Eye on Millig: The roots and routes of the Clyde's early steamers

This week's Eye on Millig column looks back at how steamer services around the Clyde's sea lochs developed during the 19th century and beyond - and kept local communities connected in the same way roads do today...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

PIERS in the Helensburgh area have been much in the news lately, in particular the waterfront development in Helensburgh itself and a developer’s proposal to erect a pier at Portincaple.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, these two places featured in what was described in the Glasgow Herald of December 14, 1849 as “the principal route to Inveraray”.

Local historian Stewart Noble, who is treasurer of Helensburgh Heritage Trust and has researched transport of bygone eras, stresses that in those days the sea was the highway.

The business most associated with the route to Inveraray, at that time Argyll’s county town, was the Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Company, which had a contract to carry the Royal Mail.

An advertisement in the Glasgow Herald on August 16, 1878 shows one of its vessels sailing from the Broomielaw in Glasgow and calling at Dumbarton, Greenock, Gourock, Kilcreggan, Cove, Blairmore, Ardentinny, Carrick Castle and Douglas Pier before Lochgoilhead.

A little later the same day, another of its boats followed nearly the same route, but she called at Dunoon and Kirn instead of Kilcreggan and Cove.

On Thursdays in 1880 the West Highland Carrying Company followed an even longer route. After calling at Helensburgh, Kilcreggan and Cove, its vessel would visit all the Holy Loch piers as well as Coulport.

After leaving Lochgoilhead, its itinerary took it to Portincaple, Murligan (now Morelaggan) Ferry, and Arrochar.

Ardentinny and Portincaple, on opposite banks of Loch Long, never had piers, and steamers were met by ferries coming from the shore, usually open rowing boats. Sometimes steamers could be hailed by ferries to pick up passengers.

Although the construction of Coulport Pier started in 1880, technical problems meant it did not come into use until 1882. Before that, a ferry would come out to the steamers.

In 1870 a Mr Paul of Glasgow, who owned a summer residence at Coulport, took the Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Company to court after purchasing a book of 24 tickets on special terms for travel from “Glasgow to or from Ardentinny or Coulport.”

However, after July 1 that year, the steamer stopped calling for the ferry at Coulport, and so Mr Paul had to take a carriage to Cove, the nearest pier, thus incurring extra expense. It appears his claim was settled out of court.

After reaching Lochgoilhead, passengers for Inveraray would board a horse-drawn coach to take them through Hell’s Glen to St Catherines on the east shore of Loch Fyne — nearly nine miles.

A visit could be made to the Ferry Inn at St Catherines before crossing the Loch to Inveraray. A ferry was first recorded there in 1680, and it continued until 1963.

Today, although the Old Ferry Inn still stands in the village, it is derelict and has been for many years.

In Victorian times, for the last leg of their journey to Inveraray, passengers would board a small 60-foot paddle steamer called the ‘Fairy’ which was built in 1865 to travel across Loch Fyne, and which was replaced in 1893 by another vessel of the same name.

Helensburgh Advertiser:

The Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Company was formed in 1825, only 13 years after Henry Bell’s ‘Comet’ first sailed.

They had a succession of paddle steamers on the route, at least two being called ‘Lochgoil’ and two ‘Lochlong’. Later came the ‘Carrick Castle’ and the ‘Windsor Castle’.

The last and best-known of the fleet was the ‘Edinburgh Castle’, which was built in Port Glasgow in 1879 and which was notable for having very large paddle boxes.

The company did not have a monopoly of the route, however – particularly in summer. As well as the West Highland Carrying Company, various excursion steamers came out not just from Glasgow, but also from resorts in the Clyde, with the route to Inveraray part of an excursion.

In 1868 the Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Company took one of its competitors, Captain Macintyre of the steamer ‘Ardencaple’, to court at Inveraray. As a result, he was obliged to remove his vessel from the inside berth at Lochgoilhead pier ten minutes after passengers and cargo had embarked, to make way for any other steamer.

Competition also came from the steamers of the four railway-owned companies and from David MacBrayne.

In 1880, the railway line to Oban opened, which enabled passengers for Inveraray to travel by train as far as Dalmally, and then by horse-drawn carriage for the remaining 16 miles of their journey.

In 1877 a closely related business, the Glasgow and Inveraray Steamboat Company, was set up. It had the same manager as the Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Company, many of the same shareholders, and even the same colour scheme for its vessels.

