CLYDE STEAMERS BUILT IN
THE 1930s : THE ULTIMATE FLEET
FROM DUCHESS TO GODDESS : THE ULTIMATE FLEET
In the 1930s, despite the economic depression of the
times, there had been a spurt in construction of new ships for the Clyde - 11
steamers, seven paddlers and four turbines - the last significant use of steam
technology for new estuarine vessels anywhere in Europe. As the most modern of their class, they constituted the "Ultimate
Fleet".
Amongst them was the
well-loved paddle steamer Jeanie Deans (seen left in a photo by Alexander
Bain) : nothing if not a conservatively designed ship, but powerful
and fast, designed to get LNER railway passengers to Dunoon ahead
of their rivals despite having a longer sea crossing from Craigendoran.
The Firth of Clyde, by virtue of its size, attractive
scenery and potential for varied cruising possibilities, is
the main area for coastal cruising in the UK. The river Clyde runs through Glasgow, Scotland's
largest city, a city built on international trade and major centre for steel, engineering and shipbuilding from
the industrial revolution into the present day. It soon widens into
an estuary with industrial towns dotted along it's steep sided banks.
Further downstream, holiday resorts developed along the mainland
coast and on the numerous islands in the Firth and wealthy
industrialists built homes amidst the beautiful scenery. With city
dwellers always keen to get away for a holiday at one of the resorts
or take in the delights of a cruise up one of the many sea lochs, and
islanders keen to commute to or deliver goods to markets on the
mainland, the advent of steamship technology meant that the Clyde
would become one of the foremost areas for its development. With so
many shipbuilding companies located along the Clyde building
sea-going ships for Britain and the world, it was only natural that
many of them were also involved in building the "Clyde Steamers".
The 1930s saw the final development of what began in 1812 with the
pioneering vessel "Comet". The operators of the Clyde Steamers, mainly railway
companies, which had fought a long and hard battle for supremacy in
the trade, had severely outdated fleets and all embarked on a
programme of modernisation which was the greatest since the "Golden
Years" of 1890-1904. What was unusual was that the modernisation involved
the use of tried and tested technology - steam, and in the case of all the ferry
workhorses, paddles. Whilst this was understandable in the case of the LNER's
Jeanie Deans due to draught restrictions at her home base of Craigendoran, the
CSP had no such problem yet still chose paddle steamers over motor vessels.
The last great paddlers for the Swiss lakes, the Rhine and the Danube and the
Great Lakes of North America had long since left the slipway, leaving the Clyde
Steamers of the 1930s, the "Ultimate Fleet" of modern excursion paddle
steamers.
THE
VESSELS : Click on vessel name for more
details For details of the Turbine Steamers : click here to go to the associated
website Clyde
Turbine Steamer Foundation(return
link to this database from the main index)
Click on vesssel name to go to details in
the Paddle Steamer Resources by Tramscape database
On the main vessel page in the database, click on "Duchess to Juno :
The Ultimate Fleet" to return here
(*) Last main season on the Clyde Note on owners. Caledonian Steam Packet
Company (CSP) was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the LMS (London, Midland and
Scottish Railway) and due to legacy legislation had powers to operate vessels
over a wider areas of the Clyde than vessels owned directly by the LMS itself.
The Williamson-Buchanan fleet remained independent until 1935 when it became
a subsidiary of the LMS and operated in close integration with the CSP. The
London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) operated in direct competion
with the LMS and owned its own steamers. The LMS and LNER later became part
of British Railways when the railway companies were taken fully into stste control
in 1948.
P.S. Waverley,
the last Clyde Steamer to be built, entered service in 1947, but was
very much
a ship of the 1930s type. Old designs were dusted-down to ensure that here owners,
the LNER, were able to make good their wartime losses as soon as
possible.
ASSOCIATED
WEBSITE : THE CLYDE TURBINE STEAMER FOUNDATION
The steam turbine superceded the vertical reciprocating steam
engine for most marine engineering applications in the 20th century.
Only in paddle steamers, where the turbine principle was not practical,
and smaller excursion steamships,where the marine diesel, once fully
developed, would take over directly did it not make an impression.
The great ocean liners, naval and cargo ships and short sea ferries
all adopted the turbine almost universally -yet whilst some paddle
steamers and numerous small steamships still survive, turbine steamers
are all but extinct.
The turbine was first demonstrated in
a launch for the British Navy, but was first adoped for use in a
passenger ship in the pioneering King Edward of 1901, an excursion
steamer on Scotland's Firth of Clyde, an area where numerous paddle
steamers plied their trade. Shipbuilders Wm Denny of Dumbarton went
on to deliver more turbines for excursion work on the Clyde and
became well known for their work on larger short-sea ferries. The
Foundation supports attempts to preserve the last of these excursion
steamers (Queen Mary, left) in a static role, and the website tracks
the development of the turbine in estauarine and coastal excursion
steamers in detail and reviews the last remaining passenger turbine
ships of all classes.
The
Foundation for Paddle Steamers Worldwide. Main menu for the
Paddle Steamer Resources by Tramscape Database How to contact the webmaster
- acknowledgements - about this site
In public service,
their operating companies and website links (includes motor paddlers) Projects
for completely new-build paddle steamers
With new roles as restaurants, museums etc (with website links) or laid up awaiting their
fate
Vessels scrapped in recent years
Operational and preserved paddle steamer engines
By country and area : Paddle
Steamers and service operators of the past The ultimate fleet of coastal cruising steamers Search
here for British Paddle Steamers Organisations you
can join or channel financial assistance through The webmaster's photograph
collection in thumbnail form Sites
listed in the database plus other sites of interest (European ships) Steamships
or diesel conversions propelled by a stern wheel (Mississippi-style)
Clyde and other passenger
turbine
steamers, surviving ferries and ocean liners Vessels for which
there are photographs in the Tramscape collection only Link to Tramscape's extensive
tramway photograph collection
