John Lees - An Obituary

It was with great sadness that I learned this week that John Lees, Waverley’s’ Donkeyman of many years, passed away last week. John’s part in the story of the Waverley’s preservation era could fill a Dinosaur Down Below type book all by itself and I was lucky enough to work on the engine room when he was there.

He was a very big part of my early days on the ship. It would be fair to say that for me, gaining his approval on the ship, along with that of Ken Blacklock, as a “junior apprentice stoker’s mate 3^rd class”, was always the absolute pinnacle of achievement.

Whilst his public face on the ship was that of a gruff, no nonsense individual who did not suffer fools or nutters gladly, any one who knew him at all well very quickly came to realise that this was a fairly thin veneer indeed.

In writing this, if I were to try and come up with one word to some up John, it would be “kind”. Of course, I’m sure he would be horrified at such a dent in his image, but he always looked after us well, and if you put in the hours and the effort in the engine room then you got the nod of approval…quietly.

His knowledge of the workings of Waverley’s machinery was far greater than he would ever let on, but on many occasions, when it was all going wrong I’ve seen the engineer of the watch turn wide eyed with barely concealed panic to John and he would point them to some valve, or pipe or pump that would make everything ok. He was also perfectly adept at driving the three-legger, but only if he absolutely had too!  

Despite the sadness since hearing of his passing, I have found myself smiling a lot in the last couple of days as I’ve been remembering John and surely that is a measure of the man.

Some random memories:

On my first ever summer holiday spell of working in the engine room as I didn’t have any suitable gear with me on the first day such a boiler suit or safety boots, I went along only as a passenger. Word had obviously got around the ship as to my impending change of career. Most of my contemporaries seemed a bit in awe that I was going to give it a go in the engine room. However when I wandered up the port alleyway, John Lees and Kenny Angell wasted no time in hurling encouragement/intimidation/abuse in my direction. John exclaimed that must surely be off my head and Kenny just roared with laughter at my discomfort to the extent that he had to hang on to the golden levers to stop himself falling over.

John took great delight at blowing a good lungful of thick cigar smoke through the fan engine, in order to add a certain…something….to the air supply into the boiler room, to the outrage of the poor fireman down below.

He had an ability to stand at the step onto the engine room platform and chat to someone beside him in the alleyway but seemingly never take his eyes off “The Job”, talking to you, over his shoulder, so to speak.  

John would grab a quick breath of fresh air at the sponson door outside the souvenir shop, cigar firmly in position where, just by coincidence you understand, he could spend a wee bit of time chatting to his wife Sandra who was in the shop. If John was our mentor, Sandra was frequently our agony aunt. I only recently learned of her passing and I will miss her too.  They were a formidable team. 

I remember him single handedly carrying a full size bottle of oxygen from the gas axe set from the main deck, up to the paddle box steps, at speed,  to assist in the treatment of a passenger took gravely ill as we made our way up the Kyles of Bute one Saturday.

I rose to the dizzy heights of second engineer at one point for a week , and on my first day, the chief, Andy Steele handed over the watch to me and set off down the alleyway. From behind me came a deadpan voice, “Can ah get you a coffee then……..chief?” I turned to find John making his usual offer to the officer of the watch (me!) and Wee Davie beside him was scarcely able to contain his mirth that I was sailing as second!  It did seem completely surreal having sailed with these two characters so often, with me being “the boy”.

“Aye, thanks John, that’d be great.” I replied hoping that I had given the right response.

“Right then.” was all he said as he headed off for the mess room. But as he passed me on the control platform I got a wink. What relief! I was accepted, on some level at least. All this was okay somehow! Mind you I also got the feeling that with that wink he was also saying “Okay, but any airs and graces and you’re for it!”

I won’t say anything like “Finished With Engines” as he never let on that he had much time for all of that. Though “Finished with Engineers” would probably have got a laugh out of him!

John, you will be sadly missed; The Waveley has been and always will be a much poorer place without you.

"Smile John!! - Ah am smilin........."