Its purpose was to provide a direct tourist connection to Inveraray by ship travelling via Rothesay and the Kyles of Bute.

This company owned a paddle steamer called the ‘Lord of the Isles’. It was so successful that it was replaced by a bigger vessel of the same name 14 years later.

The opening of the West Highland Railway in 1894 presented an opportunity for the Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Company – and its rivals.

The Glasgow Evening Post reported in 1893 that “a station is to be placed at Portincaple, Loch Long, when the West Highland Railway is completed, and a new steamer will run daily between Portincaple and Lochgoilhead, bringing the latter 40 minutes nearer Glasgow”.

In the event, it was two years after the opening of the West Highland Railway that Whistlefield station was built to serve Portincaple. A jetty was built at this time, but a pier was never constructed.

A suggestion was made that Portincaple and Whistlefield station might be linked by a funicular railway, but that never happened. So the Portincaple fisherfolk had to carry their fish one way or another up to Whistlefield station.

In 1905 part of the Ardkinglass estate was bought by Cameron Corbett MP, who donated it to Glasgow City Council. His wish was to give increased access to the countryside between Loch Goil and Loch Long to the citizens of dirty, smoky and polluted Glasgow.

Two years later, the Young Men’s Christian Association asked Glasgow City Council if they could build a permanent campsite on Ardgoil, as the estate was now known.

Helensburgh Advertiser:

This included a dining hall capable of seating 400 — and of course the majority staying there would have come by steamer.

Cameron Corbett’s gift had two conditions. One was that the revenue from the sheep farms on the property should be used to make Ardgoil more accessible to the Glasgow citizens; the other was that the sale of alcohol on Ardgoil would be prohibited.

However, a new form of competition for all the paddle steamers on the Clyde arrived in 1901, with the first turbine steamer in commercial service in the world – the ‘King Edward’.

This vessel was so successful that others rapidly followed, with the result that both the Lochgoil and Lochlong Steamboat Company and the Glasgow and Inveraray Steamboat Company became bankrupt in 1909, just when steamers were losing traffic to motor vehicles.

A new business, the Lochgoil and Inveraray Steamboat Company, was formed to take over the assets of the two old companies, the paddle steamers ‘Edinburgh Castle’ on the Lochgoilhead route and ‘Lord of the Isles’ on the Inveraray route.

Three years later, the new company signed a contract with Finlay McNab of Portincaple to place his motorboat on a new service from Princes Pier in Greenock to Lochgoilhead.

Probably the main reason Finlay McNab was awarded a one-year contract was that his boat was powered by a motor, thought to be a Lister diesel, rather than by a steam engine.

Also in 1912, the Lochgoil and Inveraray Steam Boat Company was taken over by Turbine Steamers Ltd., and the following year the ‘Edinburgh Castle’ went to the shipbreakers.

The Royal Mail contract for the Lochgoilhead route was taken over by David MacBrayne Ltd in 1913, using one of their own paddle steamers, but two years later a new vessel was introduced.

It was one of the very first motor-driven, sea-going passenger vessels in Britain, and when MacBrayne's acquired this 65-foot ship in 1907, they changed its name to ‘Comet’ in homage to Henry Bell’s pioneering vessel of 1812.

It was built in London in 1905, and was given a paraffin engine, which was replaced by diesel 20 years later.

By now, Coulport Pier had already disappeared from the itinerary. Although it had only opened in 1882, it was in service for just 15 years.

Paddle steamer skippers felt that the approaches to this pier were unsafe; furthermore, the pier had been built partly for speculative reasons, to encourage wealthier travellers to build their villas there — but most preferred Cove and Kilcreggan.

Surprisingly, the 1937-38 timetable of the London and North Eastern Railway had details of a motor launch service from Whistlefield to Lochgoilhead, operated by Hector Blair of Lochgoilhead. How long this lasted is not known.

In 1946 MacBrayne's withdrew the ‘Comet’ from the Lochgoilhead route, and the Royal Mail service came to an end. The vessel was sold the following year, though it still survives today – as a houseboat at Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex.

During and after the Second World War, piers at Cove, Carrick Castle and Douglas closed down, and ferries no longer came out to meet the steamers at Ardentinny and Portincaple.

The Lochgoilhead route finally ended in 1965, when Lochgoilhead's pier closed.

Email: milligeye@btinternet.com

Search

News

Sport

Opinion

What's on

Announcements

E-Editions