Henry Bell's PS Comet started a rapid expansion of steam services on the Firth of Clyde, and within four years a steamer service was in operation on the inland Loch Lomond, a forerunner of the lake steamers that still grace the Swiss lakes. Today the 1900 steamer SS Sir Walter Scott still sails on Loch Katrine, while on Loch Lomond the PS Maid of the Loch is being restored.
On the Clyde itself, within ten years of the Comet's start there were nearly fifty steamers, and services had started across the Irish Sea to Belfast. By 1900 there were over 300 Clyde Steamers. The paddle steamer Waverley, built in 1947, is the last survivor of these fleets, and the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world. This ship sails a full season of cruises every year from places around Britain, and has sailed across the English Channel for a visit to commemorate the sinking of her predecessor of 1899 at the Battle of Dunkirk.
The first turbine powered merchant vessel, the Clyde steamer TS King Edward, was built in 1901. Her successor, the TS Queen Mary of 1932, is now a floating restaurant on the River Thames in London.
Steamers have replaced the "Ailsa Craig" and the "City of Glasgow," almost as superior to these as these to the old smacks, and of the original actors not one is left.
Steamers in the Holyhead and Howth Line had just broken down lamentably, and Charles McIntosh, as he saw the "Rob Roy" starting on her trial trip in face of a south-west gale, bade Napier good-bye, with the cheerful assurance that they would all be drowned.
So was the Clyde Company's "Enterprise." On the 7th of March, Martin and Burns were alone in the field with both the Manchester vessels and the "Enterprise" in their hands, and, with seven vessels and no opposition, were advertising a daily sailing each way.
This evocative collection of photographs of the Clyde and its people is a unique chronicle of the life and times of the river - from the halycon days when resorts like Rothesay, Largs, Ayr and Prestwick were a playground for the people of Clydeside.
The architecture and historical delights demonstrate the diversity of an area whose common boundary is the River Clyde: iron age forts, austere chapels, great castles and the stronghold of Dumbarton.
Included in Sheila Struthers' book are views of shipbuilding on the Clyde, the Queen Mary under construction, the ferries that plied between Yoker and Renfrew, local football teams, several pictures of Dalmuir and all the important streets and sights of Clydebank itself.
Feeds |
Contact