The Waverly

LittleShip

LittleShip

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I have been watching this plod...... Hmm ? 17 knots isn't plodding really ? around the Clyde for the past couple of weeks.

Anyway, it is in my opinion, probably, the best looking boat in the Clyde apart from Little Ship obviously.:D

She is stunning and even on a rotten day like today looks splendid. That said she gave me a bit of a fright when I was just about to run through Burnt Island only to find her coming the other way.:o

View attachment 34933

Tom, sitting it out in Rothsay at the moment due to the wind.

Oops, wrong forum..... Must be the drink :rolleyes:
 
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She is a fine boat with her swept back funnels and masts and it's always good to see her paddling about. I saw her in the Kilbranan Sound heading south with an old but large swell running north. She parted most of the waves with a big lazy pitch and very little spray from the bow; quite graceful to see.
 
In the 1950s when I was a small child used to travel on her when she was a working ferry on the Rothesay - Wemyss Bay route - used to love to see the pistons working.
 
She just about crushed us against the outer finger pontoon at Rothesay a couple of years ago. She was reversing off the pier and came within an arms length of us. I was able to touch the stern of her just before i decided to not try and fend off and head for the pontoon. Luckily she stopped and I put it down to the crew performing a precision maneuver.
 
My wife complains that I have more photos of the Waverly than of her, but then she is more photogenic.

For the nostalgic can I recommend the book 'Sunset on the Clyde' by Duncan Graham recounting the summers he spent working on the Clyde and Loch Lomond paddle steamers about £2 for kindle and well written.
When I was ten and in the Cubs I was allowed to go to a scout camp at Inverkip, we travelled overnight from Londonderry on the deck of a cattle boat sheltering under a tarpaulin, up the Clyde after sunrise when all the yards were still working, then in the back of a lorry from the Broomielaw to a forest clearing above Kip. The highlight of the trip was a circular steamer trip from Wemyss Bay to Arrochar, hike to Tarbert, another steamer down Loch Lomond, bus to Glasgow then a third steamer back to camp.
 
The engines are magnificent. Amazingly quite, great viewing gallery. Strange to watch them stop and go backwards. I believe the 160 million euro lottery winners from Largs gave a Load of money to keep it going.
 
LittleShip said:
I have been watching this plod...... Hmm ? 17 knots isn't plodding really ? around the Clyde for the past couple of weeks.

Anyway, it is in my opinion, probably, the best looking boat in the Clyde apart from Little Ship obviously.:D

She is stunning and even on a rotten day like today looks splendid. That said she gave me a bit of a fright when I was just about to run through Burnt Island only to find her coming the other way.:o

View attachment 34933

Tom, sitting it out in Rothsay at the moment due to the wind.

Oops, wrong forum..... Must be the drink :rolleyes:
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remember the treat of going on her as a kid - penarth > weston super mare > ilfracombe. Loved it :)
 
LittleShip said:
That said she gave me a bit of a fright when I was just about to run through Burnt Island only to find her coming the other way.:o



Oops, wrong forum..... Must be the drink :rolleyes:
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Much better fun before they changed the rules and she and the king george * loch Nevis Queen Mary11 etc avoiding the fleet in the CCC tobermory races
 
Quandary said:
When I was ten and in the Cubs I was allowed to go to a scout camp at Inverkip, we travelled overnight from Londonderry on the deck of a cattle boat sheltering under a tarpaulin, up the Clyde after sunrise when all the yards were still working, then in the back of a lorry from the Broomielaw to a forest clearing above Kip. The highlight of the trip was a circular steamer trip from Wemyss Bay to Arrochar, hike to Tarbert, another steamer down Loch Lomond, bus to Glasgow then a third steamer back to camp.
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That'll be Everton Camp @ Inverkip... still on the go, but rather more comfort than you or I would remember.
 
Spyro said:
The engines are magnificent. Amazingly quite, great viewing gallery. Strange to watch them stop and go backwards. I believe the 160 million euro lottery winners from Largs gave a Load of money to keep it going.
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+1

A band I was in played on one of her trips some years ago - a private function, I think. Our performance was only a relatively short part of the overall trip, so I had a great day out, a good look round the boat, and got paid for it! It was real treat to be on such a boat. She sounds nice, too.
 
Rick_A said:
Luckily she stopped and I put it down to the crew performing a precision maneuver.
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Could have been - it sounds a lot like Stavros turning round in the basin at Ipswich.

The ship is (according to the website) 197 feet long. So is the red line on this google picture, and according to my memory this is where she was at the midpoint of the turn:

ScreenShot2013-09-01at205324_zps2487310c.png


There were some very concerned-looking people in big white motorboats on those pontoons!

Pete
 
She's certainly a great sight on the Clyde.

I can echo what's said about her being quiet - she's the only commercial vessel that routinely "sneaks up" on me! I think it's a combination of her (relatively) quiet operation and the colour scheme, which I find blends in with the coastline if she's any distance away.

My pet concern at Burnt Island is always meeting her coming the other way - she is notoriously not very manoeverable, as scars on piers from Somerset to the Clyde testify!
 
AntarcticPilot said:
She's certainly a great sight on the Clyde.

I can echo what's said about her being quiet - she's the only commercial vessel that routinely "sneaks up" on me! I think it's a combination of her (relatively) quiet operation and the colour scheme, which I find blends in with the coastline if she's any distance away.

My pet concern at Burnt Island is always meeting her coming the other way - she is notoriously not very manoeverable, as scars on piers from Somerset to the Clyde testify!
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Yes, I remember years ago being on the mooring buoy nearest to the pier at Millport when the Waverley appeared. She was going fairly quickly and aiming straight at us. I kept saying to my wife that she'd slow down and turn any moment. Nope. Came in fast, turned rapidly went just past us and pretty much slewed side on into the pier with just enough reverse to come to a dead stop.

You sort of expect a slow approach and turning on the spot with paddlewheels rotating in opposite direction. However, I was told years ago that she's relatively flat bottomed and both paddles are on a single crankshaft (so they both turn together). So only way to change direction is to have some speed and get decent flow over the rudder.

PS I've always said here comes "the Waverley", never just "Waverley". Seems that others do the same, one of life's little mysteries (probably to emphasise her uniqueness).
 
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Mistroma said:
You sort of expect a slow approach and turning on the spot with paddlewheels rotating in opposite direction. However, I was told years ago that she's relatively flat bottomed and both paddles are on a single crankshaft (so they both turn together).
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Almost all paddle steamers have one shaft for both paddles wheels; the exceptions being a tiny number of tugs. Independent paddles would mean separate engines, which would be a lot of complication and expense.

Incidentally, I saw the Balmoral in Bristol a couple of days ago, looking rather sorry for herself.
 
It's still one of my favourite sights to see the Waverley scything through the waters of the Clyde and hear the thump of the paddles on a clear night.

P.S. Tom I saw your lights on at the marina and thought I would say hello but you left before I got a chance.
Neil
 
+1 for nostalgia. Saw her young, saw her old - most recently in Harwich. She gets about. Never was aboard her, but share memories of the Maid of the Loch on Loch Lomond. Maid of the Loch Balloch to Rowerdennan. Up Ben Lomond, and the Maid back home again.
 
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