Stuart Mears

Down to See the Engines

I reckon this Waverley video dates from circa 1990. It has been split into 5 parts for loading up to YouTube. Links to all five parts are given below although you can also navigate between them if you go onto the YouTube site. Its amazing to think that 2 decades  have passed since this film was made so there are a number of well known faces (then) including Captain Jimmy Addison, engineers George Beveridge, Jimmy Graham . Also brief shots of former donkeyman John Lees, 'Wee Davie' Muir, deckie the late Donald (Angus) McKinnon, 'new' purser Jim McFadzean and Ken Henderson, in apprenticeship days, who subsequently became Chief Engineer. Most of the film is set in the engineroom (as the title would suggest, or perhaps it wouldn't if you know the 'lore' behind that expression) but there is some nice, if brief, on deck shots at the start. For some of us 1990 seems relatively recent in the Waverley story - until we realise its now 20 years ago. So its a bit of a nostalgia trip for us oldies but, even if you've only come to know Waverley in relatively recent times, I hope that you will find something of interest in this fine film and historical record. Sadly, I don't know who made the film but all credit is due to them. So, 'Cedarcam', many thanks for these wonderful memories

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lho3CsT5aY&feature=related

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Hjt6w0RPQ&feature=related

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhBdUuOPlvQ&feature=related

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4agBZ2hN2Bc&feature=related

and Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7sEceM6Ec&feature=related


Additionally, and especially for the Branch Chairman, in Part 4 there is a close up of the port-side steam-engine driven Howden FD fan. which resided on the platform at main deck level at the forward end of the engineroom. Originally, the ship was fitted with a double-ended Scotch Boiler, built by the enginebuilder, Rankin & Blackmore, at their Eagle Foundry in Baker Street, Greenock. The boiler had six furnaces (3 at each end) originally each being fitted with firebars in a grate for coal firing. The boiler draught (air flow) containing the oxygen for oxidation (burning) of the carbon and hydrogen in the coal was maintained by creating a relatively steady pressure differential between the boileroom and the flue exit at the top of the funnesl both of which were for creation of boiler draught in those days (the separation of Waverley's funnels are typical of that required for the ubiquitous Scotch boiler). As a safety measure, to reduce the chance of blow-back of combustion products from the furnaces, the area around the boiler firing positions was maintained at a pressure higher than the ambient air pressure. Effectively there was a sealed chamber around the lower half and the twin steam engined forced draught (FD) fans blew air from the engineroom into boilerroom through two openings in the bulkhead that separates the two compartments. To prevent dipping the pressure in the boilerroom stokehold twin-door air locks were needed for access and egress of the boilerroom. The systems was well known as 'Forced Draught on a Closed Stokehold'. One of the pioneers of this innovative improvement in the firing performance of boilers was the Glasgow engineer James Howden who was working in the industry from the 1850s onwards. Originally building marine engines and boilers to supply the large and rapidly expanding Clyde shipbuilding industry, Howden was a very original-thinking innovative engineer, proposing several improvements that fate has subsequently credited to others. The Howden company established a large manufacturing works in Scotland Street, Glasgow, adjacent to the site subsequently occupied by Charles Rennie Mackintosh's renowned Scotland Street School (now the Glasgow Museum of Education.

Former Howden Design Offices and Manufacturing Works

8-18 Scotland Street, Glasgow.

This part of the works still exists but it has been under threat of demolition for redevelopment recently,  The Scottish Industrial Heritage Trust has an alternative plan to save the premises and develop it as a working Museum dedicated to industrial heritage

While maintaining a general engineering facility Howden's specialised in air (and gas) moving  equipment (fans, blowers and compressors) and associated airheaters, which play a crucial role in optimising the efficiency of steam-based utility systems. In this work Howden's formed a strong and long lasting association with the innovative Swedish engineer Ljungstrom. Over the years Howden's have absorbed many of their competitors, one notable example being the famous Sirrocco Works of Belfast-based fanmaker Samuel Davidson & Co where Howden fans are now built. On closurre of the Scotland Street works Howden moved their base to Old Renfrew Road in Refrew, close to the Braehead shopping complex. It was in these Renfrew Works that Howden built the large tunnelling machines for the  Channel Tunnel project.

