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P.S.
Waverley "Doon the Watter"
Glasgow to the Kyles of Bute and Tighnabruaich 25th July 2009 |
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PART 2: Greenock to Tighnabruaich  On the day of our trip, the Crown Princess cruise ship (operated by Princess Cruises) was visiting Greenock on a Round Britain Cruise. Here we see Waverley passing the Crown Princess which was berthed at Greenock Ocean Terminal. The Ocean Terminal is built on the site of Greenock Prince's Pier which was the pier used for many years by the Clyde Steamers until 1969. Today it is a container terminal and cruise terminal. Before the opening of the cruise terminal at Greenock the ocean liners had to anchor out at Tail of the Bank off Greenock and Gourock and be tendered by the Clyde Steamers. Waverley in her service years often performed this role ferrying passengers to and from Prince's Pier out to the ocean liners.   Here we get a closer view of the mighty Crown Princess as we pass this cruise ship in her berth.  After departing Greenock, Waverley heads across the famous Tail of the Bank anchorage towards Helensburgh. Tail of the Bank is the name given to the anchorage in the Firth of Clyde off Greenock and Gourock. This area of the firth gets its name from the sandbar immediately to its east which marks the entrance to the estuary of the River Clyde. The Tail of the Bank was a significant point of embarkation for many travellers, especially emigrants, to Canada and the USA with many ocean liners anchoring here to be tendered by Clyde Steamers from Greenock Prince's Pier. During the Second World War the Tail of the Bank became the base for the Royal Navy's Home Fleet after they temporarily left Scapa Flow following the sinking of the HMS Royal Oak. Also it was a major gathering point for wartime convoys. Hundreds of merchant ships on the Atlantic Convoys gathered here, as well as ships of the Free French Navy. At this time the upper firth was protected by an anti-submarine boom stretching from Cloch point across the firth to Dunoon. A monument in the form of a Cross of Lorraine combined with an anchor was erected on Lyle Hill overlooking the Tail of the Bank, to commemorate the Free French Naval Forces. It is also associated locally with the "Vauquelin" class destroyer FFNS Maille Breze which blew up off Greenock with heavy loss of life on the 30th April 1940, before the Free French Naval Forces were established.  As we head across Tail of the Bank we get this magnificent view across towards Gare Loch with the mountains beyond.  Again from Tail of the Bank we see this view across towards Holy Loch and Dunoon. This is where we will be heading following our call at Helensburgh . Off to the right round the corner is Loch Long and to the left is the open Firth of Clyde.  Before we reach Helensburgh, lets take a last look back across to Greenock and the Crown Princess. To the left is one of the most famous wrecks in the Firth of Clyde. Locally referred to as "the sugar boat" she lies on a sandbank at the Tail o' the Bank (the upper firth anchorage) near to the promontory of Ardmore Point and was the 8325 grt Greek cargo ship "Captayannis". On the evening of 27th January 1974 the area suffered from a terrific storm which blew the vessel from its anchor (it was waiting to deliver sugar to the James Watt Dock) and caused it to collide with the BP tanker "British Light". The tanker suffered no damage but the anchor chains of the tanker holed the sugar boat allowing water to pour into her. Her captain decided to try and make for the sheltered waters of the Gareloch but realised the waters were flowing in so fast she was in imminent danger of sinking, the best thing to do was beach her in the shallow waters over the sandbank and he steered her to the desired spot where she stuck fast and started to heel over. The pilot boats, the tug "Labrador" and Clyde Marine Motoring's "Rover" came to assist. The vessel had heeled over so far it was possible for the crew to simply jump onto the deck of the diminutive passenger vessel! 25 of the crew were taken to shore, but the Captain and four other crewmen waited on the "Labrador" standing off the stricken vessel. Next morning the ship finally succumbed and went over on her side and she has lain there ever since, rusting away, most, if not all of her more valuable metals and fittings have been removed by looters. Little remains of her split-style superstructure and through time she has become a 'home' to marine life and birds. A sad sight indeed.  Then we arrive at our second calling point at Helensburgh. Here we board more passengers.  After Helensburgh, our next calling point is Dunoon. Here we see the lovely old pier to the right as we arrive. In the spring of 2005, Dunoon seafront received a new breakwater, located just to the south of the main pier. This new pier also has a linkspan intended for the use of Caledonian MacBrayne ferries. This is the pier that Waverley berthed at on this occasion. Dunoon Pier originated in 1835 but the current pier was built in 1895. Until the late 1960s fleets of Clyde Steamers brought holidaymakers "Doon the Watter" from Glasgow to it and numerous other piers on the Clyde. Overlooking it is a large statue to Robert Burns' love Highland Mary, also known as Bonny Mary O' Argyll, which is located on Castle Hill, just below the remains of the 12th century Dunoon Castle.  As we arrive at the Caledonian MacBrayne linkspan at Dunoon we get this magnificent view of the old Victorian pier at Dunoon.  After leaving Dunoon, from the aft Observation Deck we get this magnificent view looking over the stern towards Dunoon, Loch Long and to the right the famous Tail of the Bank anchorage off Greenock and Gourock.  