping services, via The Crinan Canal, tothe West Highlands in 1839, they had placed the four-year old “Helen McGregor”on the Oban to Crinan service and a year later on the through Glasgow to Invernessservice and, towards the end of 1843, she gained the dubious honour of being thefirst ever vessel to sink in The Crinan Canal ! She was salvaged and served on thesame run till 1848.

The through route from Glasgow to Inverness was jointly worked between Burnsand Messrs. Thomson & MacConnell whose paddle steamer “Brenda” covered theGlasgow to Lochgilphead route.

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To cover The Crinan Canal section, the “Thornwood”, a horse-drawn ‘track-boat’,was brought down from The Monkland Canal. She was succeeded for the 1847season by the track-boats “Maid of Perth” and “Sunbeam”, the latter conveyingQueen Victoria along the canal to Crinan in August that year.

For the occasion, the “Sunbeam” was was specially fitted out, her two plate- glasswindowed 20’ by 6’ and 18’ by 10’ cabins being hung with curtains and drapes andan 18’ by 10’ timber canopy, supported by four pillars surmounted with gilt crowns,extended across her after deck. A decorated scroll filigree style panel ran the outsidelength of her cabin roofs.

“At five we reached Loch Gilp and landed at Lochgilphead,” wrote Queen Victoria. “We andour people drove through the village to the Crinan Canal where we entered a most magnificentlydecorated barge drawn by three horses ridden by posthillions in scarlet.”

In fact, she had come ashore in Ardrishaig and was driven to the ‘Poltalloch PostingHouse’ where, supposedly, she walked up the, somewhat steep, little steps behindwhat would be re-named The Royal Hotel to the canal.

Burns took over William Ainslie’s three Fort William-based steamers in June 1849,including the 1844, Wingate-built “Queen of Beauty” which was sent back toWingate’s for dismantling, her machinery, Robert Napier’s very first marine engine,from the 1823 “Leven”, to be used in a new ship, the “Merlin”, which made herinaugural trip on the Glasgow to Ardrishaig route on Saturday, April 20, 1850. Onthat run, her owners and friends aboard, she made the 80-mile run against the tidein five-and-a-quarter hours, much to the delight of all on board.

The following year, at 6 a.m. on Monday, February 10, 1851, the former CastleCompany steamer “Pioneer” took over ‘The Royal Route’ as David Hutcheson &Company took over control of ‘The West Highlands’.

David Hutcheson retired from the company in 1876, his brother Alexander twoyears later, in 1878. This left the third partner, Burns nephew David MacBrayne,to carry on the business which he now did, in his own name.

MacBrayne’s Royal Route

ollowing Queen Victoria’s passage through The Crinan Canal and her passageon to Inverness in 1847, the route became known as “The Royal Route”, atitle which would be promoted enthusiastically by Hutcheson and MacBrayneover the next years and decades.

Towards the end of 1851, the year of The Great Exhibition in London, a new ship,the “Mountaineer”, was ordered for the Clyde section of the route. She waslaunched from J. & G. Thomson’s Govan yard on May 29, 1852 by Master DavidHutcheson, a nephew of two of her owners and on July 22nd “ran the lights”between the Cloch and the Wee Cumbrae at a fraction under 15 knots.

Single-masted and two-funnelled, she was flush-decked, with a slanting stem finelydecorated on each side with a guilded carving of a Highlander in full costumeholding a greyhound on a lead and had a square stern, which too was embellished.On the hatch-cover of the lower saloon companionway was a wooden carving of agoat. The artists and decorators had indeed liberally and lavishly decorated the newship and such was her success on the Ardrishaig run that she was succeeded by thefirst “Iona (I)” in 1855 and thereafter the “Mountaineer” would only to the routein spring and autumn.

The route to Tarbert and Ardrishaig did not have a daily service until the winter of1867-1868 and, from November 1869, Greenock became the route’s winterterminal with Glasgow through sailings operating only in summer.

The first “Iona” too was a ‘crack’ ship and then, The American Civil War camealong and, in September 1862, she was sold as a blockade-runner to TheConfederates who had been under blockade since April 1861.

Laden with coal and now fitted with a main-mast, she left Glasgow around 2 p.m.on October 2, 1862 for Nassau in The Bahamas. She spent the afternoonadjusting her compasses at The Tail of The Bank and then at about 7 p.m., just offGourock was run down and sunk by the new “Chanticleer” which was returning up-river after running speed trials on the Skelmorlie Measured Mile. The “Chanticleer”was still ‘at speed’ and sliced through the starboard side of the “Iona (I)” cutting towithin just a couple of feet of her port hull. Both ships had steaming lights and thecollision is still something of a mystery.

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The master of the “Chanticleer” vainly tried to push the “Iona (I)” towards theshore and, unbelievably, the master of the “Iona (I)” refused assistance from apassing tug arguing that the master of the “Chanticleer” should accept liability forpaying the tug ! Fortunately, no lives were lost in the collision and the crew of thestricken “Iona (I)” plus a stowaway all got safely ashore !

Today the “Iona (I)”, her stern pointing towards Helensburgh, Henry Bell’s lastabode, sits upright in about 90-feet of water at about 55° 57’ N 04° 47’ W andsome three-hundred feet or so south-east of the Whiteforeland Buoy, her coalbunkers strewn in mounds beside her wreck.

With the sale of the first “Iona (I)”, Hutcheson’s ordered a replacement ship, the“Iona (II)”, from J. & G. Thomson’s Govan yard again. She ran her trials onWednesday, June 24, 1863, attaining some 18 knots and a feature about herappeared in “The Illustrated London News”.

The 245-foot long ship, driven by twenty-foot feathering paddle wheels, had herengine-room open to view on three sides, enclosed only by rails. Her main-deckpassenger saloons, fore and aft of the engine and boiler space, totalled some onehundred and eighty feet and her dining saloon, on the lower deck about seventy-five feet in length. Described as “a floating mansion in which a person may go tosea without losing the sense of home,” she too had a post office on board.

After only working the 1863 season, shee too was sold for blockade running toCharles Hopkins Boster of Richmond, Virginia and, like her predecessor, alsoended up sunk in British waters, off Lundy Island, in The Bristol Channel, onFebruary 2, 1864 when outward bound to America. Her wreck, about 51° 11’ N04° 38’ W , was discovered in 1976 and she is now listed as one of Lundy Island’sdiving attractions. Some items retrieved from the wreck are in Greenock’s McLeanMuseum.

Now Hutcheson’s built “Iona (III)”, launched on May 10, 1864 and she wouldserve the company until broken up at Dalmuir in April 1936. Many of her internalfittings and furnishings had come from “Iona (II)”, not needed by the blockade-runner. Her navigating bridge was raised to paddle-box height in the winter of1870-1871 and two years later, in 1873, she was fitted with steam steering gear andChadburn’s engine-room telegraphs. She was reboilered in 1875 and again in 1891and too, in 1880, had been given an oil-gas lighting installation and a third lifeboatfor working out of Oban to Crinan and Corpach.

In 1866, The Crinan Canal ‘track-boats’ gave way to the “Linnet”, a twin- screwsteamer, based at Crinan, which made the two-hour passage through the canal tomeet up with the “Iona (III)” at Ardrishaig in summer-time. The “Linnet” wouldsurvive until the end of the 1929 season when she was sold to The Glasgow MotorBoat Racing Club at Shandon, in The Gareloch. She arrived there in June 1930 andwas wrecked in a storm in January 1932.The Glasgow and Inveraray Steamboat Company’s “Lord of The Isles (I)”, built in1877, called at many of the piers used by “Iona (III)” and Hutcheson’s now orderedanother new ship for the Ardrishaig run, hoping to take away some of the‘intermediate pier’ passengers from the rival ‘Loch Fyne’ ship.

Again they went to Thomson’s and, for around £28,000, got the wonderful 301-foot long “Columba” complete with post office, book and fruit stalls and abarbers’s shop which even had a steam engine to drive the hair brushes ! The PostOffice service was withdrawn at the start of the 1914-1918 war and not reinstated.Too, with the arrival of the new 301-foot long ship, Tarbert’s East Loch Pier hadto be extended.

When reboilered in 1900, the “Columba” was raised some five inches out of thewater and her speed increased from 18 knots to 19½ knots at 40 r.p.m. Her engine-room was however a very dark and gloomy place until 1929, when a small electriclight plant was fitted. Her only drawback was her coal consumption, some 18 to 20tons daily.

With the arrival of the new “Columba”, the “Iona (III)” became ‘spare’ in themain part of the season, although she carried out the Clyde service in the spring andautumn, the winter runs being carried out by the “Mountaineer”.

In 1879, the “Iona (III)” found herself doing Glasgow Fair cruises to the newlyopened pier at Skipness but was otherwise idle and the following years found hersent to Oban until, in the summer of 1886, she found herself back on the summerArdrishaig station, in concert with the “Columba”. A ‘rival’, Alexander Williamson,had had the temerity to try running a weekend-only service to Tarbert andArdrishaig, berthing his ship at the latter over The Sabbath Day and now, given thereturn of the “Iona (III)”, the ‘rival’ disappeared !

The “Columba” left Glasgow’s Broomielaw at 7 a.m. and then returned toGlasgow leaving Ardrishaig about 1 p.m.. The “Iona (III)” balanced the serviceleaving Ardrishaig at 5.45 a.m. and then left Glasgow at 1.30 p.m. In 1901, the“Iona (III)”, on Friday, June 14th - the local holiday, called at Queen’s Dock on

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the upward run to give passengers a chance to visit The Glasgow Exhibition and,delaying her return trip, a 6 p.m. call was made at Partick to take everyone homeagain.

In 1904, the “Iona (III)” had her route shortened and, still leaving Ardrishaig at5.45 a.m., ran to the piers in The Kyles of Bute, Rothesay and then on to WemyssBay to leave at 10.40 a.m. and run direct to arrive back in Ardrishaig at 12.50 p.m.,more or less with the “Columba”. On Wednesdays and Saturdays during July andAugust, she would go on to Otter Ferry and, departing there at 1.45 p.m., wouldretrace her route back to Wemyss Bay, then back to Ardrishaig, a 10 p.m. finishafter a 17-hour day.