The starboard side Howden fan was removed from Waverley when the Scotch Boiler was removed from the vessel in March 1981. The new Babcock Steambloc boiler that replaced it had twin furnaces fitted with oil burners, supplied by combustion specialists Saake, that had their own integral FD fans. However the port-side Howden fan was retained to assist in maintaining adequate ventilation of the boilerroom, The fan was removed during the second reboilering in 2000.




A Howden development for the Scotch boiler but, unlike the one that used to be on Waverley, it has an air jacket to improve the overall efficiency of the unit and a superheater / desuperheater for control of final steam temperature. The unit  is also a single ended Scotch boiler like those on SS Shieldhall

 

Stuart Cameron

depv Talisman - The One and Only

Words by Robin Copland.

Pictures as Credited.

Any of us who have viewed the Clydesite web forum will know Robin Copland - a long time Clyde steamer enthusiast who is well known on the site for his stories and musings entitled "Monday Morning Light Relief". During Waverley's sailing to Oban this year I was chatting to Robin over a dram when the subject of this Clyde Steamer stories came up in conversation. I asked Robin if he would consider writing something for this blog to which he agreed and this piece about Talisman is the first of hopefully many from Robin. So enough from me - relax and enjoy some time travel courtesy of Robin Copland..........

She wasn’t what you would describe as pretty as she droned her way past the big buoy in Largs Bay, heading towards the pier in the centre of the town. Not pretty in a conventional sense in any case. She wasn’t speedy like the Duchesses; she wasn’t beautiful like the occasional Jeanie Deans (occasional to the Largs Channel, at any rate); she wasn’t purposeful like the Maids and she wasn’t cute like the Ashton or Leven.

Talisman was different, somehow. She was noisier than the other paddlers in the fleet. She was certainly more plodding and her roster rarely varied from Largs, Millport, Wemyss Bay and Rothesay. Maybe it was the plaque behind the Bridge. HMS Aristocrat – that spoke of other adventures furth of the river. What a name too – HMS Aristocrat! Later, I learned that she was nicknamed “Wasp” during her war service – somehow apt. When built, though she looked like a conventional North Bank paddler, she was anything but internally. She was the first and only – and as Duncan Graham puts it in his wonderful book Sunset on the Clyde, those two words “are seldom a good combination” – Diesel Electric Paddle Vessel in the fleet.

She was a flighty mistress in her early years and had her marine superintendent, Mr Perry, taking the happy pills for her first four years. There was talk of selling her on or perhaps re-engining her with more conventional steam-driven machinery as the war approached in 1939; she was so out of favour and sorts that she had been laid up for part of that year. She was in disgrace if we are honest and her revolutionary machinery was just that – revolutionary; but not in a good way.

And then came reprieve. Now it is not often that the Second World War has been described as a reprieve, but for Talisman, reprieve it was. But first, we should record that there already was a Talisman in the Royal Navy, so the jokers in the Admiralty (and if you had asked the Marine Superintendent on the North Bank, “jokers” is the word he would have used!) renamed her HMS Aristocrat.

She sailed south down the estuary and out to the world of the deep-sea and the grown-up. She contrived to be in the right place at the right time; she led a charmed existence and what’s more, she charmed all who sailed in her. She visited France; she weathered channel storms; she avoided V1 doodle bugs in Antwerp harbour; she entered MacBrayne’s kingdom and even helped rescue a liner from the rocks of the Gairloch. And all of this while the turbine stars of the Clyde fleet, Duchess of Hamilton, Duchess of Montrose, King Edward, Glen Sannox and Queen Mary II, to name but a few, were on more mundane ferry and tendering duties on their home river. Oh, what a life of adventure did HMS Aristocrat lead until 1946, when all returned to peacetime normality.

