Ardrossan to Montreal, CANADA

1809 Sailing Notice for the armed sailing ship LORD GARDNER from Greenock for Kingston (Jamaica)

1809 Sailing Notice for the armed sailing ship POMONA from Greenock for Grenada

"Trelawney" ashore at Stevenston

The ship "Trelawney" went ashore at Stevenston on 22nd January 1819.
She was of 450 tons and had left Greenock bound for Jamaica.

When the "Spaniel" and "Gorilla" sailed to Belfast

From "Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" dated Friday 11th February 1972

July 1822

WHEN THE "SPANIEL" AND "GORILLA" SAILED TO BELFAST.....(Scribe/Tango)

The names of passenger ships sailing regularly from Ardrossan Harbour to Ireland, Arran and Isle of Man, have tended for a hundred years to be household words in the locality, and the older generation often refer nostalgically to bygone vessels - but do any of them still recall such erstwhile harbour visitors as the Belfast steamers "SPANIEL", "VULTURE" and "GORILLA""

The history of the shipping connection between Ardrossan and Belfast is a long and interesting one. As far back as 1884 the daylight service had been established and it was 40 years earlier, in 1844, that the night service to Ardrossan Belfast was first begun.

Originally the night service was operated by the Ardrossan Shipping Company who ran two vessels on the route, the "NORTH WESTERN" and the "NORTH EASTERN", but most of the history of the service is attached to Messrs G. & J. Burns, Glasgow, who took over the Ardrossan - Belfast run from the Ardrossan company in July, 1882.

The Burns firm was founded in 1824 by the brothers George and James Burns. From the start the firm was intimately associated with Glasgow - Belfast and Glasgow - Liverpool sealinks. George Burns carried most of the responsibility for the shipping line and it was he, who in 1839, helped Samuel Cunard of Halifax, Nova Scotia to found the famous Cunard Line. In 1922 Burns amalgamated with Laird line Ltd., Glasgow, and Ayr Steam Shipping Company Ltd., Ayr, and since then the line has been known as Burns & Laird Lines Ltd.

NAMES CHANGED

When Burns took over the night company vessels - "NORTH WESTERN" became "GRAMPUS, and "NORTH EASTERN" became "SEAL" and under their new flag they ran successfully for many years. During the construction of the Eglinton Basin and Dock the "GRAMPUS", commanded by Captain Cochrane, and the "SEAL" commanded by Captain Todd, were displaced from the berth at Winton Pier and operated from Jerry's Pier.

Up until 1893 mail from Scotland to Northern Ireland had been conveyed via Greenock but then Burns brought in a new express passenger and mail service. The "GRAMPUS" and "SEAL" were taken out of service and their captains were given two new ships the RMS "HOUND" and the RMS "GORILLA", which operated the service until 1898. Up until 1936 it was known that the
"HOUND", under new owners, was still running in the Mediterranean.

Only five years after the start of the service "HOUND" and "GORILLA" were taken off and two new steamers the "VULTURE" (Captain Todd) and the "MAGPIE" (Captain McMillan) came into service. The gross tonnage of each was 1280 with 3000 horse power and they considerably advanced the service. However, these vessels were to have a short life and eight years later, in 1906, they were replaced by the "WOODCOCK" (Captain Darroch) and the "PATRIDGE" (Captain Bruce). Both vessels were built by John Brown on Clydebank each of 1523 gross tonnage and 3200 horsepower. Their dimensions showed no advantage over their predecessors but they were far superior in passenger accommodation and speed.

WAR

During the first war the "VULTURE" was requisitioned by the government and renamed "LAIRDSROCK", other ships were also renamed as follows - "PATRIDGE" becoming "LAIRDSTOCK", and the "MAGPIE" becoming "LAIRDSGROVE".

DAYLIGHT

As the night passenger service ended Burns & Laird stepped up their new daylight services but continued a night cargo trade bringing in two new motor vessels, the "LAIRDSCREST" and "LAIRDSWOOD" which were built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast.

The daylight service was inaugurated in 1884 by a steel twin screw steamer named "BUZZARD" and she was succeeded by a paddle steamer "COBRA". Elderly readers may still recall the next ship, the paddler "ADDER" which operated the service from 1890 till 1905 and her successor was the turbine steamer "VIPER" which ran until the beginning of the First World War.

"VIPER" was sold in 1919 to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was re-named "SNAEFELL".

