Sailing 'Doon the Watter'

It is summer again and it is always a thrill to see the PSV Waverley back on the River Clyde for her annual sailing trips 'doon the watter'. As the world's last sea going paddle steamer she always makes the heart beat faster when you see her classic lines cutting through the water.

This morning I was in Greenock, just as the Waverley came in to berth at Custom House Quay. She always attracts a crowd where ever she goes. A bit like those celebrities who walk the red carpet.

When I was young I could remember all the steamers that were lined up at the piers and the day trippers making their way from the trains to board the Jeannie Deans, and the Waverley.

The children always wanted to make their way down to see the engines as the ships headed out to Dunoon, Rothesay and the Kyles of Bute.

The men usually headed to the bar and the women booked tables for high tea in the silver service dining room below deck.

When we arrived at our destination we would make our way to one of the seafront cafés for an ice-cream treat. Unfortunately, only the Waverley is the last of that great fleet of paddlers.

Thankfully due to the amazing work of the preservation society, the Waverley keeps on sailing.

Let us hope we have a good summer and we can all take a nostalgic trip 'Doon the Watter' on the PSV Waverley.

History of the Waverley
The Waverley was built in 1947 by A & J Inglis on the River Clyde in Glasgow.

Between 1947 and 1973 she sailed on the Clyde, initially for the London & North Eastern Railway and then for the Caledonian Steam Packet Company after railway nationalisation and was particularly associated with the route from Craigendoran to Arrochar at the head of Loch Long, providing a lifeline for what was once an isolated community, but more prominently as one leg of the highly-popular "Three Lochs Tour" which involved a return cruise on Loch Lomond, with associated bus and rail connections.

With the closure of the sailing routes and the conversion of most other Clyde services to car-ferry services, the Clyde's last operational paddle steamer seemed destined for the ship-breakers until in 1974 she was taken over by the charity in a deal which was sealed by the purchase of the ship for a £ 1 note donated by her owners, by that time known as Caledonian-MacBrayne, for the purpose. "Cal-Mac" for their part had avoided the expected public relations backlash from scrapping the last of the long line of the Clyde's much-loved paddlers.

Enthusiasts were handed a job which seemed herculean. A return to service appeared unrealistic, but just in case, the sales covenant restricted Waverley's routes to avoid competition with Cal-Mac's surviving excursion steamer, TS Queen Mary. The unexpected was attempted and whilst Queen Mary struggled on only until 1977, those successful attempts continue annually to this day and Waverley has now sailed "in preservation" for much longer than she did as a "commercial" steamer.