On Monday, August 14, 1905, with a large complement on a beautiful moonlitnight singing and dancing to the music of The Argyll and Bute Asylum’s band, the“Iona (III)”, doubling round on her service run, picked up evening cruisepassengers from Tighnabruiach at 7.15 p.m. ret. 10.30 p.m., Auchenlochan at 7.20p.m., ret. 10.35 p.m., Kames at 7.25 p.m., ret. 10.40 p.m., Tarbert at 8.15 p.m., ret.11.20 p.m. and Ardrishaig at 8.50 p.m.. The cruise, back down to The Kyles ofBute - possibly circling through ‘the narrows’ and ‘the south channel’ - did notreturn to Ardrishaig till 1 a.m.. On the following Saturday, the “Iona (III)” had toanchor for two hours off Ardlamont, due to overheating engines, on her middayrun from Wemyss Bay to Ardrishaig !

In 1909, on Friday, August 6 and in aid of funds for Ardrishaig Public Hall, the“Iona (III)” was chartered for a ‘Grand Moonlight Cruise’ to Crarae and round theMinard Islands, leaving Tarbert at 8 p.m. and Ardrishaig at 8.40 p.m.. Ardrishaig’sPipe Band was on board and a concert too had been arranged, the inclusive chargebeing 2/- per ticket or, just 1/6 for the cruise. 500 passengers were carried and thegross takings were £42 .13/-. Outlays, “including the cost of the steamer charterfrom Messrs MacBrayne’s on very liberal terms” amounted to just £11.17/- and theprofits were thus £30.16/-.

The 1914-1918 War saw the “Iona (III)” running the Ardrishaig service fromWemyss Bay, the anti-submarine boom closing the river north of the line betweenThe Cloch Lighthouse and Dunoon.

The “Columba” took over again from August 1916 and the sailings from Greenockand Gourock were resumed on February 1, 1919, initially by the “Chevalier”which, until she stranded on the south-east of Barmore Island, en route for

Ardrishaig on March 25, 1927, would also cover the winter reliefs, these then beingcovered by the “Fusilier”.

After the war and until 1927, the “Iona (III)” would be the summer steamer on theLochgoilhead and Arrochar run, originally served by the ‘Castle Company’ shipsand would do the spring and autumn ‘shoulders’ on the Ardrishaig run.

On October 12, 1931, the new diesel-electric “Lochfyne”, her first and latersummers spent at Oban, took over the winter Ardrishaig service. She was the firstBritish passenger vessel to have electric motors, supplied current by diesel engines,which directly drove her propellors, much was written about her in ‘the technicalmarine press’. The “Lochfyne” would thereafter carry out all the winter reliefs,occasionally relieved by the “Lochnevis” and too would provide the service throughthe 1939-1945 war years from Wemyss Bay.

On October 3, 1935, MacBrayne’s, in conjunction with The London, Midland &Scottish Railway Company, acquired the ships of Turbine Steamers Ltd. andWilliamson-Buchanan Steamers, the “Queen Alexandra (II)” and the “KingGeorge V” going to MacBraynes.

The “Queen Alexandra (II)”, built in 1912, was given a mainmast and a thirdfunnel and renamed “Saint Columba” put on to the summer Ardrishaig run andthe old ships “Iona (III)” and “Columba” broken up at Dalmuir in April 1936,the bell from the “Iona (III)” can be seen today in The Puffer Aground Restaurantat Salen, on Mull.

Requisitioned as an accomodation ship for Greenock’s East India Harbour inJanuary 1940, the “Saint Columba” returned to the summer Ardrishaig run onMay 19, 1947 though now only operating from Gourock, the crew-hours fromGlasgow out-weighing any thoughts of resuming sailings from Glasgow.

With World War I, the “Saint Columba”, then named “Queen Alexandra (II)” ,was requisitioned as a troop transport and was fully engaged in this work fromFebruary 7, 1915 until May 10, 1919. Just a year and a day before she was released,on Thursday, May 9, 1918, when under the command of her old skipper, CaptainAngus Keith and west of Cherbourg, at 49° 49’ N, 01° 40’ W, she depth-charged,then rammed and sank the German Coastal Type UB III submarine “UB 78” at0050 hours in the morning, none of the submarine’s 35 crew survived. CaptainKeith received an O.B.E. and a Distinguished Service Cross as a reward for hisinitiative.

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The “Saint Columba” ran aground in fog at Ettrick Bay on Bute in August 1953and then, in her final year of service, 1958, was given a radar ! She was towed toSmith & Houston’s yard at Port Glasgow for breaking up - hauled stern first on tothe shore as was their custom - on December 23, 1958.

The “Lochfyne”, relieved occasionally by the “Lochnevis”, then became the all-year-round Ardrishaig ‘steamer’ - She was also relieved by the turbine “King GeorgeV” at the beginning of November 1960 as the “Lochiel” had broken down on TheWest Loch Tarbert to Islay service.

In turn, on September 30, 1969, the “Lochfyne” too was withdrawn and, inJanuary 1970, was sold to the Northern Slipway Ltd. of Dublin but spent some timeat Faslane supplying power there to the ship-breaking yard. Then she was sold toScottish & Newcastle Breweries, docked at Govan and renamed “Old Lochfyne”but too ended up being scrapped, at Dalmuir in 1974. The Ardrishaig service, nowunder the control of The Scottish Transport Group, was operated, only to Tarbertthat winter of 1969. First by the “Maid of Skelmorlie” and then, in the spring, tillMay 29, 1970, by the “Maid of Argyll” which effectively brought ‘The RoyalRoute’, through The Kyles of Bute, to an end.

Now the Fairlie-based car ferry “Cowal” began a daily service Fairlie - Millport(Keppel Pier) and Brodick to Tarbert. This service was, essentially, ‘unadvertised’as it was designed to provide a relief for the sometimes over-loaded Ardrossan -Brodick car ferry “Glen Sannox”. Much to STG’s surprise and thanks largely to theeditor of the weekly “Autocar” magazine, quite a considerable traffic built up for theTarbert section !

Perhaps as a consequence, the decision was taken to operate a car ferry fromLochranza and the little car ferry “Kilbrannan” duly opened the new service fromLochranza to Claonaig, near Skipness on July 8, 1972.

The Turbine Steamers

he theory of turbines is, like Archimedes’ screw, ancient but the practicalharnessing of the idea is due to the Swedish-born Gustaf de Laval (1845-1913) and to Charles Algernon Parsons (1854-1931), a member of the Rossefamily of astronomical telescope fame from Parsonstown (now Birr) in

Ireland.

In 1881, after his time serving a ‘premium apprenticeship’ at Armstrong’s ofElswick on Tyneside, Charles Parsons joined Kitson & Company of Leeds, buildersof railway locomotives for many overseas companies. There he invented anddeveloped the ‘epicycloidal’ steam engine and also experimented with ‘rocket-propelled’ torpedoes.

In 1884, he joined Clarke, Chapman at Gateshead as a junior partner and tookcharge of their electrical department. His first problem was to design a steam drivenship’s lighting set where the optimum dynamo speed was much in excess of the topspeed attainable by a steam reciprocating engine and his steam turbo-generator,with an output of 7.5kW was soon followed by larger and more powerful machines.From this came Parsons’ 1884 patent giving birth to the steam turbine. In 1889,Parsons severed his connections with Clarke, Chapman and set up The ParsonsSteam Turbine Company and, because his earlier patents were in the name ofClarke, Chapman, he was forced to design a completely new turbine system using‘radial flow’ turbines.

The first of his new generators had an output of 350kW and soon he was producingturbo-generators with up to 200,000kW outputs for power stations.Despite his interest in producing steam-powered electrical generators - the veryfirst was installed in The Caledonian Steam Packet Company’s 1890-built “Duchessof Hamilton (I)” - Parsons decided to develop his steam turbine design further, asa marine propulsion unit.

Gustaf de Laval, the Swedish engineer whose first turbine patent had been grantedin 1883, a year before Parsons own patent, had also secured a patent for ‘doublehelical reduction gears’ in 1889 and three years later, in 1892, he constructed areversing turbine developing some 15 h.p. and running at some 16,000 rpm, to thisday a most remarkable speed. Using his own reduction gears to drive a propellor ataround 330 rpm, Laval put a small launch on to the waters of Lake Mäleren inSweden, this the first marine application of the steam turbine.

Two years later, in 1894, Parsons, backed by a group of speculative investorslaunched the 100-foot long, 2,000 s.h.p. 34-knot “Turbinia”, her 9-foot beam beinglittle more that that of an English canal narrow-boat. Today she is preserved and onview to all at Newcastle’s Science Museum.

“Turbinia” ran her first set of trials in late 1894 but the results were disappointing,the high speed of the main propellor creating a vacuum behind its blades causing aconsiderable loss of power, this effect referred to as ‘cavitation’. To measure the

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torque on the shaft, created by the turbine, Parsons designed the instrument weknow today as the ‘torsion meter’ and, thanks to this, he was then able to makegreat improvements to the design of high-speed propellors.

Much to the annoyance of The Admiralty - and to the delight of many onlookers -the little “Turbinia” easily out-paced and ran rings round the Navy ships sent tochase her as she ran through the lines of ships at the 1897 Fleet Review at Spitheadand, as a consequence of such a very public demonstration of the potential ofturbine propulsion, The Admiralty ordered the turbine driven destroyer “Viper”and then too took over another, being built “on spec”, which they named “Cobra”.Both were over-lightly built ships and both came to grief. On August 3, 1901, the“Viper” ran aground on Renonquet Reef, in The Channel Islands and was declareda total loss. Six weeks later, on September 17, 1901, the “Cobra” was seen tobreak in two in heavy seas off Flamborough Head, never again would Navy shipsbe named after snakes !

