Comet Replica to be Refurbished by Local Shipyard

Anyone who has driven through Port Glasgow over the years will not have failed to notice the replica of the Henry Bell's pioneer paddle steamer COMET on display in front of the town hall.

The replica vessel was built by apprentices from Port Glasgow shipbuilders Lithgows and was launched on Sat 1st Sept 1962. Unfortunately the years have taken their toll and the vessel is now in a poor state of repair.

Fortunately, thanks to a partnership between Ferguson Shipbuilders (whose yard is close to where the original COMET of 1812 was built), Inverclyde Council and an organisation called The Trust, the replica will be refurbished at Ferguson Shipbuilders Newark Shipyard.

More on this story can be found on the Inverclyde Now website .

Information on the original COMET and the replica can be found on the Clydebuilt Database by following the links below:

COMET 1812

COMET 1962

The photo at the head of the page - taken by Bobby Sinclair - shows the COMET replica in steam passing the entrance to the Kingston Dock during the 1960s.

Lets hope that the vessel can be returned to steam for the 200th Anniversary of the original - the link to our own Waverley is obvious!

Good luck to all involved.

Pathe New clip of the launch of the replica Comet in 1962

STEAMSHIP ANNIVERSARY

Gavin Stewart

Colin McDonald

Sadly one of the stalwarts of Waverley musician Colin McDonald has passed away after a brave fight against cancer.
Colin and his band Caledonia spent some 16 summer seasons entertaining Waverley passengers in the Jeannie Deans lounge and his devotion to the ship was legendary to all who knew him. Colin was not only the leader of the band but, unknown to some, he spent vast amounts of his own time at fund raising events for Waverley in and around Glasgow and much further afield.
Colin was a most talented musician and was always eager to help the Waverley cause. Even when suddenly hospitalised last summer he was on his mobile constantly to his comrade drummer George checking that everything was allright on "the boat." He made many friends and patiently dealt with the sometimes robust audience on Saturdays in the lounge and on occasions such as Millport Illuminations!! Some of his music is stll "alive" on a CD dedicated, of course, to Waverley.

The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Clydebank Crematorium on Friday December 18th.

Medway Queen - Rebuild of a Dunkirk Veteran Part 2

Focus On Main Engine Equipment
(Words G Stewart – Pics Dave Elms / G Stewart)

This is the second of a series of articles charting the progress of the rebuild of Clydebuilt paddler ps Medway Queen – Dunkirk Veteran.

The previous article focused on the the various engine parts arriving at Abel’s Albion Dockyard in Bristol prior to Christmas. Since this time a number of additional parts have arrived on site and the fabrication of the sections of riveted hull has commenced – this article will focus on these various pieces of Main Engine.

This first shot shows the Main Engine “entablatures” which provide a housing for the crankshaft main bearings as well as locating the crankshaft on the correct centerline to mate with the paddle shafts. There are three entablatures in total – the slightly wider one you can see in the background of the photo would be in the centre – it is wider as it has to withstand the force of both the Low Pressure (LP) and High Pressure (HP) cylinder connecting rods. As a result the bearing housing is also twice the width of the other two. The shots of Loch Lomond’s Maid of The Loch which has a similar machinery configuration makes a good comparison.

The part arrowed “A” would attach to corresponding mounting pads in the hull of the vessel’s engine room. The transverse hull frame onto which these pads would be fixed would be slightly heavier steel than the others to accommodate the increased weight it would have to bear. Part “B” also attaches to the ship’s hull but instead of a transverse hull frame it would more than likely be the bulkhead between the engine and boiler spaces – a piece of this bulkhead can be seen to be still attached in the photo. Part “C” is the bearing housing which contains a main bearing shell made of white metal. A corresponding shell bolts onto this via the two large studs that can be seen just below the arrow. Finally part “D” is the piston rod slide – the piston rod cross head and slippers slide up and down this part which would be lubricated with either grease or oil.

Moving on we have a photo of the LP cylinder cross head with part of a slipper still attached.

This part of the engine connected the piston rod to the crankshaft connecting rod thus converting the in / out (linear) motion of the piston rod to a rotating motion in order to drive the crankshaft round. The piston rod bolts through the cross head (Part “A”) while a u shaped link would connect either side of this area via small bearings. Part “B” shows the white metal slippers which permit the cross head to move up and down the slide on a bed of grease or oil.

The photo below shows the same equipment in position on Maid of The Loch.

Finally – for this report anyway – we look at the condenser. This unit turns the exhaust steam from the LP cylinder back into water so it can be returned to the boilers and re-used. This is achieved by circulating water (in this case it would be sea water) through a bank of tubes (Part “A”) inside a drum or casing. The forementioned exhaust steam is admitted to this drum from the LP cylinder (Part “B”) and is condensed back into water through the subsequent contact with the cold tubes.

Medway Queen’s condenser (shown below) will require a new casing and a re-tube but it is hoped to retain the end caps (Part “C”) and the steam inlet (Part “B”).

Well that’s all for now – apologies if the content is a bit overly “techy” but I don’t see the point in showing you all these pics unless I explain what they’re for and where they go!!

