Historic Ferries

The predecessors of today’s CalMac ferries are fondly remembered icons of days when the waters of the Clyde and Hebrides bustled with maritime traffic. Donald Reid explores a rich history now fading from memory

PS Waverley

WHEN SEAWAYS WERE HIGHWAYS

For all the timeless beauty of the rugged, ragged western coast of Scotland, it’s a scene that has changed profoundly in just a couple of generations. What has gone from the seascapes of Scotland is traffic.

For at least 100 years before – and some 20 years after – World War Two, these coastal waters were busy with craft of all sizes, styles and endeavours: fishing smacks, puffers, barges, cargo boats, warships, yachts, famous liners built in the Clydeside shipyards, the daily Dublin and Belfast overnight ferries and, most distinctively, passenger steamers.

Such activity is a distant notion for today’s ferry passenger, with relatively unpopulated seas on view and only occasional sightings of vessels other than fishing or leisure craft. Yet within living memory in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, steamers plied regular routes from all around the Firth of Clyde and its finger lochs to the main railheads at Gourock and Helensburgh, as well as right into the Broomielaw dock in the heart of Glasgow. Coastal settlements such as Arrochar, Tighnabruaich, Lochgoilhead, Blackwaterfoot and Ardrishaig were well known from timetable lists and shouted destination announcements, and their most familiar aspect was their seaward front as viewed over the rail of arriving or departing steamers.

As the primary transport link, the coastal traffic reflected the realities of life: used not just by holidaymakers but by city workers, school children, tradesfolk and salespeople, carrying goods, post and cargoes as varied as building materials and livestock. In addition to their morning and evening commuter runs, a number of steamers would offer pleasure cruises in the summer months which were principally aimed at residents of the dense, industrial suburbs of Greater Glasgow. These outings ‘Doon the Watter’ offered an escape into the fresh air, green scenery and open spaces just a couple of hours away up fjord-like Loch Long, the verdant Kyles of Bute or towards the shimmering peaks of Arran.

Turbine and paddle-steamers such as Jupiter, Columba, Queen Mary, King George V and Jeanie Deans, along with their liveries, routes and timetables, were an entrenched part of the daily narrative of life. Posters advertised excursions

WAVERLEY EXCURSIONS LTD CLYDE RIVER STEAMERS CLUB CRCS.OR.UK

MacBraynes' Inner Islands mail boat Loch Earn at Castlebay, Barra c.1950

WHEN SEAWAYS WERE HIGHWAYS

and adventures including the glamorous ‘Royal Route’ run by David MacBrayne’s shipping company, which once whisked passengers from Glasgow to Ardrishaig, through the Crinan Canal, up by connecting steamers to Oban and Fort William, then through the Caledonian Canal to Inverness. MacBrayne, based in Oban, was the dominant name in the passenger, freight and mail steamer services in the Hebrides, as well as the operator of fleets of red, cream and green liveried motorbuses that extended the transport links around the coastal areas and islands.

The one remaining legacy of such days is Waverley, the last sea-going paddle-steamer in operation in the world. Built just after World War Two after her namesake had been lost at Dunkirk in 1940, she was initially commissioned by the LNER railway company. With nationalisation in 1948, British Rail took over not just the railways but their associated shipping fleets too.

Running a route between Craigendoran by Helensburgh to Rothesay and Dunoon, in the 1950s Waverley was only one of many elegant paddle and turbine steamers on the Clyde. By the 1960s the transport picture was changing. Ships reaching the end of their lives weren’t being replaced and as the motor car became more important, car-carrying ferries were required. In 1969 the second-last Clyde paddlesteamer, Caledonia, was withdrawn, and in 1973 British Rail’s subsidiary Caledonian Steam Packet Company was merged with David MacBrayne’s Western Isles services to form Caledonian MacBrayne.

Waverley, not required by CalMac, was gifted for £1 to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society to become a full-time pleasure cruiser, a role she continues to this day – not just on her home waters of the Clyde, but around the British Isles on an annual itinerary which has her offering trips to Oban and Skye, Liverpool and North Wales, the Bristol Channel, the Isle of Wight and even up the River Thames and under Tower Bridge. Water-borne traffic was once common in all these areas too, so her annual appearance is greeted with enthusiasm and nostalgia, the distinctive thrashing of her paddles and steaming funnel a glimpse into a world of fading, but still cherished, maritime memories. n waverleyexcursions.co.uk