The daylight service was in abeyance from about 1915 until 1925 when it was re-opened by RMS "TIGER", was taken over the following year by "WOODCOCK" and she was succeeded in 1929 by the "LAIRDSMOOR" which carried on until 1933 when "LAIRDS ISLE" took over.

This very popular and fast ship remained on the run until 1957 when "IRISH COAST" succeeded her, and the present ship "LION" took up the service in 1968 - continuing a sailing connection between Ardrossan and Belfast that has endured for 128 years.

Drowned in the quarry in Glasgow Street, Ardrossan

1822 December 23rd

Monday evening about 24.00 hrs
Hugh Alillar and Walter Jamieson left Ardrossan for West Kilbride, the place of their residence.
When, owing to the darkness of the night, they went off the road at the bottom end of Glasgow Street Ardrossan, and both were precipitated into the free-stone quarry.
A depth of 30ft, with about 10ft of water at the bottom.
Hugh Alillar was much bruised by the fall but managed to swim to the other side and got out.
But Walter Jamieson had fallen on his head, sunk in the water and was drowned, his body was found the next morning
They had arrived that day with the Sloop "Two Brothers" of Glasgow, from Loch Striven with a cargo of Charcoal

Clyde cruising on "Rothesay Castle" in 1825

From: Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald dated 23rd June 1972

CLYDE CRUISING IN DAYS OF YORE - 1825

With the advent of the summer season many people are now probably immersed in guide books and timetables, and one which they might find fascinating is "The Steam Boat Companion and Strangers' Guide to the Western Islands and Highlands of Scotland".

The Steamboat Guide consists of 212 pages of close type, with maps, descriptions of the scenery of the river and "Frith" of Clyde, with the voyages to Liverpool and Belfast, and land tours to the Giant's Causeway and Lakes of Cumberland thrown in for good measure. Published by James Lumsden & Son, Glasgow, it costs 7s 6d and lists 44 steam vessels plying regularly in Clyde waters.

Comprehensive as the Companion is, its interest is now only historical, since its date of publication was, astonishingly, 1825 - and the chances of another copy ever turning up are remote. The printing date is astonishing, because the first steam vessel built for passengers in this country was constructed by Henry Bell in 1812: and only 12 years later one could sail on the Clyde to all the destinations still available today.

A Londoner who wished to visit Arran for example in 1825 was faced certainly with fairly arduous journeys by any route, but could do the whole trip by water in reasonable comfort.

CANAL

Commencing his journey at London Bridge he sailed down the Thames and up the east coast, touching at Gravesend, Yarmouth, Scarborough and on to Leith. From Edinburgh he went by steamer to Grangemouth, then to Lock No. 16, whence to Glasgow by the Forth and Clyde Canal.

At Glasgow he would board the "ROTHESAY CASTLE" (74 tons) which plied to Rothesay and on to Brodick Bay (the most convenient place for landing). Describing Brodick Castle the Companion comments that on the north side - there is an angular bastion which Oliver Cromwell caused to be erected when he fortified the castle. His men however having committed some outrages in the island, were beset, and to the number of eighty, were murdered by the natives - an Arran episode not generally known.

"Goatfell", says the book, "is 2865 feet high according to Dr McCallum's measurement or 2947 feet according to that of Professor Playfair; (the Ordnance Survey makes it 2866 and they're probably right). It presents from its summit one of the finest views in Britain, but is much exposed to wind, rain, snow and mist".

For whatever reason compilers of tourist guides of the period expected their readers to be obsessed with geology and mineralology - for the next four pages the Steam Boat Companion conducts its readers round Arran, going into great detail about the peculiarities of granite, micaceous schistus rock, quartz, and limestone containing numerous terebratulae and madreporites.

Taking tourists round the island nowadays the coach drivers never even mention it.

SCREEB

"The traveller leaves Brodick northwards for Screeb" (where the mineralologist should endeavour to discover the junction of the primary and secondary limestone strata). He can if he likes, but first he'll have to discover where Screeb was: the present writer's researches have failed to identify it.

On, "to Corry and Scriden, Loch Ranza, where the castle is still in good preservation and might be rendered habitable at a small expense; Kilmory (where zeolite and prehnite are met with), so round to Lamlash and Holy Island which is composed of red sandstone, porphyry and trap". There is no mention whatever of Whiting Bay - nor for that matter of any difficulty in access to Holy Isle.