Denny’s of Dumbarton, who too had built the famous “Cutty Sark”, wereenthusiastic about developing the turbines for merchant ships as were Parsons andtogether they approached the various railway companies looking for contracts butthe railway companies “affected a terrible amount of modesty, each anxious thatsomebody else should make the first experiment” - then along came JohnWilliamson, in the background, The Glasgow & South Western Railway Companyitself barred from operating the Campbeltown service but quite free to guaranteeany loans that Williamson might need and so was born The Turbine Syndicate.

The “King Edward”

he members of The Turbine Syndicate - William Denny & Brothers, TheParsons Marine Steam Turbine Company and Captain John Williamson -each contributed one-third of the £33,000 cost of the new “King Edward”,the first instalment when the hull was framed, beamed, bulkheads in place

and had all internal work rivetted; the second, when launched and the third andfinal payment made on delivery.

Considering the very experimental nature of the new venture and not wanting toadd further to its risks, Denny’s chose to adhere to a hull model similar to that ofthe successful 1890-built paddle-steamer “Duchess of Hamilton (I)” and it seems,that had the screw turbine experiment not been successful, the turbine machinerycould have been removed and the hull then fitted with paddle machinery. The hull,costing £24,200, was 250.5-feet long, 30.1-feet in beam and, with a depth of 10-

feet, had a draft of 6-feet. Parsons part of the work was estimated to cost £8,000and a further £800 was to be provided to cover the other miscellaneous start-upcosts of the venture, a total of £33,000 divided equally amongst the three parties.

To fund his share of the venture, Captain John Williamson obtained a loan of£2,500 from The National Bank of Scotland, now The Royal Bank of Scotland andin turn, as noted in a Glasgow & South Western Railway Company minute ofJanuary 22, 1901, Williamson’s loan was guaranteed by the railway company oncondition, one that too was included in The Turbine Syndicate’s own agreement,that the new ship was placed on the Fairlie - Campbeltown service.

The new ship, Denny’s Yard No. 651, was launched by Mrs Charles Parsons onThursday, May 16, 1901. For the machinery, Parson’s Engine No. 8, steam, at150 lb per square inch, was supplied by a conventional double-ended boiler. TheNavy ships “Viper” and “Cobra” had Yarrow’s water tube boilers but here, withno need for lightweight construction and such high running speeds, the need wasfor fuel economy which involved a wider range of steam expansions than in the twoNavy ships.

Whereas steam might be expanded between eight and sixteen times in acontemporary triple expansion engine, there were one hundred and twenty-fiveexpansions in the turbines of the “King Edward”. The high-pressure steam,driving the centre turbine, was expanded five times before being exhausted into thelow-pressure turbines driving the outer shafts.

There the steam was expanded a further twenty-five times before being againexhausted, now into the condenser. The separate astern turbines (turbines cannotbe reversed due to the curved formation of their blades) were fitted into the casingsof the outer ‘wing’ turbines - Early turbine ships lacked any great power whengoing astern a deficiency remedied in later engine designs

As no gearing was involved, the propellor shafts of the “King Edward”, like that ofthe little “Turbinia”, turned at extraordinarily high speeds and from the start it wasappreciated that the propellor surface area and the high peripheral speed of thepropellor tips would cause cavitational problems. The centre high-pressure shaftcould, in theory, turn at up to 700 rpm and the two outer low-pressure shafts at upto 1,000 rpm and the outer shafts fitted with an extra propellor thus making hereffectively a ‘five-screw’ ship

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Her first steam trial took place on Friday, June 14, 1901 and on the followingMonday she reached a mean speed of 18.66 knots in calm weather on a return runover the measured mile at Skelmorlie before heading back up-river to Scott’s yard atGreenock where she was dry-docked for hull cleaning. A week later, on Monday,June 24, 1901, she ran a further series of seven double runs over the SkelmorlieMeasured Mile, the best mean speed now 19.7 knots, still short of the expected 20knots and so she was slipped the following day at Inglis’ Pointhouse yards to changepropellors. Now the 4’ centre propellor was exchanged for one of 4’ 9” diameter,the two outer 2’ 10” propellors replaced by 3’ 4” propellors and on Wednesday, June26, 1901, again on the Skelmorlie measured mile, on a smooth sea and in a lightbreeze, she reached a mean average of 20.48 knots with the centre shaft turning at505 rpm and the outer shafts at 755 rpm, the fastest run that day being 20.57 knots.Test tank calculations estimated her to have 3,500 i.h.p..

Over the following years, there were numerous changes of propellor configurationsand extra endurance trials and a further 34 double runs were carried out over theSkelmorlie Measured Mile between June 1901 and April 1905, when at last, theextra propellors on the outer shafts were finally removed.

Buried amongst a maze of steampipes on the lower deck, b e l o w the main deck,was the engineers’ control platform, virtually out-of-sight of passengers.

When the main stop valve wheel was opened to the centre, high-pressure ‘ahead’turbine, it too admitted steam to the two outer shaft ‘ahead’ turbines. Whenmanoeuvring, the centre ‘ahead’ turbine was shut down by means of the main stopvalve wheel and the outer ‘ahead’ and ‘stern’ turbines then opened and shut down asnecessary by their own individual stop valves.

The official trial trip of the “King Edward”, under the command of Captain AlexFowler of The Glasgow & South Western Railway Company’s “Glen Sannox (I)”,took place on Friday, June 28, 1901, just a fortnight after she had first raisedsteam. A party of guests too having been ferried out to her off Craigendoran, shecalled at Dunoon, Rothesay, Largs, Fairlie and then Lochranza where she foundthe “Duchess of Hamilton (I)”, on charter to The Institute of Naval Architects,ready to race her down Kilbrannan Sound as she headed for Campbeltown.Needless to say, she had no difficulty in overtaking her. Three days later she beganher first season to Campbeltown.

With 50 crew and a capacity for 1,994 passengers, she left Greenock’s Prince’s Pierdaily (except Sundays) at 8.40 a.m., she called at Dunoon and Rothesay before

picking up the Fairlie train connection at 10.20 a.m.. Proceeding direct toLochranza, where passengers could join horse-drawn charàbancs for Brodick andconnections to Ardrossan, she was timed to arrive in Campbeltown at 12.20 p.m..Leaving Campbeltown again, at about 3 p.m., her passengers could, via Fairlie, beat St. Enoch’s Station in Glasgow at 6.18 p.m., a journey time little bettered ahundred years later by the private motor car !

1901 too was the year of The Glasgow Exhibition and the “King Edward” was backat Greenock’s Prince’s Pier in time to do a two-hour ‘musical evening cruise’ withpassengers leaving Glasgow St. Enoch at 6.05 p.m. and returning to Glasgow at10.25 p.m. - the success of these evening cruises led to them becoming an annualfeature of her sailing programme. At the end of September, the “King Edward”was laid up for the winter.

During the 1901 season, the “King Edward”, under her chief engineer H. Hall,had averaged 19 knots on the 160-mile daily return run to Campbeltown and heraverage daily coal consumption, working out at 1.8 lbs per equivalent indicated(i.h.p.) horse-power, had been about 18 tons per day. Chief Engineer Hall’ssuccessor, a man called Stuart/Stewart (?) who had been with the “King Edward”since her building - he retired to Skelmorlie in the 1930’s, held that the averagedaily consumption was actually just 11 - 12 tons of coal for the Campbeltown run and onlywhen ‘obliged to race other ships’ did she use 18 tons ! By way of direct comparisonwith the identically lengthed-hull paddler “Duchess of Hamilton (I)” whichconsumed a ton of coal per 8.47 knots when travelling at 16 knots, the turbine-engined “King Edward” consumed a ton of coal per 8.87 knots when travelling at18 knots.

In any event, everybody was happy, Williamson cleared his overdraft, formed anew company, Turbine Steamers Ltd., bought the “King Edward” and nowordered a second turbine, the “Queen Alexandra (I)”.

When the new steamer appeared at the start of the 1902 season, the “KingEdward” took up a new run sailing from Fairlie via the south and west of Bute toArdrishaig where it became the custom for her German string band, held superiorto other steamer bands, to land with the passengers and play through the village.

Five steamers then were calling daily at Ardrishaig which itself had a splendid bandof its own, that belonging to the Argyll and Bute Asylum, its members often beingrequested to play on evening cruises from the village. With the increased traffic atArdrishaig too that month, there were rumours that an electric tramway was to be

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built between Ardrishaig and Crinan, rumours that proved unfounded. Later, the“King Edward” extended her run to Inveraray, the return trip still being throughThe Kyles of Bute - the Ardrishaig call was dropped in 1908.

Much was made of the swiftness of the new “King Edward” but, in the first weekof July 1902, the “Columba” overhauled her one morning between Innellan andRothesay and would have got alongside Rothesay first but for the fact that shed hadto take the outside berth.In February 1915, “King Edward” was requisitioned byThe Admiralty and spent the next four years, based variously at Southampton,Dover and Folkestone and carrying troops to and from The Channel Islands, LeHavre, Rouen, Cherbourg, Dieppe, Calais and Boulogne. Later, as she wasreturning to The Clyde after a spell of duty as an ambulance transport in the WhiteSea, based at Archangel, she was nearly wrecked in a ferocious storm.

Reconditioned, she returned to the Campbeltown run in June 1920, now, fromGreenock and calling at Gourock and Wemyss Bay as well as Fairlie and, with theexception of occasional trips to Inveraray, she remained on the Campbeltown rununtil the end of the 1926 season. From 1927 onwards she sailed mainly in the upperreaches of the river with her 1928, 1929 and 1930 sailing programmes giving heroccasional excursion trips to Stranraer. During World War II, she was used as apassenger-troopship tender at The Tail of The Bank but again returned to peacetimeduties in the spring of 1946.

Eventually, on June 6, 1952, she was sold for scrapping and four days later, onTuesday, June 10, 1952, was towed to The West of Scotland Ship- breakingCompany’s yard at Troon, a tow to which the author was witness as he came homefrom primary school ! One of the turbines from the “King Edward” is now onshow at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum.