As we head along the open Firth of Clyde we see this view towards the Isle of Bute with the mountains of the Isle of Arran (Goat Fell in particular) in the background. Soon we head towards our next calling point at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.  As we approach Rothesay, again from the stern, we get this magnificent view of the open Firth of Clyde as we pass Toward Point lighthouse (to the left) on the Cowal Peninsular and the disused Inverkip power station near Wemyss Bay (to the right). Toward Lighthouse was completed in 1812 and is one of 18 Scottish lighthouses built by Robert Stevenson. The Toward Lighthouse is technically described as a white tower 63 feet high, with focal plane 70 feet above High Water, showing a white single-flashing light having the characteristic of 1 flash every 10 seconds. The effective intensity of the light is about 180,000 candlepower, and its geographical range in clear weather is 14 miles.The lighthouse's original foghorn was steam powered, and housed on top of a separate shoreside building lying a few metres south east of the lighthouse. Two Kelvin diesels, later replaced the steam engine, driving compressors which provided the compressed air to power the foghorn. Eventually it was replaced by an electrically powered horn attached to the lighthouse tower. The foghorn signal was one 3 second blast every 20 seconds. The Toward lighthouse's foghorn was withdrawn from service in the 1990s. Inverkip Power Station was an oil fired power station and was built in 1970. Its 236 metre chimney dominates the local area and is the third tallest in the UK and the tallest free standing structure in Scotland. In common with other power stations in Scotland it lacks cooling towers; instead, sea water is used as a coolant. The station consists of three generating units with a combined rating of 1900MW. Due to the legacy of the 1973 oil crisis it never fulfilled its full potential and was decommissioned in January 1988. Today it is owned by Scottish Power and is maintained as a mothballed facility as part of their strategic reserve. However demolition is planned for 2009 and the site will be regenerated for other uses.  Then we arrive in the coastal resort of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. Here more passengers board and some disembark.  As we depart Rothesay we pass the Caledonian MacBrayne car ferry "Bute" arriving from Wemyss Bay on the Wemyss Bay to Rothesay ferry service. The Bute was built in 2005 by Remontowa Group in Gdansk, Poland for Caledonian MacBrayne.  As we leave Rothesay we pass the entrance to Loch Striven to the starboard side. With the current recession and downturn in trade, major container lines such as Maersk Line have been forced to lay up some of their older container ships. To the left we see four Maersk container ships laid up. The four ships, the Bentonville, Baltimore, Sealand Performance and Beaumont, sailed from South Africa with food and container goods for markets in Northern Europe and were operated by Maersk Line. They should have been making their way back along the same route, but due to the global downturn in trade they have no cargo to carry. As a result it is more cost effective for Maersk to pay lay up fees to Clydeport and store them in Loch Striven. To the right we see the Loch Striven naval refuelling jetty with the RFA Bayleaf alongside.  As we head up the Kyles of Bute we pass the Caledonian MacBrayne car ferry "Loch Dunvegan" on the Rhubodach to Colintraive ferry service. The Loch Dunvegan was built in 1991 by Ferguson Shipbuilders in Port Glasgow for Caledonian MacBrayne.  Next the Waverley exits the East Kyle with the entrance to Loch Riddon to the right and approaches the famous Narrows in the Kyles of Bute. The East Kyle runs from Rothesay Bay to the entrance of Loch Riddon. The West Kyle then runs from here to the Sound of Bute. Joining the two Kyles are "the Narrows" formed by the stretch of water between the Burnt Islands and the island of Eilean Dubh. In the next photo below we can see the Narrows and these islands.  Here looking astern we see Waverley's wake having cleared the Narrows in the Kyles of Bute. We then swing round to the left and enter the second section of the Kyles of Bute (the West Kyle) on the last leg of the cruise towards Tighnabruaich.  Finally we head up the last section of the Kyles of Bute towards Tighnabruaich with the Isle of Bute on the left and the Cowal Peninsular and Argyll Coast to the right.  Finally we arrive at our destination of Tighnabruiach on the Cowal Peninsular and Argyll Coast. Tighnabruaich Pier, one of the few surviving working wooden piers in the Firth of Clyde to be used for its original purpose. However, when exactly it was built is not known. It is described in various old documents as Tighnabruaich Wharf. Also, for much of the 19th century there was another village pier at Portdrishaig which may well have been used by the Royal Navy to service warships laid up in the Kyles after the Crimean War. It seems that it was the Castle Steamship Company, a forerunner of MacBrayne, which built a pier in the 1830s on the site of the present one. There was major reconstruction in 1885 by the Tighnabruaich Estate, its owner from 1840 until it was sold to the Pier master, George Olding, in 1950. Since 1965 it has been the responsibility of the Local Authority. Tighnabruaich Pier Association http://www.tighnabruaichpierassociation.com/   Here we see a magnificent view of the Waverley berthed at Tighnabruaich. This is one of the last small piers on the Clyde still in use. Tighnabruaich and the Kyles of Bute was a favourite destination for the Clyde Steamers in their heyday. |
(c)
The AJN Transport Britain Collection 2009
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