Talisman circa 1947/48

New deckhouses were added to bring her into line with modern expectations of sheltered accommodation, but back came the gremlins – so much so that she was laid up again in July 1953 on the arrival of the last of the four Maids, the Maid of Cumbrae. This time, it seemed, her fate was sealed – but for the unhappiness of the good folk of Cumbrae with the wee Marchioness of Lorne. Believe it or not, the Marchioness’s 12 knots had been just about OK for her original Holy Loch service; hopeless though for the slightly more exposed Millport station and her cause was not helped by the longer journey times between piers. The good folk of Greenock thought long and hard about their problem and decided to equip Talisman with new diesel engines. Thus improved, she went a whole knot faster than previously she could manage post-war and miraculously – though not without the odd scare – she gave good service on the Millport run for another 14 years.

By the time she hove into view around the lion rock and ponderously paddled her way towards a very young me, standing on the shingle beach watching in awe, seven years had passed since her re-engining and she was about midway through her time on the Millport run. She was a busy boat by this time and although her route rarely varied as I have said, her passengers certainly did. Cows, bulls, sheep, cars, post, newspapers, produce, locals and holidaymakers all graced her decks, though the people were less apt to leave their calling cards than were the animals! I became a regular on the hops between Largs and Millport, Rothesay and Wemyss Bay and though she was no Duchess of Hamilton, she was certainly more interesting and entertaining to my way of thinking than the Ashton or Leven!

Her typical weekday and Saturday roster took her from Millport at 7.20am to Largs and Wemyss Bay, returning from Wemyss Bay along the same path to Millport, where she arrived at 9.55am. After a short layover at the Old Pier, she retraced her steps leaving at 10.15am and returning to her home base at 12.45pm. Following a half-hour layover, she returned to Largs, leaving at 1.15pm and arriving at the unforgiving L-shaped Largs pier at 1.40pm. Unusually, she laid over at Largs for half an hour before striking out for Rothesay.

All of these inter-pier runs were listed in the Principal Services part of the company timetable, but the last Millport to Largs run was also part of her daily “Cumbrae Circle” cruise. For the princely sum of 4/3d – that’s about 22p in today’s money, a holidaymaker could leave either Largs or Millport, head for Rothesay with an hour and a quarter ashore, then cruise via Kilchattan Bay and around the west coast of Cumbrae back to Millport and Largs. The last Millport to Largs sector of the cruise became the first part of her final round trip of the day to Wemyss Bay. She reversed out of Wemyss Bay for the last time at 6.20pm, headed south for Largs (6.50pm) and arriving for the last time at Millport Old Pier at 7.15pm where she tied up relatively early for the night.

During her day, she came into close contact with many of her fleet mates.

• She would regularly bump into (not literally, of course!) one of the ABC car ferries at Wemyss Bay or Rothesay, sharing the pier with them there on a number of occasions throughout the week.

• As she vacated Largs pier on a summer Wednesday at 2.10pm, Countess of Breadalbane would slide alongside the same pier ready to take up the sail to Dunoon at 2.20pm. Passengers on that Wednesday cruise returned to Largs on Waverley. Often, Talisman had to bide her time off Cairnie’s Quay to let her bigger Craigendoran sister offload her passengers. I can remember one such occasion; I wondered why Talisman was holding off and also noticed that, as she started off again for the pier, the water was fair pounding out of her starboard paddlebox – a combination, I suppose, of a full passenger load and all of them on the starboard side of the ship awaiting disembarkation.

• As she sailed on her afternoon cruise, she would pass Maid of Skelmorlie to the west of Cumbrae, which was on the Cumbrae Circle cruise going the other way round. I imagine that it must have been a pleasant diversion for the golfers on Millport Golf Club to watch the two ships pass in waters rarely visited by the Clyde fleet, although obviously busy with steamers coming and going from further afield.

• In those far-off days, Duchess of Montrose took the Inveraray cruise on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer and, on her return, she would sail from Rothesay across to Wemyss Bay between 6.00pm and 6.25pm, arriving just after our ship had vacated the pier for her final sailing to Millport at 6.20pm. Looking west on that same sail on a Thursday, a passenger might notice the Montrose’s sister ship, Duchess of Hamilton, as she powered her way from Largs to Rothesay on her homeward run from Campbeltown.