The book comments: "There was formerly very inferior accommodation only to be got in Arran and the roads were also very bad. But there is now a very excellent inn at Brodick and several good roads are made or are in course of making. No mineral dealer we believe has yet fixed his residence on the island".

COASTLINE

The wise traveller 150 years ago would naturally wish to visit Ardrossan and he could take a sailing ship from Arran, or if he was thirled to his steamboats, he could return to Glasgow and come down the coast, "espying such places as Largs, a neat pleasant village containing some good inns and environed by many agreeable villas. Sir T. Brisbane is proprietor or superior of the whole town. From this place there is a regular ferry to Kerryirag in Bute.

"On a point of the mainland stands the old castle of Pencross; near which in 1588 one of the ships of the Spanish Armada was wrecked", (this is Portencross) - "a short way on is Ardneal, 4 miles farther Boydston and near it, Mountford. Two miles on is the town and harbour of Ardrossan. From this a canal has been projected through the interior of the country to join with Paisley and Glasgow".

In a footnote, the Companion gives the dimensions of the Canal as 30 feet broad, 4 feet feet deep (!), admitting boats 68 feet long and 8 feet wide. "Eight locks will be required to raise it and thirteen to lower it, to Ardrossan".

"A steam boat (The "DUNBARTON CASTLE", 70 tons) plies from Glasgow to Stranraer once weekly during the summer, which after touching at all the ports upon the Clyde, leaves Ardrossan and sails to Saltcoats, Irvine, Troon and Ayr. This agreeable mode of conveyance to and from Glasgow although circuitous is preferred by the inhabitants of these places and of others in the interior of the country, to the expensive and comparatively disagreeable route by land".

It is to be hoped that the latter day mineralologist, the boot of his car loaded with his Arran limestone and porphyry and driving casually on and off "CALEDONIA" realises how luck he is.

Scribe - Tango

Clyde cruising on "Dumbarton Castle" in 1825

From: Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald dated 23rd June 1972

CLYDE CRUISING IN DAYS OF YORE - 1825

With the advent of the summer season many people are now probably immersed in guide books and timetables, and one which they might find fascinating is "The Steam Boat Companion and Strangers' Guide to the Western Islands and Highlands of Scotland".

The Steamboat Guide consists of 212 pages of close type, with maps, descriptions of the scenery of the river and "Frith" of Clyde, with the voyages to Liverpool and Belfast, and land tours to the Giant's Causeway and Lakes of Cumberland thrown in for good measure. Published by James Lumsden & Son, Glasgow, it costs 7s 6d and lists 44 steam vessels plying regularly in Clyde waters.

Comprehensive as the Companion is, its interest is now only historical, since its date of publication was, astonishingly, 1825 - and the chances of another copy ever turning up are remote. The printing date is astonishing, because the first steam vessel built for passengers in this country was constructed by Henry Bell in 1812: and only 12 years later one could sail on the Clyde to all the destinations still available today.

A Londoner who wished to visit Arran for example in 1825 was faced certainly with fairly arduous journeys by any route, but could do the whole trip by water in reasonable comfort.

CANAL

Commencing his journey at London Bridge he sailed down the Thames and up the east coast, touching at Gravesend, Yarmouth, Scarborough and on to Leith. From Edinburgh he went by steamer to Grangemouth, then to Lock No. 16, whence to Glasgow by the Forth and Clyde Canal.

At Glasgow he would board the "ROTHESAY CASTLE" (74 tons) which plied to Rothesay and on to Brodick Bay (the most convenient place for landing). Describing Brodick Castle the Companion comments that on the north side - there is an angular bastion which Oliver Cromwell caused to be erected when he fortified the castle. His men however having committed some outrages in the island, were beset, and to the number of eighty, were murdered by the natives - an Arran episode not generally known.

"Goatfell", says the book, "is 2865 feet high according to Dr McCallum's measurement or 2947 feet according to that of Professor Playfair; (the Ordnance Survey makes it 2866 and they're probably right). It presents from its summit one of the finest views in Britain, but is much exposed to wind, rain, snow and mist".

For whatever reason compilers of tourist guides of the period expected their readers to be obsessed with geology and mineralology - for the next four pages the Steam Boat Companion conducts its readers round Arran, going into great detail about the peculiarities of granite, micaceous schistus rock, quartz, and limestone containing numerous terebratulae and madreporites.

Taking tourists round the island nowadays the coach drivers never even mention it.