The “Queen Alexandra (I)”

wenty-feet longer than the “King Edward”, the new ship was launched byMiss Dorothy Leyland, her father a close associate Charles Parsons, onTuesday, April 8, 1902, at Denny’s yard in Dumbarton, the new ship, YardNo. 670, cost £38,500. Like the “King Edward”, she too had five propellors

and their configuration would be changed over the course of the next 3 years.

On Monday, May 19, 1902, with a moderate sea and a 20-knot wind, she made sixruns on the Skelmorlie Measured Mile, achieving a best mean speed of 18.56 knots.Three days later, after dry-docking at Scott’s in Greenock for hull cleaning, shemade twelve runs over the Skelmorlie mile, this time with a smooth sea and a lightbreeze. Now her best mean speed had risen to 21.63 knots and her fastest ever tobe recorded run was 21.82 knots and this was done using the first set of propellorsthat had been made for the “King Edward” !

Between then and her final set of speed trials on May 5, 1904, there would be sixdifferent changes of propellors but none helped her get up to the record set back onMay 22, 1902 !

Late in May 1902, a party of guests boarded the new “Queen Alexandra (I)” forher first trip to Campbeltown, out through The Kyles of Bute and then downKilbrannan Sound. The return trip to Greenock, via the east coast of Arran, tookjust three hours, a very creditable performance and on she opened her season onSaturday, May 31, 1902, with a special public excursion from Prince’s Pier andGourock, between The Cumbraes and then up Loch Fyne. Two days later, onMonday, June 2, 1902, she took over the Campbeltown service from the “KingEdward”.

In appearance, the “Queen Alexandra (I)” was very similar to the “King Edward”but, the new ship had a continuous boat deck extending from the bridge to the topof the companionway to after saloon and thus had her lifeboats slightly further aftthan those on the “King Edward” and, although she too would have her boat decklengthened in the winter of 1905-06, the “King Edward” retained a complete breakbetween her boat and navigating bridge throughout here career.

One summer evening in 1906, the “Queen Alexandra (I)” was on charter to carrya party of John Brown’s shipyard employees on a non-landing cruise to Arran. Sotoo, with a party from Singer’s Sewing Machine Company, was the three-years olderNorth British paddle steamer “Waverley (III)”, both ships’ courses converged atThe Tail of The Bank and a race ensued, past The Cloch and Cumbrae Lighthouses,the old 13.666 nautical mile ‘standard’ ship’s speed trial course and on to the coastof Arran. The “Waverley (III)”, whose best trial speed had been 19.73 knots,passed The Fallen Rocks, at the north end of Arran, a full ship length ahead of thenewer and ostensibly faster turbine “Queen Alexandra (I)” !

Sometime in the early morning of Sunday, September 10, 1911, as she lay at hercoaling berth in Greenock’s Albert Harbour, a fire broke out, burning through the

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upper and promenade decks and causing such damage that John Williamson decidedit better to sell her and build a replacement rather than effect repairs.

Even before the fire, The Canadian Pacific Railway had been interested in the shipto operate their Vancouver - Nanaimo service. Now, re-named “Princess Patricia” ,after the daughter of the Duke of Connaught who had just become Governor-General of Canada, the fully reconditioned ship left The Clyde under her ownsteam on Wednesday, January 17, 1912.

After what her Chief Engineer Walter Anderson called ‘an awful voyage’ roundCape Horn - The Panama Canal not then open - the ship arrived in Victoria onMarch 18, 1912 - forty-three days actual steaming from The Clyde. WalterAnderson stayed on with the ship and The C.P.R. Co. and he too oversaw the ship’sstorm damage repaired and her conversion to burn oil before she began her newservice from Vancouver to Nanaimo, a two-hour run, on Saturday, May 11, 1912.

Her lack of space for automobile traffic led to her being replaced in 1928 by JohnBrown’s Clyde-built “Princess Elaine” and the “Pat”, as she had become knownwas relegated to excursion and relief work till 1932. In 1935, she became a floatingboarding house during a waterfront strike in Vancouver and was finally scrapped atVictoria in 1937. Her ship’s bell was presented to the City of Nanaimo to mark herlong association with the Vancouver ferry service.

Breakfast, Luncheon, Dinner & Tea

he typical selection of fare offered in the dining saloon of the 1890’s being

Breakfast 2/- (reduced to 1/6d if only a single main dish selected) : Ham and Egg,Salmon Steak, Chops, White Fish, Herring, Sausages, Cold Meats, Rolls,

Toast, Preserves, Tea and Coffee.

Luncheon - served from 10.30 a.m. till 2 p.m. - 2/- : Soup or Salmon, Roast Lamb,Roast Beef, Corned Beef, Boiled Ox-Tongue, Boiled Ham, Potatoes andVegetables, Assorted Sweets, Salads and Cheeses.

Dinner Table d’Hote - served from 2.30 p.m. till 4 p.m. - 2/6d : Soup, PoachedSalmon, Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce, Roast Beef, Corned Beef and Vegetables,Pickled Ox-Tongue, Boiled Ham, Potatoes and Vegetables, Assorted Sweets,Salads and Cheeses.

Tea - served from 4.15 p.m. onwards - 2/- (reduced to 1/6d if only a single main dish selected): White Fish, Cold Salmon, Cold Meats, Boiled Eggs, Toast, Preserves, Tea.Plain Tea - served from 4.15 p.m. onwards - 9d : Toast, Biscuits, Preserves, Tea. Forthose simply ‘peckish’ : a plate of soup with bread 6d; a plate of meat andpotatoes, or salmon 1/-; tea, or coffee, with bread and butter, or a pastry 6d;pudding, or tart, or a compôte of fruit 6d; jellies, or creams 6d; biscuits andcheese 6d; sandwiches 4d; pastries, or biscuits 1d each.

“Good Spirits”

he typical 1890’s steamer bar prices were slightly more expensive than ‘shoreprices’, not surprising in view of the fact that they had a ‘captive’ clientele !

Spirits - per glass : Brandy 8d; Whisky, Rum, Gin, Port, Sherry, Cordial (arange of these were available) and Lime Juice were all 4d; Special Whisky : 3d per‘nip’ and Bottled Beers were all priced at 4d each as were aerated ‘waters’.

Liqueurs were 6d per ‘nip’, the most poular of the period being Marachino,Benedictine and Green Chartreuse. A small selection of wines, reflecting the bettersellers of the time, was also carried on board and sold by the bottle - and by thepint ! .

Champagnes all at 10/6d per bottle, 5/6d per pint : Dry Monopole Heidsieck, G.H. Mumm’s, Perinet and Fils and Pommery. Port and Sherry being 5/- per bottle and2/6d per pint. Hocks : Sparkling Moselle at 6/- per bottle, 3/6d per pint;Hockheimer at 5/- per bottle and 2/6d per pint. Clarets : Medoc at 2/6d perbottle, 1/6d per pint; St. Julien at 3/- per bottle and 1/9d per pint.

For those who enjoy the challenge of ‘mental arithmetic’, these simple ‘rule ofthumb’ conversions persuade that there has been little change to restaurant and barprices in the course of a century though, if anything, one might say that one gotbetter value for money in ‘the good old days’ !

Given £1.00 in the 1890’s/early 1900’s, one would now need £60.00 to have thesame puchasing power. In ‘the good old days’, there were 240d, old pence, to the£. A shilling 1/- (12 old pence) was equal to our 5 p coin and for those whowould convert to ‘euros’, the £ is currently equal to somewhere between about1.45 and 1.63 euros !

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Today, the 2/- cost of lunch would equate to about £6.00, a ‘nip’ of whisky or a ½pint bottle of beer £1 - the prices for eating and drinking out do not appear tohave much changed but then too the 5/- cost of a third class rail and cabin classsteamer return ticket for a day cruise from Glasgow would now equate to about £15and in fact, in 2002, a day trip from Glasgow on the “Waverley (IV)” costs about£25, up 60% ! High fares ‘drive away’ passengers.

The “Queen Alexandra (II)” / “Saint Columba”

o replace the original fire-damaged ship of the same name, now sold to TheCanadian Pacific Railway, Captain John Williamson wrote to Denny’s onOctober 7, 1911 and placed a £39,000 order for her successor, Yard No970, the “Queen Alexandra (II)”. She was launched by fellow director

Captain Leyland’s ward, Miss A.M. Chetwynd on Tuesday, April 9, 1912, exactlyten years to the day after the launch of the first ‘Queen’ and a week lees a day beforethe “Titanic” sank !

The “Queen Alexandra (II)” carried out her speed trials, reaching 21½ knots, onSaturday, May 18, 1912 and now, with a 50% improvement in her reversingpower, attained an astern speed of 12½ knots too. In the first ‘Queen’, the asternturbines included six expansions, each of four rows of blades, now there wereseven expansions, each with six rows of blades. In the new ship too, all threepropellors were of the same 3’ 8” diameter, revolving at 800 r.p.m. and the newboilers worked too at a slightly higher pressure, now 155 lb per square inch. Toimprove matters further, she was equipped with a telemotor for operating the steamsteering gear, the first in a Clyde steamer and, she had a bow rudder, anotherfeature new to The Clyde.

Under the command of Captain Angus Keith who had served in the old ‘Queen’,her first public sailing took place on The King’s Birthday Holiday, Thursday, May23, 1912 when she ran outwards from Greenock and Gourock, via The Kyles ofBute, to Campbeltown, returning via the Garroch Head.

The following Monday, June 3, 1912, the new “Queen Alexandra (II)” took upthe the regular daily Campbeltown run from Greenock’s Prince’s Pier with calls atWemyss Bay, Fairlie, Lochranza, Pirnmill and Machrie Bay.

With World War I, she was requisitioned as a troop transport and was fully engagedin this work from February 7, 1915 until May 10, 1919. Just a year and a day

before she was released, on Thursday, May 9, 1918, when under the command ofher old skipper, Captain Angus Keith and west of Cherbourg, at 49° 49’ N, 01° 40’W, she depth-charged, then rammed and sank the German Coastal Type UB IIIsubmarine “UB 78” at 0050 hours in the morning, none of the submarine’s 35crew survived. Captain Keith received an O.B.E. and a Distinguished Service Crossas a reward for his initiative.