• On a summer Saturday, Duchess of Montrose returned from her cruise round Ailsa Craig and was scheduled to arrive at Millport (Keppel) pier at 7.20pm. Talisman would come buzzing round the Lion Rock on her final leg of the day from Largs into Millport Bay at about the same time that the Montrose approached Keppel.

• On Tuesdays, her near contemporary, Caledonia sailed north from Ayr on a cruise to Loch Goil. She was scheduled to leave Millport (Old) pier at 12.20pm and sail to Largs for 12.45pm. Talisman and Caledonia passed in the Largs Channel right in front of our house and it was interesting to compare the two ships. Talisman, seemingly lighter built and smaller that the heavy-looking Caledonia; more traditional looking with her fan paddle boxes than her fleet mate.

The truth was that in 1960 it would have been strange had she not met her fleet mates as she went about her daily business. Interestingly, her encounters with Jeanie Deans were few and far between – unless of course, you happened to be in solitude of the Kyles of Bute on a Sunday afternoon. Then you would see a sight that would gladden the heart of all fans of the North Bank tradition. Yes, the three steamers’ funnels were painted in the buff and black of their Gourock bosses; yes, both Waverley and Talisman had paddle boxes painted in Caley white and yes, Talisman was no longer based in her spiritual home at Craigendoran, but ..., but .... there they were in all of their glory – Jeanie Deans, Talisman and Waverley. Talisman returning from Tighnabruiach (her one weekly diversion from her staple summer diet) to Largs; Jeanie Deans on her cruise round Bute and Waverley on her run to the Kyles of Bute all the way from Craigendoran. Still going strong; still sailing on the river of their birth; still giving pleasure to all those who eschewed, for the time being at least, the joys of foreign travel. It would be nice to think that the captains of each of them doffed their caps in each other’s direction as they piloted their charges through the narrows.

(Image is from a photo of the author's John Nicolson painting)

Talisman continued to serve her adopted home until 1967. In her latter years, her funnel had been scarred by a tiny lion and her hull had been painted the BR blue that became the norm for four or five years. Jeanie Deans had already flitted to the Thames for an unhappy year or two and Duchess of Montrose had bowed to the inevitable and been towed to Belgium to be broken up. The fleet was moving with the times. Talisman was unceremoniously towed to Dalmuir and the end, when it came, was swift.

Talisman – First and Only. Maybe not a bad way for those of us who still do, to remember a fine and faithful workhorse of the fleet.

Robin Copland

Cowal Games Berth - and the 'new' Engineer.