SCREEB

"The traveller leaves Brodick northwards for Screeb" (where the mineralologist should endeavour to discover the junction of the primary and secondary limestone strata)". He can if he likes, but first he'll have to discover where Screeb was: the present writer"s researches have failed to identify it.

On, "to Corry and Scriden, Loch Ranza, where the castle is still in good preservation and might be rendered habitable at a small expense; Kilmory (where zeolite and prehnite are met with), so round to Lamlash and Holy Island which is composed of red sandstone, porphyry and trap". There is no mention whatever of Whiting Bay - nor for that matter of any difficulty in access to Holy Isle.

The book comments: "There was formerly very inferior accommodation only to be got in Arran and the roads were also very bad. But there is now a very excellent inn at Brodick and several good roads are made or are in course of making. No mineral dealer we believe has yet fixed his residence on the island".

COASTLINE

The wise traveller 150 years ago would naturally wish to visit Ardrossan and he could take a sailing ship from Arran, or if he was thirled to his steamboats, he could return to Glasgow and come down the coast, "espying such places as Largs, a neat pleasant village containing some good inns and environed by many agreeable villas. Sir T. Brisbane is proprietor or superior of the whole town. From this place there is a regular ferry to Kerryirag in Bute.

"On a point of the mainland stands the old castle of Pencross; near which in 1588 one of the ships of the Spanish Armada was wrecked", (this is Portencross) - "a short way on is Ardneal, 4 miles farther Boydston and near it, Mountford. Two miles on is the town and harbour of Ardrossan. From this a canal has been projected through the interior of the country to join with Paisley and Glasgow".

In a footnote, the Companion gives the dimensions of the Canal as 30 feet broad, 4 feet deep (!), admitting boats 68 feet long and 8 feet wide. "Eight locks will be required to raise it and thirteen to lower it, to Ardrossan".

"A steam boat (The "DUNBARTON CASTLE", 70 tons) plies from Glasgow to Stranraer once weekly during the summer, which after touching at all the ports upon the Clyde, leaves Ardrossan and sails to Saltcoats, Irvine, Troon and Ayr. This agreeable mode of conveyance to and from Glasgow although circuitous is preferred by the inhabitants of these places and of others in the interior of the country, to the expensive and comparatively disagreeable route by land".

It is to be hoped that the latter day mineralologist, the boot of his car loaded with his Arran limestone and porphyry and driving casually on and off "CALEDONIA" realises how luck he is.

Sailing Notice for Barque FLORA McDONALD leaving Glasgow for Calcutta in 1846

AT THE BROOMIELAW  –  FOR CALCUTTA

The A 1 Barque FLORA McDONALD, David Proud, Master, is now proceeding rapidly with her fine goods, and will be despatched positively on Wednesday the 15^th April, full or not full.

For freight or passage, apply to

JOHN CREE

17 Royal Exchange Square.

 Glasgow, 8^th April 1846

Will be succeeded by the 12 years A 1 Barque BENARES, just arrived.

Ardrossan - Saltcoats 1846

A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland
1846 June 6th.

From: 'Arbuthnott - Arrochar',

Ardrossan:

There are about sixty looms in the town, employed in the weaving of shawls and heavier articles, and lighter articles of silk and cotton.
And in Saltcoats nearly 450; many of the females are also engaged in working muslin.
Fairs are held in July, and on the fourth Thursday in November, for cattle and various kinds of merchandise; facility of communication is afforded, by excellent roads to all the neighbouring towns.

The substrata are limestone, freestone, and coal; the last was formerly wrought in the northern part of the parish, and in the vicinity of Saltcoats, but the workings have been, for some time, discontinued.
There are three limestone quarries in the upper part of the parish, the freestone is found both of a red and white colour, and there is an extensive quarry of the former, close to the town of Ardrossan, from which was raised the stone for building the town and forming the quay.
Near the town are also various kinds of whinstone, of which whole rocks have been blasted with gunpowder, and used in the formation of the breakwater. There are several strata of ironstone near the public baths, varying from two inches to nearly five feet in thickness, but, from their situation, the working of them has not been thought likely to repay the expense;
A variety of fossil shells is found in several parts, and it is generally supposed that the sea has considerably receded from this part of the coast

On Knock-Georgan, are the remains of a Danish camp; and on one of the other hills in the parish, is an artificial mound, of rectangular form, sixteen yards long, nine yards wide, and the same in height, with sloping banks, concerning which nothing authentic is recorded. Dr. Robert Simpson, professor of mathematics in the university of Glasgow, was a heritor of this parish, where he was accustomed to reside during the vacations, on his estate of Knockewart.