Reconditioned after the war, she was placed on the Inveraray run until 1927 whenshe returned to the Campbeltown run. To conform with the other newer turbinesteamers, her upper deck was enclosed to form an observation lounge in 1932 andthen, on October 3, 1935, she was sold along with the 1926-built twin screw g e a re d turbine steamer “King George V”, to David MacBrayne Limited.

Now renamed the “Saint Columba” and with a third, dummy, funnel added, shereplaced the grand old 1878-built paddle steamer “Columba”, on the Tarbert andArdrishaig run from Glasgow, in May 1936 and, the following winter, wasconverted to oil-firing.

Requisitioned at the start of World War II, she was used as an accommod- ationship for Boom Defence personnel, lying in Greenock’s East India Harbour from1939 till 1946. Reconditioned, she returned to the Ardrishaig run, now beginningher run at Gourock, in 1947. Apart from grounding in fog at Ettrick Bay, on thewest side of Bute in August 1953, her final days were uneventful.

In her final year, 1958, she was finally fitted with radar and then, on Tuesday,December 23, she made her final voyage, under tow, to Smith and Houston’syard at Port Glasgow, there to be broken up, winched stern first on to the shore.

Clyde Cargo Steamers

uring July and August 1915, the Campbeltown steamers’ passengerservicewas operated from Ardrossan, a goods service being run three daysa week from Glasgow. From Wednesday, September 1, 1915, WemyssBay became the terminus for passenger sailings until Tuesday, April 1, 1919,

when services again were re-opened from Prince’s Pier and Gourock.

On Thursday, July 1, 1915, the four main concerns operating the Clyde cargoservices from Glasgow placed a joint advertisement about the new arrangements fortheir war-time services and, seven weeks later, on Thursday, August 1915, the four

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companies - Hill & Company, The Minard Castle Shipping Company, DavidMacBrayne Ltd. and John Williamson - registered Clyde Cargo Steamers Ltd..

Hill & Company had been founded in 1876 and, with the opening of Fairlie Pier,on Saturday, July 1, 1882, had, until The Glasgow and South Western Railwaybegan employing its own steamers on the run in 1892, provided passenger steamerservices to Millport and Kilchattan Bay. Now, their ship, the “Bute 4” - one ofthe few ships, like Cunard’s “Queen Elizabeth 2”, ever to have an Arabic, ratherthan a Roman numeral, in her name - and their “Arran (II)” (ex-”Barmore” ) ranto Rothesay, Millport, Arran and Loch Fyne. “Arran (II)” was sold to Glasgowfish merchants in August 1917 and “Bute 4” was broken up at Ardrossan in 1935.

The Minard Castle Shipping Company, successor to the old Lochfyne & GlasgowSteam Packet Company, with the “Minard Castle” continued as before fromGlasgow to Skipness and the various Loch Fyne ports. During May and June 1921,because of a national coal strike, she was advertised to sail from Glasgow toRothesay on alternate days, seemingly on behalf of Williamson-Buchanan Steamerswhose own ships were laid off for the duration of the strike. Towards the end of1926, she was broken up at Port Glasgow and replaced by the “Minard” which toowas broken up there, in April 1955. Her sister, the “Ardyne”, arrived in 1928 andscrapped at Troon in July 1955.

“Cowal (I)”, originally MacBrayne’s “Lapwing” had run aground at Oban in 1916and then sold to Clyde Cargo Steamers. Soon requistioned by the government, shedid not appear on Clyde services again until 1920 and only changed her name to“Cowal (I)” in 1926. She was broken up at Troon in 1932.

The “Jane”, a converted trawler and the ex-Steel & Bennie lighter “Lintie” also ranfor the company for a couple of years each in the mid 1920’s. “Arran (III)”, builtin 1926 and just 100-feet long, replaced the “Jane” but her career was short andshe was wrecked on Barmore Island, just north of Tarbert on New Year’s Eve1932. MacBrayne’s paddle steamer “Chevalier”, disabled by the fracture of herstarboard paddle-wheel in a gale on Friday, March 25, 1927, had also grounded onBarmore Island and then been scrapped at Troon after sixty-one years of service.

Launched on Monday, July 31, 1933, the “Arran (IV)”, later re-named“Kildonan” to make make way for the names of the three Caledonian Steam PacketCompany car-ferries “Arran (V)”, “Bute (VI)” and “Cowal (II)” which enteredservice over the course of 1954, the “Arran (IV)/ Kildonan” was withdrawn inJuly 1957 and scrapped at Port Glasgow the following year.

1935 Fleet Changes

he Caledonian Steam Packet Company’s 1895-built paddle-steamer “Duchessof Rothesay” had called at Campbeltown in her early years, in her 1896timetable she ran through The Kyles of Bute and down Kilbrannan Sound,returning via the south end of Arran, every Friday till September 18 that

year, the return fare for the saloon being 2/6d, the fore saloon fare just 1/6d. Her‘quasi-sister’, the beautiful 1903 “Duchess of Fife” would later stand in on occasionfor the new turbine steamer “Queen Alexandra (I)” and her successor. The“Duchess of Fife”, the L.N.E.R. 1931-built paddle steamer “Jeanie Deans (II)”and the 1930-built Canadian Pacific liner “Empress of Scotland”, originallylaunched as the “Empress of Japan”, were all designed by Fairfield’s PercyHillhouse, son of a Caledonian Railway Company officer and later destined tobecome Professor of Naval Architecture at Glasgow University.

In 1919, the Buchanan and Williamson fleets and the associated Turbine SteamersLtd. had all joined together. A generation earlier, Buchanan and Williamson hadbeen jointly involved in the running of the 1852-built “Eagle” on the Glasgow toRothesay run but had gone their separate ways in 1862. On October 3, 1935, the‘L.M.S.’ railway, in association with David MacBrayne Ltd., took over theBuchanan-Williamson steamers.

In April 1912, the month that the White Star liner “Titanic” was lost, TurbineSteamers Ltd., in association with MacBrayne’s, purchased the two remainingsteamers of The Lochgoil and Inveraray Steamboat Company, the “EdinburghCastle” and the “Lord of The Isles (II)” registering them in Turbine SteamersLtd.’s name but having the catering on the latter contracted out to MacBrayne’s whohad acquired shares at that time in Turbine Steamers Ltd..

Now, at the end of 1935, the ‘L.M.S.’ railway took over the three paddle steamers,the 1897-built “Kylemore”, the 1910-built “Eagle III”, the 1912-built “QueenEmpress” and two of the turbine steamers, the 1901-built “King Edward” and thenew 1933-built “Queen Mary II”, the ships being passed into The CaledonianSteam Packet Company fleet and then into a new railway company, Williamson-Buchanan Steamers (1936) Ltd., which company was eventually wound up in 1943and the steamers transferred back to the ‘C.S.P.’.

MacBraynes took over the 1926-built “King George V” and the 1912-built “QueenAlexandra (II)” which, with a third ‘dummy’ funnel added, they would rename

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“Saint Columba” and, although MacBrayne’s took over the ownership of TurbineSteamers Ltd., the goodwill of the Campbeltown and Inveraray trade was vested inThe Caledonian Steam Packet Company whose 1932 Harland & Wolff - builtturbine steamer “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” had been running recent dayexcursions from Ayr to Campbeltown, her older, 1930 Denny-built sister, the“Duchess of Montrose (II)” being based at Gourock.

The “King George V” and the “Queen Alexandra (II)” now away from theirrespective daily runs to Campbeltown and Inveraray, The Caledonian Steam PacketCompany brought in their 1906-built “Duchess of Argyll” to cover both runs. TheInveraray and Loch Eck Tour connection being operated on Mondays, Wednesdaysand Fridays, with an additional Thursday service being handled by the “Duchess ofMontrose (II)” and the Campbeltown run being operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays,Saturdays and, in ‘high season’, on Sundays. In addition, the 1925-built turbine,the “Glen Sannox (II)”, a near-identical sister of the “Duchess of Argyll”, wastransferred from the railway company to the ‘C.S.P.’ in order that she too couldwork without restriction to Campbeltown and she was put on an additional daily‘express’ run from Ardrossan to Brodick, Lamlash, Whiting Bay and Campbeltown,the Ardrossan to Arran service now given to the 1936-built, twin screw gearedturbine steamer “Marchioness of Graham” .

The 1939 Sunday timetable for the “Duchess of Argyll”, from June 4 to September17, supplies the following departure (arrival) times. Leaving from Gourock at 9.30a.m. (8.20 p.m.), Dunoon 9.50 a.m. (8 p.m.), Rothesay 10.30 a.m. (7 p.m.), Largs 11a.m. (6.30 p.m.), Fairlie Pier 11.20 a.m. (6.15 p.m.) and Millport (Keppel Pier) 11.30a.m. (6 p.m.) via Kilbrannan Sound in one direction, via Pladda and the east coastof Arran in the other, to arrive in Campbeltown at 2 p.m. and depart at 3.50 p.m..The fares were 6/3d return in saloon class, 4/3d in 3rd class and return motorcoach tickets to Machrihanish were charged extra at 1/- or to Southend at 2/-.

The “Duchesses” of Argyll

he 250-foot long “Duchess of Argyll”, Denny Yard No 770, was originallyintended to have been called the “Marchioness of Graham”, in honour of LadyMary Hamilton, the daughter and heiress to the Arran estates of the 12thDuke of Hamilton, whose wedding to the Marquis of Graham was due to

take place in the early summer of 1906 but, the wedding date, over a month laterthan the new ship’s launch date, the choice of name was considered injudicious andthus the “Duchess of Argyll”, her lifeboats placed on the after deck and easily

distinguished from the 1901-built “King Edward”.

