The Finest Road in the World by James Miller

Author:James Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

CHAPTER 16

Steam at sea

‘The facilities for communication now existing in the north . . .’

‘Except the post, the only communication Inverness had with London was by smacks, three or four vessels about one hundred and sixty tons each,’ stated Mitchell about the early 1820s.1

The Caledonian Canal and the steamboat arrived more or less together, two embodiments of progress and modernity that engendered great excitement. The possibilities offered by placing steam engines in ships had been realised by several engineers and inventors on both sides of the Atlantic during the late eighteenth century, but it took years of experimentation before the concept became a commercial reality. The prize goes to Robert Fulton, who inaugurated a commercial service on the Hudson between New York City and Albany in 1807. Fulton had visited Britain and conferred with, among others, the Scottish pioneer of seaborne steam, Henry Bell.

Born in 1767 into a family of engineers and millwrights in West Lothian, Bell learned about ship design at an early age in Bo’ness. In 1800 he conveyed his ideas for steam power to the Admiralty but, despite Lord Nelson’s support, the sea lords were less than impressed. The undaunted Bell built his Comet and in 1812 sailed her – if that is the right word – from Port Glasgow to the Broomielaw and then back to Greenock, all of 24 miles at a speed of five miles an hour against a head wind.

Five years later the Marion began the first regular steamship service on Loch Lomond. In 1818 a steamer called the Rob Roy operated for a short time between Greenock and Belfast, with a stop at Campbeltown; a weekly Londonderry to Glasgow steamer began to run in 1824.2

On 22 June 1820, the Inverness Courier informed its readers that a steamboat had been spotted off Lossiemouth passing west ‘in fine style’, before continuing: ‘We could not help reflecting how well suited a vessel of that description is for opening up the intercourse of the upper end of this Firth where nature has interposed so many barriers in the way of travelling.’3 To increase the excitement, Mr Bell himself was understood to be on board, encouraging the Courier to hope that some local gentlemen would seek Mr Bell’s advice to start a steamboat service – ‘And if so constructed as to take in 25 to 30 tons of goods, in addition to passengers, there is not a doubt of its success.’ In July 1820, the new steamer began to ply between Inverness and Fort Augustus four times a week – ‘elegantly and commodiously fitted up . . . refreshments of every description, of the best quality, will be sold on board, on reasonable terms; and Books and Music will be provided.’

It was not a cheap service. A cabin cost 5s, the steerage 3s 6d. Dogs were charged half-fare. A carriage met the boat at Fort Augustus and conveyed onward passengers to Fort William to catch another steamer to Glasgow. Advertisements informed the public of the fares of each stage of a journey from Inverness to Edinburgh, Liverpool, London and Belfast.

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