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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Western
Isles,
Scotland
Ferry
services in the western isles of north Britain are dominated by the
state-owned Caledonian-MacBrayne company which was formed by merging
the Scottish Transport Group's Western Isles and Clyde ferry
interests. The MacBrayne name was synonymous with transport to and
from the many scattered islands off the UK's north west coast, of which
Syke, Mull, Iona, Harris and Lewis are just some of the
better-known.
Steam navigation commenced in 1819 when Henry Bell's PS Comet, which
had pioneered British steamboating on the Clyde, opened up a service
from Glasgow to Oban and Fort William via the Crinan Canal.
Most main islands are now served by modern "roll on - roll off" car
ferries, with link-spans being built in the 1970s and 1980s to
provide an efficient lifeline to the small and remote island
communities. In earlier years, cargo was an important, if not
dominant, part of the MacBrayne service and this was reflected in the
utilitarian design of many of their vessels. MacBrayne became the
dominant shipping company in the later part of the nineteenth century
and even before this, competing companies in practice served
different islands. There was never the cut-throat competition that
characterised, for example, shipping on the Firth of Clyde : traffic
could not justify the wasteful duplication and the area was never a
battleground for competing railway companies. Railways came late to
this lowly populated backwater, reaching the coast at Strome Ferry
(from Inverness) in 1870 and Oban and Fort William/Banavie (from
Glasgow) in 1880 and 1894/5 respectively. The lines were later
extended from Strome to Kyle of Lochalsh in 1897 and Banavie to
Mallaig in 1901, improving the railway connections to the Isle of
Skye and onward to the Outer Hebrides (Harris and Lewis).
Following a visit of Queen Victoria to the western isles in 1847,
this remote area became increasingly important as a tourist
destination, although never in the mass numbers experienced further
south at Rothesay and Dunoon. The so-called "Royal Route" from
Glasgow to Ardrishaig on Loch Fyne and thence through the Crinan
Canal for onward connection to Oban became a popular service with
David Hutcheson (later David MacBrayne) putting the Clyde's most
luxurious steamers (PS Iona and PS Columba) on the Glasgow-Ardrishaig
leg of the run. Patrons of the route, especially before the arrival
of the railways, were the local absentee landowners, grouse shooters
and higher-income tourists.
Oban became the main "resort" and centre for excursion steamer
services. After World War II, excursions became synomymous with the
mighty turbine steamer TS King George V, which cruised to Fort
William, Tobermory, around the Island of Mull to the islands of Iona
and Staffa, the places on the route of the famous visit of Queen
Victoria one hundred years earlier. Iona was famous for its monastery
and its place as the point where St Columba introduced Christianity
to the northern part of Great Britain. The much smaller island of Staffa was famous for
Fingal's Cave, a geological formation named in the late eighteenth
century after a legendary hero of 1500 years earlier, and accessible
only by smaller ferry from the main steamer during fine weather on
account of the heavy swell from the Atlantic ocean.
Paddle steamer excursions have recently been revived in the area. PS
Waverley spends a few days each year at the beginning of her
season.
Hutcheson
(and therefore later MacBraynes) also operated a service direct from
Glasgow via the Mull of Kintyre to Fort Augustus and along the Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness
to Inverness after taking over the business of the main incumbent
Messrs. Burns in 1851 (who had bought out their main rival Ainslie in
1849)
Steamer Operators:
Alexander McEachearn
(1832-1835) / Robert Napier (1835-1837) / Thomson & MacConnell
(1837-1840) amalgamated with Burns
Glasgow Castle Steam Packet Co (to 1846) Sold to G & J Burns including vessels marked *
Tarbert Castle (1838-1839, wrecked)
Windsor Castle (1838-1844, sold to Firth of Forth)
Inveraray Castle (1839*)
Windsor Castle (1838-1844)
Duntroon Castle (1842*)
Cardiff Castle (1844*)
Craignish Castle (1844*)
Edinburgh Castle (1844*)
Windsor Castle (1845-1845, hull broken up and engines used in Dunrobin Castle)
Dunrobin Castle (1846*)
J & G (later) G & J Burns (1835-1851) Sold to David Hutcheson, manager of Burns west Highland operations with vessels marked *
From Glasgow Castle Steam Packet Co in 1846
Inveraray Castle (Sold, to Glasgow & Loch Fyne Steamship Co, ship and company acquired by Hutcheson in 1857)
Duntroon Castle (*)
Cardiff Castle (Sold, used on the Clyde until 1868)
Craignish Castle (Sold, reportedly used in Surinam)
Edinburgh Castle (*)
Dunrobin Castle (Sold for use in St Petersburg, Russia and later in Azerbaijan)
David Hutcheson & Co later David MacBrayne Ltd (1851-1973)
See separate page on link above
Sir James Matheson
Purchased the Isle of Lewis in 1844 and instituted a service from Glasgow via various islands with the Mary Jane ( of 1846-1851, which later became part of the Hutcheson fleet in 1857 and survived until 1931) and added Marquis of Stafford (1849-1853, which was sold for use at Genoa, Italy, renamed Piemonte)
Bibliography
Steamers of the
Highlands and Islands : An Illustrated History
By Ian McCrorie
Published in 1987 by Orr, Pollock & Co
ISBN 1 869850 017
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