As on the paddle steamers, her engine control platform was at main deck level forall to see, the control platform on the older and first commercial turbine, the “KingEdward”, being hidden away, amongst a mze of steam-pipes on the lower deck.In a rough sea and a stiff breeze, on Friday, May 4, 1906, she achieved a meanspeed of 20.9 knots over the Skelmorlie Measured Mile. Four days later, in calmerconditions and ‘running the lights’ between the Cloch and Cumbrae, she achieved amean speed of 21.11 knots, her fastest run that day being at 21.65 knot

After only three years in service, the “Duchess of Argyll” was laid up in 1909 aspart of a ‘pooling arrangement’ reached by the railway companies over theirArdrossan to Arran services. It was therefore something of a happy coincidencethat, in the spring of 1910, The Larne & Stranraer Steamship Joint Committee andThe Caledonian Steam Packet Company reached an agreement whereby the“Duchess of Argyll” would be available for the Stranraer to Larne service if neededbetween April 1 and October 15, 1910, the necessary alterations to the ship, mainlythe plating up of the open forward main deck area, which accommodated the steammooring capstan and the foward saloon’s square windows being replaced withportholes, costing £425, being paid, along with a retainer of £100, by the L. &S.S.J.C.’. The charter rate for the ship was fixed at £50 per day.

The “Duchess of Argyll” had in fact been named after Queen Victoria’s daughterPrincess Louise who had given her own name to the first ‘L. & S.S.J.C.’ ship, thepaddle steamer “Princess Louise” whose delivery had been expected early in 1872but, on Tuesday, June 25, with workmen still on board putting the final touches toher very ornate decoration, which included stained glass representations of theMarquis and Marchioness of Lorne, she was ordered to leave Glasgow, adjust hercompasses in The Gareloch, drop the workmen at Wemyss Bay and proceed at bestspeed to Stranraer.

Princess Louise took on the title of Marchioness of Lorne when she married the 8thMarquis of Lorne in 1871, he acceded to The Dukedom of Argyll in 1900. Fiveyears after his accession, The Marquis and Marchioness of Bute were married atCastle Bellingham on Wednesday, July 5, 1905 and the wedding party thenconveyed out to the Stranraer - Larne steamer “Princess Maud” , anchored sometwo miles out in Dundalk Bay, County Louth, for the journey across to Stranraer.

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The Caledonian Steam Packet Company had two paddle steamers named the“Marchioness of Lorne (I)” , the first being built in 1891 and the second, built byFairfield’s yard, in 1935. There was a shipyard strike on the go at the time and, asthe companies were desperate to get the new ship in service, the finshing of theship was left to Fairfield’s apprentices who were excluded from the strike. Knownlater to only a handful of people was the fact that, in her lower saloon, themischievous apprentices fitted a most wonderfully crafted piece of marquetry, aninlaid wooden panel showing a full frontal 1930’s style ‘Page 3’ girl !

Sadly, though all the apprentices received handsome bonuses for finishing the shipquickly, the companies’ directors, rather than remove the ‘young lady’, simply had aslightly larger and plain wood panel ‘screwed’, if that is the appropriate word, ontop of the apprentices’ work !

The ship was sold to The British Iron and Steel Corporation (Salvage) Ltd. onFebruary 17, 1955 and towed to Smith & Houston’s Port Glasgow yard for breakingup. Perhaps even today, the ‘young lady’ may still be in residence in some PortGlasgow residence, sneaked up a close to give pleasure to secret admirers ! Backnow to ‘Argyll’, the “Duchess of Argyll”.

As events turned out, it was to be June 1911 before she was needed for theStranraer to Larne service. On Saturday, June 10, with a certificate reduced now to592 passengers on the channel crossing, she left Stranraer at 3 p.m. with 165passengers on an advertised three-hour public excursion round Ailsa Craig. Shethen took the regular 7.33 p.m. sailing to Larne and, after the Sunday off, picked upthe daylight sailings for the whole of the following week, finishing on the Saturdayevening. In 1922, she was fitted with radio telegraphy equipment and again retainedfor the Stranraer - Larne route but never needed.

Between February 11, 1915 and April 27, 1919, serving as a transport, she made655 trips covering 71,624 nautical miles and managed to tow the Clyde paddle-steamer “Queen Empress” back to Boulogne after a collision with an escortingdestroyer. During WWII, she was mainly employed on the Gourock to Dunoonservice, tendering occasionally to troopships at Greenock’s ‘Tail of The Bank’. In1952, withdrawn from Clyde services, she was sold for use at The Admiralty’sUnderwater Detection Establishment at Portland where she served as a ‘funnel-less’floating laboratory until Easter 1969 and then, in January 1970, towed to

Newhaven, the last resting place of the old Campbeltown company’s “Davaar”,for breaking up.

The “Duchess of Montrose” and The “Hamilton”

hough sometimes difficult to tell apart, the 1930 Denny-built “Duchess ofMontrose (II)” only three small rectangular windows forward of the opening‘stable-type’ landing ferry door on the main deck, the 1932 Harland & Wolff-built “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” had four and, being fitted with a bow

rudder for ease of handling in the confined spaces of Ayr harbour, the latter wasfitted with a cross-tree on her main, after-mast to carry the required signals whengoing astern and using her bow rudder.

The “Duchess of Montrose (II)”, certificated to carry 400 military personnel and250 civilian passengers, had been sent to cover the Stranraer to Larne run at the endof September 1939 but, within the month, the Sea Transport Officer had her sentback to Gourock being persuaded that her ‘sister’, the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)”,fitted with a bow-rudder might be better suited to the harbours, the “Duchess ofHamilton (II)”, now arriving at the end of October, would, in addition to carryingtroops, cover the mail service for the “Princees Margaret”, temporarily out ofservice with engine problems, between December 11 and 13, 1939.

The “Duchess of Hamilton” was overhauled at her builder’s yard, Harland &Wolff of Belfast in February 1940, just as well for in April 1940, the 53rd WelshDivision was moved from South Wales via Stranraer to Northern Ireland, a moveinvolving some 11,000 troops and their baggage and a precaution against a possibleGerman invasion of neutral Eire. From the middle of the summer of 1940,continual troop movements after the evacuation of Dunkirk and many personnelgoing home on leave, led to both the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” and the“Duchess of Montrose (II)” working the Stranraer crossing during June and July1940. They were both relieved by the Denny-built Thames excursion motor-ship“Royal Daffodil”, the “Duchess of Montrose (II)” returning to the Wemyss Bay -Rothesay run at the end of July and the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” returning toGourock in October 1940 being recalled to Stranraer as needed.

In early December 1945, the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” again returned to LochRyan and, on the evening of Boxing Day, Wednesday, December 26, 1945, while

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crossing from Larne with some 300 military personnel on board, she ran at fullspeed into an almost perpendicular cliff just south of Corsewall Point, at theentrance to Loch Ryan.

It was first thought that they had hit a mine and the ship’s distress signals broughtout the Portpatrick lifeboat. In the event, the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” hadonly a badly buckled bow and was able to free herself under her own power andproceed to Stranraer where she lay until the Saturday when, in the afternoon, shemade her own way up-river for repairs, a new bow at Henderson’s yard in Glasgow.

She then returned to the Stranraer station and remained there until Thursday,March 28, 1946 when she returned to Gourock to give assist on the day’s servicesand then went for re-conditioning at D. & W. Henderson’s yard and return topeace-time sailings. The “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” made a return visit toStranraer on Saturday, September 6, 1969, a charter from Ayr which too gaveStranraer passengers, as in pre-war days, the chance of an afternoon cruise roundAilsa Craig.

Apart from occasional pre-war 1930’s visits to Campbeltown, it was not until 1946that the sister turbines would begin to appear there regularly, the “Duchess ofHamilton (II)” carrying out the run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays andalternate Sundays and Mondays, thus giving each turbine a day off for maintenanceonce a fortnight and the “Duchess of Montrose (II)” covering the other sailings eachweek until the end of August each year when she went into harbour for her winterlay-up.

On Wednesdays, the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” cruised via The Kyles of Bute toBrodick and Pladda, going direct to Largs from Brodick on the return run and, onFridays, to Ayr with a short cruise round Holy Isle. The “Duchess of Montrose(II)” carried out the Inveraray service on Tuesdays and Thursdays - on oneoccasion being relieved by the diesel-electric paddler “Talisman” which wasactually observed arriving at Wemyss Bay exactly on the turbine steamer’s advertisedreturn time ! On Saturdays, the “Duchess of Montrose (II)” duplicated the morningGourock - Dunoon - Wemyss Bay - Rothesay peak ferry sailings and, returning toGourock, then, via Dunoon, Largs and Millport (Keppel Pier), cruised round AilsaCraig and on Sunday afternoons, the turbines alternating rosters, one or otherwould cruise to Lochranza Bay and Catacol or go round Holy Isle.

The “Duchess of Montrose (II)” was withdrawn at the end of the 1964 season andleft Greenock under tow on Thursday, August 19, 1965, to be broken up inBelgium. Now alone, her roster having her cover Inveraray on Tuesdays and Ayron Fridays, the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” would carry on with the Campbeltownservice till the end of the 1970 season when, ‘for economic reasons’, she was laidup and then sold in the following year to be converted into a floating restaurant inGlasgow. The plans fell through and she was towed to Troon in April 1974 forbreaking-up.

Of seemingly heavier construction, the “Duchess of Montrose (II)” wasundoubtedly the better sea-boat of the pair and, in the last week of her Clydeservice proved, at least on that occasion to be faster than her near sister.

By correspondence, it would have been Friday, August 28, 1964, the “Duchess ofHamilton (II)” as usual going to Ayr and scheduled out of Rothesay at 10.15 a.m.to arrive in Largs at 10.45 a.m., five minutes ahead of the “Duchess of Montrose(II)” on the Campbeltown run but, the “Duchess of Montrose (II)” won the raceto Largs that day for unknown to Herbert Waugh, the Chief Engineer on the“Duchess of Hamilton (II)” , his opposite number on the “Duchess of Montrose(II)”, Ned Higgins, had replaced his 1-inch ‘economy’ burners with 1½-inch oilburners that day and, as the two ships swept out of Rothesay Bay towards Largs,the “Duchess of Montrose (II)” quickly out-paced her rival and arrived in Largs at10.45 a.m. causing the passenger queues on the pier to be re-assembled to boardtheir respective cruise ships !