The 'Cowal Games' at Dunoon (or the Cowal Highland Gathering to give the event its proper title) is always one of the busiest days in Waverley's year. In recent years it has begun with a direct Glasgow to Dunoon sailing followed by the ship doubling back to Greenock to pick up her normal Saturday excursion, albeit at later times. In 2009 Waverley used the side berth at Dunoon breakwater for the first time, rather than the end berth where she had been damaged following a heavy landing due to awkward weather and currents. The views below show her arriving at and leaving the 'new' berth on Saturday 29th August 2009. (Click on individual pictures for larger, sharper versions) Waverley departing from the inside (or RoRo) berth at Dunoon Breakwater, where she had called for the first time on Friday 28th August 2009. The two navigation buoys in the background between Waverley and the Cloch lighthouse mark the position of the substantially intact wreck of the Swedish bulk carrier Akka which was inbound to Glasgow in April 1956 with a cargo of iron ore for the Lanarkshire steel making furnaces when she hit the nearby Gantock Reef, ripping a gash along her side and causing her to sink quickly on the Dunoon Bank - sadly three of her crew were lost and three others subsequently died in hospital in Greenock. The wreck of the Akka is probably the favourite of divers on the Clyde. Departing Dunoon light (almost) to pick up her normal Saturday itinerary at Greenock Customhouse Quay. A view of the World's Last Seagoing Paddle Steamer passing the classic buildings on Dunoon's Victorian steamboat pier. At one time a viewing balcony spanned the two pier buildings - a good vantage point, sadly missed by Clyde steamer and ferry photographers. All the shipping services to Dunnon are busy on Cowal Games weekend - in this view Caledonian MacBrayne's ferry Saturn (left) had forsaken her normal Arran duties to accompany her quasi sister ship Jupiter and the passenger catamaran Ali Cat on the Gourock-Dunoon service while one of Western Ferries McInroy's Point - Hunter's Quay ferries can be seen on the extreme right. A very distant view of Waverley, 3-4 miles distant rounding Roseneath Point, heading back to Dunoon after picking up passengers at Greenock and Helensburgh, the latter town can be seen in the distance behind the paddler. Possibly with the lever of the main steam valve cotrolling the flow of steam to the high pressure cylinder of her triple expansion engine at a mark or two 'above the E', Waverley steams steadfastly back towards Dunoon for the second call of the day. In the background is the town of Gourock, its suburb of Ashton and Tower Hill. One of Waverley's main attractions is her triple expansion reciprocating engine, which is open to full public view. The engine was constructed by the firm of Rankin & Blackmore at the Eagle Foundry in Baker Street, Greenock and fitted to the ship at the Victoria Harbour in Greenock in the early part of 1947 after the new ship had been towed down the Clyde from the A & J Inglis shipyard at Pointhouse on the River Kelvin. With an indicated horsepower rating of 2,100, Waverley's engine is one of the largest and most powerful engines to be fitted into a British esturial paddle steamer. The low pressure cylinder is 66 inches in diameter and the stroke of the engine is 60 inches. The shipbuilders, A & J Inglis, built many paddle steamers in their 100 year history, supplying not just British coastal fleets but also substantial paddlers to fleets as far afield as South America (the Mihanovich and Entre Rios Railway fleets on the River Plate), Australia (Bay Steaners of Melbourne) and China (Swire's Yangtse River fleet). The engines for most of these paddlers were supplied by Inglis from their engineering workshops in Warroch Steet, which runs perpendicular to Anderston Quay in Glasgow and from the engine shops in the Pointhouse shipyard. After Inglis' amalgmation into the huge Harland & Wolff shipbuilding group, the Warroch Street works was part of H&W's large Finnieston Engine Works. By the end of World War II Inglis had stopped building reciprocating steam engines and, for its last few paddle steamers, subcontracted the manufacture of the engine to Rankin & Blackmore of Greenock, which continued to build that type of engine up to those supplied to Ferguson Brothers of Port Glasgow for the South African Railways & Docks steam tug J R More in the early 1960s. Coincidentally, Daniel Rankin and Edward Blackmore had set up their engineering business about the same time as brothers Anthony & John Inglis has set up their firm in the mid 19th Century. Similarly, the Greenock firm was taken over by a larger company, Lithgow's of Port Glasgow in their case, in the post WW1 rationalisation. Lithgow's was the largest family-owned shipbuilding company in the world about that time. Waverley's engine achieved a speed of 57 rpm, driving the ship at a speed of over 18 knots, when she ran trials over the Skelmorlie Measured Mile in the first few days of June 1947. Nowadays, the engine is normally run at a more economical speed of 40-44 rpm, giving the vessel a through-the-water speed of about 13-14 knots but, since the vessel's major rebuild in 2003, the engine has run at close to its original speed on a couple of occasions.

The following video shows Waverley's engine at high speed - the video is reproduced courtesy of Iain McCorkindale, one of the longest serving members of Waverley's engineering team. After serving for many years in the ship's boilerroom and as donkeyman, this week (Aug 2009) 'Corky' attained the qualifications to enable him to serve as Second Engineer. A great day for Corky and for the Waverley - I am sure than many of the ship's supporters will join in the congratulations.

In the evening, after returning from Tighnabruaich and Rothesay to Dunoon, Helensburgh and Greenock, the paddler heads back to Dunoon to pick up th large complement of passengers that had come down river from Glasgow in the morning. She is about to pass the large cruise liner Crown Princess, berthed at Greenock Ocean Terminal. Normally visiting cruise liners depart from Greenok between 18:00 and 20:00 in the evening but in August many of the departures are delayed to allow passengers to take in a performance of the world famous Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle. On this occasion Crown Princess departed from Greenock at 02:00 on Sunday 30th August.



Stuart Cameron