Waverley

[Bobingabout]

I was overtaken by the paddle steamer "Waverley" in the Solent a few days ago, a fine sight. She had just left the end of the Yarmouth Pier, and headed out towards the Needles channel.

Does anyone know the history of this ship?

Many thanks......

 

[pkb]

I think she was a pleasure steamer plying around the Firth of Clyde and the Kyles of Bute on Scotland's West coast taking holidaymakers to places like Rothesay on Bute. I used to go there as a child - about 45 years ago - and there were lots of steamers just like her. I think they sailed out of Greenock or Wemys Bay. My grandfather would always take me to the engine rooms of those old veessels to watch the massive pistons at work. In the early 1970's my wife and I and a couple of friends went out in Waverley for a nostalgiac day sail around the Firth so she was certainly operational at that time. I am sure someone will come up with precise details of her history but she is certainly a lovely sight.

 

[Gordonmc]

A familiar sight in the Clyde where she is based for most of the year. Built in 1947 she was used on the Caledonian Macbrayne network for thirty odd years. In the early seventies she was pensioned off and faced the scrappy.

A group of dedicated enthusiasts got togather and formed the Steamship Preservation Society (or some such) and bought her for £1. She's described as the World's last ocean going paddleship and its worth taking a trip just to see her engines... very impressive. Suprisingly big, too. She is registered for more than 900 passengers.

The Society has two other steam boats operating and Waverley has just undergone a big refit with new boilers and hopefully will keep going for a few years.

During the winter she lives in Glasgow and plies around Arran, Bute and down to Ayr. In the Summer she normally goes to the South coast and round to the Thames. More info on a couple of websites. Try Waverley or Steam Ship on a search engine.

 

[pkb]

If you go into Google there are lots of web sites on Waverley. I found an interesting feature on www.gearwheelsmag.co.uk. She is apparently the last sea going paddle steamer in the world built in 1947 in Glasgow for LNER. She was named after a similar ship which went down off the French coast at the time of the Dunkirk evacuation.

Peter

 

[boatone]

Its all here:
My P32, BoatersGallery, VolpenUsersGroup

 

[tcm]

Re: full site

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.btinternet.com/~Paddlers/PSWaverley/>http://www.btinternet.com/~Paddlers/PSWaverley/</A>

 

[Twister_Ken]

She cracks along at a fair old clip, too, and without very much wash - maybe something to do with paddles vs props?

 

[tony_brighton]

She may crack along but she turns like a pig. Saw her trying to leave Portsmouth a week or so ago - charged back and forth across the entrance making 20 degree turns per leg. And she wasn't doing it slowly either.

 

[PeteMcK]

Rebuild reports

If your think your refits cause you headaches, check this:-
http://www.psps.freeserve.co.uk/rebuild/diary.htm

The Waverley was built in 1947 as a replacement for a similar sized paddler of the same name which was bombed after leaving Dunkirk with a full load of troops during the evacuation. Her owners were the LNER (whose Clyde steamers were all named after characters in Scott's novels), followed after nationalisation in 1948 by British Railways in their Caledonian Steam Packet Co Clyde shipping subsidiary, and then in 1970 by new nationalised ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne. Her original base was at the LNER railhead at Craigendoran near the mouth of the Gareloch: with shallow water in the approaches to this area, the LNER stuck exclusively to paddle propulsion till the end. The Waverley was not simply a summer butterfly but was used, almost to the end of her railway / Calmac career for passenger ferry services in both summer and winter as well as for long distance excursions from the upper Firth of Clyde to Arran and Kintyre during May to September. Whereas BR were careful to sell old tonnage out of the country, to breaking up, or to static use, Calmac were more enlightened and, in the early 70s, sold the ship to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society for a pound (which Calmac's chairman actually lent to the PSPS representative at the handover ceremony!) and with few strings attached. The operation has been through its trials from time to time, but the Waverley's future is probably more secure now than it has been for fifty years.

Take care though: she normally plods around at fuel saving 14 knots, but after her recent major refit, she's rumoured to be capable of doing the 18 continuously she was built for. And as someone else has already observed, her low speed manoeuverability just doesn't exist.

 

[ronniewood]

Was aboard her for a chartered evening cruise to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Fairlie Yacht Club last year. Had not long finshed her last major refit and she looked great - particulary the engine room which is open on both sides for passenger viewing - spectacular sight for 'steamies' !
Captain showed off by belting through the recently narrowed short channel in the Kyles of Bute with what looked like 5 or 6 feet to spare either side.
Cracking night except for the weather but then this is the U.K.!

 

[oldharry]

Like most ships of her era, Waverley was built for speed - there was huge competition on the Western Isles Clyde routes between the various excursion companies. As a result Clyde paddlers were built much more narrow beamed than normal, a pattern that was followed elsewhere. An additional design consideration was that fact that designers had to accomodate the paddles and paddle boxes - which had to be very solid as they were the widest part of the ship and came twixt hull and shore on berthing. This made for a very wide ship which of course cost more in harbour and berthing dues.

And as we all know a long narrow hull form makes turning and manoevering extremely difficult. No side thrusters either, so everything has to be done fore and aft and at sufficient speed for the rudder to bite.

She is in the Solent until early next week, and I can strongly recommed the trip.