Ayr Ways

ollowing World War II, the Ayr-based steamers, first the twin-screw turbine“Marchioness of Graham” , between 1947 - 1953 and then the paddle-steamer “Caledonia”, between 1954 - 1964 inclusively, carried out a weeklyexcursion to Campbeltown via the Arran piers, including making a call at

Whiting Bay, it to close after the 1962 season. From 1957 onwards, day tripperscould take the “Duchess of Hamilton (II)” or the “Duchess of Montrose (II)”, viaLochranza, to Campbeltown, return with the Ayr-based steamer to Whiting Bayand Arran and then return on the new 1957-buit car ferry “Glen Sannox (III)”from Brodick to Fairlie.

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“Queen Mary” Again !

ith the coming of the 1970’s and the demise of the “Duchess of Hamilton(II)” so too came the end of Campbeltown’s regular summer steamerservices. The 1933-built turbine “Queen Mary II” took up the excursionprogramme for the 1971 season and continued running, albeit something

of an impoverished schedule till the end of the 1977 season. She had reverted to heroriginal name “Queen Mary” at a ceremony on Thursday, May 6, 1976, the 1934-built Cunard liner of the same name now removed from the shipping registers andberthed at Long Beach as a static hotel and conference centre.

The “Queen Mary” was laid up in Greenock’s East India Harbour and then sold toEuroyachts Ltd. for conversion to a floating restaurant, her three valuablepropellors, simply, burnt off, rather than being uncoupled from her tailshafts, inLamont’s dry-dock.

Though she had been towed from the Clyde to Chatham on January 29, 1981, itwas only in July 1988 that, now again with two funnels, she was then towed up-river to be moored near London’s Hungerford Bridge, not far from the old “Maidof Ashton”, in use as a floating restaurant-bar and renamed Hispaniola (II)”.

The “Queen Mary” now occupies the moorings first used by the Clyde paddlesteamer “Caledonia”, irreparably damaged by fire in on April 27, 1980, it beingthen the intention to replace her with the “King George V” but she too had beenconsumed by fire during conversion work at Cardiff on August 26, 1981.

Keeping Up Steam

ithdrawn from service at the end of the 1973 season, the 1947-builtpaddle-steamer “Waverley (IV)” was handed over to The Paddle SteamerPreservation Society in 1974 and, after an inaugural cruise on theThursday, gave her first public sailing on Saturday, May 24, 1975, an

excursion from Glasgow’s Anderston Quay to Gourock, Dunoon, Tarbert andArdrishaig, the old ‘Royal Route’ of MacBrayne’s mail steamer service.

Three years later, on Saturday, June 24, 1978, she repeated the excursion as acentennial tribute to MacBrayne’s famous paddle-steamer “Columba” leaving

Glasgow’s Stobcross Quay at 7.11 a.m..

To complement “Waverley (IV)” and generate more funds for her upkeep, anotherconsortium refurbished the former Portsmouth - Ryde passenger ferry “Shanklin”and, renamed “Prince Ivanhoe” , she took up her integrated excursion programmeof sailings, including Campbeltown, in 1981. Sadly, she struck a ‘submerged reef’,some maintain ‘a submarine’, off The Gower Coast on Monday, August 3, 1981and, safely beached to evacuate her passengers and crew, she was subsequentlybroken up where she lay.

In 1986, “Waverley (IV)” was joined by the twin-screw 1949-built “Balmoral”,both ships now continuing to provide a wide programme of excursion sailingsaround Britain. In 1993, the “Balmoral” initiated what was to become an almostannual day trip from Campbeltown to Red Bay and Rathlin Island, the 2002 trip,on Saturday, June 22, was given by “Waverley (IV)” and, breaking new ground,began from Ayr, leaving only time for the steamer to cruise to Fair Head instead ofRathlin itself.

The Hovercraft and The Catamaran

n the middle of the 1966 seamen’s strike one of Peter Kaye’s Clyde HoverFerries’ two Westland SRN 6 hovercraft, which had been trying to establish anew service on the Clyde since the previous year, was soon running emergencysupplies to the islands, the hovercraft took just 45-minutes to do the single

West Loch to Islay crossing.

Clyde Hover Ferries, a subsidiary of Peter Kaye’s Highland Engineering Ltd. whichthen owned Dickie’s Boatyard in Tarbert, was formed in 1964 “to operate TheWorld’s first year-round scheduled hovercraft service” and, on December 5, 1964,the company announced that negotiations had been begun about suitable ‘landing’sites around the Clyde. In those days, The Department of Transport, unsure as towhether hovercraft were ships or aircraft, demanded dual marine and air pilotqualifications for all hovercraft officers.

On January 6, 1965, Peter Kaye announced that a Westland SRN 5, able to carryup to 20 passengers or two tons of freight, had been purchased and wouldcommence service from Tarbert, Loch Fyne, on June 1, 1965. A further story, on

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February 9, 1965, suggested that the new service might be extended to the outskirtsof the new Abbotsinch Airport but speed was against it, fears being raised that theBlack Cart being too narrow and the banks liable to damage from the hovercrafts’wash.

In the event, the company secured a five-year lease on two Westland SRN 6hovercraft, these capabable of carrying up to 38 passengers, or three tons offreight, at speeds of up to 50-knots. The two hovercraft, each built up of threesections sent from the manufacturers in The Isle of Wight, were assembled atClydebank and SR.N6 010 gave a demonstration run to Finnart, Loch Long, onFriday, June 18, 1965. Eight days later, on Saturday, June 26, she spent the daygiving ‘round-the-bay’ trips at Largs and the following Saturday began a ferry servicebetween Largs and Millport, with morning and evening ‘positioning’ runs from herbase at Tarbert - Rothesay calls were also added later in the month and by then thesister craft, SR.N6 012, had arrived and, at the beginning of August, a dailyservice was initiated from Tarbert, at 7 a.m., to Tighnabruiach, Rothesay, WemyssBay, Dunoon, Gourock and Craigendoran.

The new service was 'launched' by TV series Opportunity Knocks stars Hughie Greenand 'Monica', Hughie, a keen motor-yachtsman, later to moor his boatpermanently on the Clyde, one of the first to use The Kip Marina, the thenmooring charges, to his mind, cheaper than those on England's South Coast andthe cruising opportunities of The West Highlands easily outstripping those aroundthe crowed waters of The Solent and The English Channel.

Seven ‘commanders’ and six hostesses were employed to crew the two hovercraft,each craft having a ‘commander’ and a hostess - some 200 girls applied for thehostesses’ jobs. Only three backup people were employed at the Tarbert yard andeach night the hovercraft were hauled up on hand pulled chain hoists so that theirundersides and ‘skirts’ could be closely inspected. On September 9, 1965, barely amonth after the service began, SR.N6 012 collided with Gourock Pier andmaintenance was transferred to Greenock, the daily Tarbert runs being droppedexcept for final inward runs on Saturdays and starting runs on Mondays.

In September 1965 too, Largs Town Council disputed Clyde Hover Ferries’payments of landing fees, five shillings per trip, to British Railways who had leasedLargs’ beaches from The Crown Estates and banned the hovercraft trips on groundsof residents’ complaints about noise from the hovercrafts’ engines. Moremechanical troubles were to follow and the services, estimated to be losing around

£1,000 per week, were suspended in January 1966 neither the Craigendoran orRothesay to Wemyss Bay rail connection services ever winning much support.

In 1966, SR.N6 012 visited Belfast and then went south to Cowes, by rail ! Hersister, SR.N6 010, now tried using Fairlie Pier as a terminal but by July was runningshort non-landing pleasure trips from Rothesay to Inverchaolain Bay at the mouthof Loch Striven, the last of these being made on Monday, September 26, 1966 andthen, on October 4, this last “Scooshin’ Cushion” left the Clyde under her ownpower for Cowes.

Just a year after Westland’s first expermental craft, SRN 1, had crossed TheEnglish Channel with inventor Christopher Cockerell on July 25, 1959, Denny’s ofDumbarton had formed a subsidiary, Denny Hovercraft Ltd., to build a non-amphibious ‘sidewall’ (catamaran-type) hovercraft design and D2, a ‘hoverbus’capable of carring up to 70 passengers, was launched on July 18, 1962. Leaving theClyde on May 29, she arrived in The Thames, 820 miles away, on June 17, 1962.Shortly afterwards, in September 1963, Denny’s went into voluntary liquidation butDenny Hovercraft Ltd. was retained as an asset by the liquidator and while work ona second ‘hoverbus’, D3, was completed, that on the third, D4, was suspendedand attention focused on improving the design, this included towing the ‘hoverbus’at speeds of up to 35-knots astern of a Royal Navy gas-turbine patrol boat on theSkelmorlie Measured Mile.

Despite carrying many thousands of passengers on The Thames and Denny’sliquidators doing their best to improve the prototype D2, she failed a series ofevaluation tests with the Interservices Hovercraft Trials Unit and was laid up in1964, the only way ahead now was for Denny’s liquidators to try operating a‘hoverbus’ for themselves and hope to persuade an operator to purchase either or,hopefully, both the two craft now renumbered as D2-003 and D2-004 and in 1968they formed Norwest Hovercraft Ltd. for that very purpose.

After being overhauled at Poole, D2-003, under the command of Sir John Onslow,Bart., made the longest ever non-stop voyage for a ‘sidewall’ hovercraft, leavingPoole on July 4, 1968 and arriving at Fleetwood the following day. Though theintention had been to operate a service between Fleetwood to Barrow-in-Furness,pulling visitors from Blackpool to The Lake District and vice versa, a theoreticallylucrative proposition to this day, the only return trips were on Monday, August 19,1968, it being suddenly considered more profitable to run 30-minute ‘cruises’ out ofFleetwood alone.