If you want to track the overall progress on Medway Queen why not visit the Medway Queen Preservation Society’s Ship Yard Blog.

Thanks as always to Dave Elms for providing the photos!!

Gavin Stewart

ps Please feel free to comment on these articles using the facility below!

Clyde Turbine Legend Up For Sale

Queen Mary as Queen Mary II

(after changing her name to allow Cunard to use it for their new liner)

Queen Mary leaving Rothesay (btwn 1965-68 with Single Funnel)

She may not be a paddle steamer but the 1933 Denny of Dumbarton built turbine steamer Queen Mary has had a connection with our Waverley practically all her operational life - whether it be fleetmate (1948 - 1973) or in competition (1975 - 1977).

Famous for changing her name in deference to Cunard's Transatlantic Liner and withdrawn from service in 27th September 1977, Queen Mary was eventually sold in 1980 to Bass Leisure Retail, decommissioned and moved to London to become a floating pub / restaurant at Embankment on the River Thames where she has remained to date.

Due to a change of owners the old girl is now up for sale again - her future uncertain in this hard economic climate.

More details and photos are available here.

So anyone with a spare £155,000 lying around can have a 1000ton chunk of Clyde maritime history!!

Queen Mary as she is today at Embankment Pier, River Thames

Gavin Stewart

Waverley Painting takes pride of place in Greenock Town Hall

Artist Ted Marle's painting of Waverley in Garvel Dry Dock now hangs in Greenock Town Hall.

Read the whole article on Inverclyde Now here.

Gavin Stewart

New Hull for Dunkirk Veteran Paddler "Medway Queen"

Major Step in Restoration of Dunkirk Veteran
(Words by Gavin Stewart, Photos from Author's Collection)

In the last week or so news has emerged that Paddle Steamer Medway Queen is to have a new hull built by David Abels (Boatbuilders) of Bristol.

Partnership funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Medway Queen Preservation Society has provided the finance required to carry out this 1st and major step in the restoration of this famous little paddler.

The new hull will be of all rivetted construction - the first time a hull such as this has been built in England for fifty years. More details are available if you follow the link at the end of this article.

A bit of history behind the vessel:

ps Medway Queen was built in 1924 by Ailsa Shipbuilding Ltd at Troon on the Firth of Clyde for service on the River Medway. During peace time she gave pleasure cruise in the river and surrounding waters. When WWII broke out the vessel evacuated children from Kent to East Anglia before joining the Admiralty as a minesweeper - paddlesteamers are ideal for this roled due to their shallow draft (depth below the waterline).

She was also part of the huge fleet of little ships who assisted at the Dunkirk Evacuations in 1940 - Medway Queen evacuating 7000 men over seven return trips - shooting down enemy aircraft in the process!!! In recognition of this huge achievement she honoured with four gallantry awards.

After the war she was reconditioned and returned to service. In 1953 she attended the Coronation Fleet Review (see picture above). How many flags can you possibly get on one little ship!!

Medway Queen continued to give sterling service to her owners until she was withdrawn in 1963. The photo below is believed to show the ship on her last cruise to Southend-on-Sea.

Various static roles followed with varying success until being taken over by the Medway Queen Preservation Society who have saved her from certain demolition and through hard work and determination have gained the support (financial and otherwise) to get the project to this current stage.

So hats off to the Medway Queen Preservation Society and on behalf of the Scottish Branch of the PSPS - CONGRATULATIONS!!!

For detailed information on ps Medway Queen - including how to join them - please go to their website here.

Video Clip - Steam Capstan from Flying Buzzard

Not about paddles but definitely steam!! Click on the play button bottom left to play the video clip - please note that it may take a few seconds to start depending on your internet connection speed.

Steam Tug Flying Buzzard is a harbour tug built by Ferguson Bros, Port Glasgow in 1951 for the Clyde Shipping Co Ltd. She was one of three near identical vessels the others being Flying Merlin and Flying Petrel.

She was sold from the fleet in the 60s and after a spell in Dundee ended up residing in Maryport at the then new Maritime Museum. When the Museum went to the wall in 2001 she was bought by a private owner who removed her boiler and brass fittings and effectively left her to rot in the harbour.

In 2004 she was bought by Mr Mike Nelder, the steam plant was removed and replaced by an oil motor from a scrapped trawler. The redundant main steam engine and ancillary equipment was sold to the Scottish Maritime Museum and is being restored at the moment. The capstan was on display at last weekend's Glasgow River Festival and was being operated by compressed air.

For more information on Flying Buzzard visit her website here

The museum had another working exhibit on their stand which was a compound steam engine from a floating crane - more on that one another time.

Cheers for now!

Gavin

A Blast from The Past....

Our paddler is 61 years old this year - the picture above shows her at Dunoon during her first year in service for the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER).

During the winter of 1947-48 Britain's railways were nationalised and as a result Waverley took on the buff funnel colours of her new owners - The British Transport Commission.

The image is taken from a medium format negative taken by Hugh Climie.