"Duke of Cornwall" lost on passage from Ardrossan to Canada

Sailed Ardrossan to St John, Canada
No arrival...Lost

From Lloyds Register of Shipping

DUKE OF CORNWALL - 1847
Master: Captain A. Ronald
Rigging: Barque; fastened with iron bolts
Tonnage: 482 tons
Construction: 1841 in Halifax; some repairs in 1846
Owners: King & Co.
Port of registry: Ardrosan
Port of survey: Clyde
Voyage: sailed for New Brunswick

Barque "Atlantic" ashore at Ardrossan Harbour entrance

ATLANTIC,
Barque... 460t,
300 Passengers,
Irish emigrants.
Liverpool to New Orleans, USA
2 days into voyage She lost her masts during a gale, blown off course and now drifting past Pladda.
The steam tug Conqueror lay off to assist but weather deteriorated and the stricken ship headed for the port of Ardrossan
The ship ran aground near the harbour entrance and now taking on water.
Orders were given to abandon ship. Passengers were ferried in batches by longboat to the awaiting tug, all saved.

ATLANTIC, Barque,
Ardrossan to Quebec CANADA
366 passengers.

Barque "Fram" found sunk off Arran, all crew lost

Barque: Found sunk off Isle of Arran,
Ardrossan carpenters to raise ship.
All crew lost.

Steamer EAGLE sinks off Arran (Firth of Clyde, Scotland) with loss of life

From: Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald 7th September 1973

The Perils Of The Sea SAVED BY THE SHEEP

With the Clyde being one of the busier waterways of Europe for longer than living memory, there has been a fair number of shipping disasters, accidents or curious incidents in its waters - or connected with the ships built in the Firth.   Some are still remembered or spoken about - the CHUSAN disaster and the HJORTNES tragedy at Ardrossan, the wreck of the TRELAWNEY off Stevenston; others are long ago forgotten.

  The greatest loss of life was probably incurred in the DASHER during the past war when she sank in mid channel: but other founderings around local coasts have had their quotas of catastrophe.

   One stormy Monday night - November 28, 1850 - the steamer EAGLE left Greenock at 9 p.m. bound for Londonderry with 80 passengers and a cargo of 200 sheep. The weather was fine at first but became dark an squally as the ship headed down the firth, and the skipper, Captain Eaglesham, hugged the Arran coast.

RAMMED About midnight, as the steamer was passing Holy Isle, the lights of another ship were seen off the port bow.   To avoid her the EAGLE turned hard a port, but while the other ship - the PLADDA, a sailing vessel loaded with timber, homeward bound from Quebec - took similar action but she did not answer her helm swiftly enough and her stern rammed the EAGLE amidships on the starboard side. The size of the PLADDA is not known, but she was apparently waterlogged, making her difficult to handle.   

On the collision, the EAGLE’s funnel collapsed, and the aft compartments filled with water which rushed into the engine room and extinguished the boilers. The ship rapidly began to sink by the stern. A passenger described the scene: “I was sitting in the cabin with two or three others, the other passengers reposing peacefully in their beds, when a fearful crash startled us: the large mirror was smashed in fragments and the whole of the fittings of the cabin came down upon us like rubbish.   

   The passengers in the cabin rushed on deck, many entirely naked.   The cries of the passengers were horrendous. The vessel was rapidly sinking. The stern descended, while the bow rose out of the water, till the vessel was almost as perpendicular as a steeple. “Great numbers of the passengers must have been seriously injured as those who were in the bow, having lost their hold, fell down the dizzy height on to other parts of the steamer or into the water.

  A tugboat named RESTLESS was a short distance away and made for the scene. The master later described his difficulty in reaching survivors from the EAGLE, as in the darkness of the night he had great difficulty in distinguishing the faces of the sheep, of which there was about 200 floating about, from the faces of human beings.

  A macabre situation as he also had bother distinguishing the cries of the humans from the bleating of the animals. Forty persons from the EAGLE - passengers and crew were drowned, but one survivor at least was saved with the assistance those same sheep, he grabbed one under each arm and swam with them as lifebelts to the shore of the Holy Isle.   

  NOTE: EAGLE sank in Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran HM Customs sold cargo, boots and Gratings belonging to ship