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Though D2-003 would also follow to Fleetwood in 1969, and a trans-Merseyservice also considered, Norwest Hovercraft Ltd. was put into liquidation in 1970and D2-002 shipped to Jamaica to open a new route between Kingston andPalisadoes International Airport for Jamaica Hovercraft Ltd.. Too in 1970,MacBrayne’s former Islay ferry, “Lochiel (IV)”, as “Norwest Laird”, began hernew but short-lived services from Fleetwood to Barrow-in-Furness and Fleetwoodto Douglas, Isle of Man, she too was laid up at the end of 1970.

On Saturday, June 6, 1970, The Caledonian Steam Packet Company, with a 62-passenger Hovermarine ‘sidewall’ hovercraft, HM2 011, made an inaugural trip fromGourock to Largs and a week later, after a series of trials, began operating fromLargs to Millport, calls at Rothesay and Dunoon being later added to her roster. Atthe end of the 1971 season, unsuited to Clyde waters, she was ‘reacquired’ by herbuilders American parent company and, rebuilt, was later employed in America,then Canada, now renumbered HM2 311.

Though the weather conditions in The Clyde and West Highlands are not conduciveto high-speed hovercraft and hydrofoil operations, Western Ferries announced thatthey were to charter an 89-foot, 160-passenger, 27-knot Westermoen catamaran,which they named “Highland Seabird” for service in The Clyde during the 1976season. In October 1976, chartered by The Highlands and Islands DevelopmentBoard, she set out from Greenock for Portree via Brodick, Campbeltown, PortAskaig, Colonsay, Oban, Fort William, Tobermory, and Tarbert, Harris. Giventhe opportunity to keep her on charter for the following season, Western Ferries,after discussions with the H.I.D.B., based her at Oban and reintroduced the FortWilliam, Tobermory, Iona and Crinan cruises, last performed by MacBrayne’sturbine steamer “King George V” in 1974 and, following a successful season,Western Ferries purchased the “Highland Seabird” from her Norwegian owner-builders in October 1977 and chartered her, till the following May, to HowardDoris Ltd. at the Loch Kishorn oil platform construction yard.

In May 1978, again based at Oban, Western Ferries added a new excursion toPortrush and Moville in the Irish republic, on Saturdays and Sundays. On Monday,September 18, 1978, at the end of her season, the “Highland Seabird” gaveCampbeltonians a special day excursion to Ayr. In 1979, the Irish day excursion toPortrush and Moville was cut to Sundays only and then dropped completely thefollowing year, the spring of 1981 saw the “Highland Seabird” on charter toSealink for the Portsmouth to Ryde passenger ferry service and then she was laid upon the slip at Old Kilpatrick, near Glasgow.

In July 1981, The Secretary of State for Scotland proposed that the subsidy forCalMac’s Gourock - Dunoon service be withdrawn and Western Ferries be given acapital grant so that they could buy another car-ferry to cope with the extra vehicletraffic, a subsidy too would be offered to the company to operate a Gourock -Dunoon passenger service with the “Highland Seabird”, now lying idle at OldKilpatrick.

A public enquiry ensued and the proposals rejected, serious hardship,inconvenience and difficulty being expected if the Dunoon passengers had to relyon the “Highland Seabird”, it being acknowledged that, the weather conditions,particularly in winter, would quickly lead to the suspension of the service if it wereleft to a 90-foot catamaran which was never designed to cope with the big seaswhich all too often threatened even ordinary car-ferry services and the “HighlandSeabird” was now put up for sale.

In October 2002, CalMac’s Gourock - Dunoon service was again under threat, thesecond ‘spare’ car-ferry now focusing on the Rothesay - Wemyss Bay service. Tocope with the two morning and one evening traffic peaks, CalMac made the mistakeof chartering the 250-passenger, but 19.5 metre-long catamaran, “Ali Cat” fromThe Solent-based Red Funnel Group and after only one trip to Dunoon she wasforced to tie till the weather abated.

Interestingly, registered in Campbeltown, the “Highland Seabird” was sold toFrench owners in March 1985, the new owners taking her to St. Nazaire where, inMarch 1942, H.M.S. “Campbeltown”, formerly the U.S.S. “Buchanan”, hadfamously and successfully been used to ram and blow up the big gates into the dockduring World War II.

And finally . . . . .

“Calvin B. Marshall”

alvin B. Marshall was of course the somewhat brash, impetuous and quiteluckless American tycoon whose material sacrifice was rewarded when hisname was bestowed on one of Scotland’s well-remembered and famous butfictional ships, a puffer, the “Maggie”.

The whimsical story was written by William Rose, he too wrote the script for“Genevieve”. The music for “The Maggie” was written by John Addison who

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composed the music for the “Murder She Wrote” television series, the concertinaplayed by Willie Smith, well known for his playing skills in the Clyde Steamer bands.

The 1953 Ealing comedy film “The Maggie” is a wicked little satire on the mutualcontempt that even today underlies Euro-American relations and in many ways theseemingly leisurely, gentle-humoured and happily-concluded tale is indeedsomewhat cruel rather than quaint.

Enter Calvin B. Marshall (Paul Douglas) as the American airways tycoon who’sbuilding a new house on a Hebridean island and needs some building suppliesdelivered fast so that the job can be finished in time for his anniversary. EnterCaptain MacTaggart (played by former Kirkintilloch school-master Alex Mackenzie) and thecrew of the “Maggie”, her part played by John Hay & Sons’ puffers “Boer” and“Inca”, both broken up in 1965.

Enter a low tide in Glasgow and a case of mistaken identity and then, even beforethe chase begins, the headlines - ‘Puffer on Subway’ ! Though in the film, the‘puffer’ was in fact a beautifuuly detailed full-size mock- up, the incident was basedon real fact for Warnock’s puffer “Faithful” had indeed once grounded at low tideon top of the Glasgow subway tunnel, near the suspension bridge.

When the chase begins, it is by air and a de Havilland Rapide bi-plane and to Kintyre.Then up ‘the West Road’ of Kintyre to the Crinan Canal where poor Mr Pussey(Hubert Gregg), Marshall’s ‘side-kick’, gets arrested for poaching and pushing thelocal Laird into the canal ! And then of course there is the ceilidh, the 100thbirthday party for the old, now toothless mate of the “Maggie”. Outside the party,Mr Marshall - his name from the well-know Greenock puffer owners, Ross &Marshall - he gains something of an insight into decision making when inconversation with a girl who is being wooed by the local shop-keeper and afisherman, ‘I’ll marry the fisherman because, even if we’re poor, we’ll be together and he won’t beaway with his mind away on other things like the shop-keeper building up his business(es)’ !

It is little surprising that this film has stood the test of time for it was made byAlexander Mackendrick who was undoubtedly one of The World’s most talentedfilm directors, he too being responsible for making “Whisky Galore !“ “The Man inThe White Suit” and “The Ladykillers” in the Ealing Studios.

Mackendrick, an American-Scot, was born in September 1912 and was the son ofScottish parents who had eloped to Boston. At the age of six, his father had died offlu and he was brought home by his grand-parents and raised in Glasgow, where he

went on to attend Glasgow’s School of Art.

He made short advertising films for Ovaltine and then had joined The Ministry ofInformation where he made a short film on ‘V.D.’ which earned him promotion tothe Psychological Warfare Branch and then, at the end of WWII, he oversaw there-launching of the Italian film industry before returning to London and then EalingStudios. Shortly after making “The Ladykillers”, Mackendrick went to Americawhere he directed the film noir classic “Sweet Smell of Success” with Burt Lancasterand Tony Curtis and then, after directing several films unsuited to his talents, heretreated to teach his film skills to other rising stars in California where he died,aged 81, in 1993.

The “Pibroch” and An “Eagle”

he development of the puffer, from canal barge with with coal-fired boiler,simple ‘condenser-less’ single or twin-cylinder steam engine, the steam‘puffing’ and exhausting to the atmosphere - hence the ‘puffer’, came to anend in 1957 when Scott’s of Bowling built Scottish Malt Distillers’ 151-ton,

84-foot long, beautiful ‘White Horse’ diesel puffer “Pibroch (II)”.

In 1989, she left Scottish waters for a new career on the west coast of Irelandtrading around Galway and Connemara and supplying the islands such as Inishturkand Inishbofin until the spring of 2002 when, replaced by the 1970-built, 181-ton,“Lodella”, a former Thames coasting barge previously certificated to trade betweenthe Humber - Shoreham and Harlingen-Dieppe limits. “Pibroch (II)” is now laidup rusting picturesquely alongside the little stone quay at Letterfrack in CountyGalway. Considering her size, her scrap value is small and her remote locationsuggests that few shipbreakers might find it profitable to tow her great distance fordismantling, the cost of any tow swallowing up any small profit that might be madefrom her steel.

The “Eagle”, a ‘standard’ 66-foot long Forth & Clyde Canal-length puffer, wasbuilt of iron at Leith in 1881 for a Mr Campbell Muir of Innistryinch. She went bysea to Bonawe, on Loch Etive, then by road through The Pass of Brander to LochAwe where she passed through a variety of owners until sold finally to a Mr Sheriffsin 1929. Withdrawn from service in 1935, she was sold for scrapping and mooredinshore just a short distance to the west of Lochawe ‘Railway’ Pier. In the early partof the following year, her hatch covers unsecured, she sank during a fierce gale,her mast remaining visible to mark her last resting-place until at least the early1960’s.

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Inevitably with the passage of the decades, she will have settled herself quitesecurely, seemingly in a fairly upright position, into the bottom silt of the loch but,although perhaps somewhat reluctant to leave her muddy cradle, it is quite withinthe capability of modern air-bag technology to lift her to the surface. Her hull isiron and, as has been found from the experience of those raising veteransteamboats now on show and in operation on Lake Windermere, the “Eagle”,raised and re-fitted, would draw interest from far and wide, not least in view of herproximity to Para Handy’s creator’s birth – place.