Doon The Watter, A boat trip Options

[wee mags]

My memories of going doon the watter are very happy ones my daddy would take just one of us at a time on a tripup the water, I would have a bath the night before hair washed and my rag curls in, the in the morning me and my daddy would head for the boat ,it was a special time for me just me and my daddy itting on the boat to Rothsay.

When we got there we would wander around, and I got to eat all the junk food then we had a lunch in a wee resturant, and he would get me an ice cream and say "noo hen jist you sit there" as he went to the pub for his pint, and I was all happy as it was just me and him and now it was our secret "Dont tell yer Mammy hen okay? Its oor wee secret,and so it was until the day she died I never told her about our day doon the watter.

[Macbeast]

I think we went "doon the watter" twice, once to Dunoon and once to Rothesay, both for summer holidays. I can remember approaching the piers with Jimmy Shand type music playing.

I think one trip was on the "Waverley", now doing trips in the Thames Estuary: I saw her recently coming up to tie up at Tower Pier and they raised the Tower Bridge for her, purely for show, I think.

The other might have been on the "Queen Mary 2". I think there was a bit of resentment as she predated the Cunarder Queen Mary and was re-named when the big boat was built.

I well remember my father "going to look at the engines" - it never occurred to me that the only thing he was looking at was the bottom of a glass

Great site, by the way. I used to live in Maryhill in the 60s and that thread brought back many memories

[dugald_old]

Macbeast, I enjoyed reading your Reply # 2, and it brought back some pleasant memories of sailing on the Clyde. Oh, I don't mean the actual sails, I haven't really ever forgotten about them. No, what I'm talking about is the,

"I well remember my father "going to look at the engines" - it never occurred to me that the only thing he was looking at was the bottom of a glass".

I had this treatment too. Back in the 60's my father lived in Glasgow and we took him on the Duchess of Hamilton on a sail from Fairlie to his home town of Campbeltown. After the boat left Fairlie I said to my father, "Come on Pop, there's something on this boat I've always wanted to show you."...Yes, you guessed Macbeast, I took him down to the engines and said to him, "Now Pop, would you show your grandkids these bloody engines, and if you need us, you'll find us up in the lounge!".

Macbeat, I don't think there was any resentment about the "Queen Mary II " thingie. The problem was of course the use of the name 'Queen Mary". I think Cunard were able to reach an amicable understanding with the owners of the steamer and it had something to do with a plaque being installed on the 'big Queen' mentioning the use of the name...it gave a wee plug for the owners of the 'wee Queen'.

Steamers sailing up and down the Clyde, to and from the Broomielaw, was the source of another of Glasgow's many enjoyable features. I remember the days when the Queen Mary II for example, use to sail up and down the Clyde. She was a lovely looking "steamer" and I enjoyed sailing on her many times. I have a great picture of her hanging in my house, taken from the quay at Campbeltown. In 1963 I sailed down the Clyde and through the beautiful Kyles of Bute on this boat, and I sailed on her many times to and from Campbeltown. At one time she had two narrow funnels, and while they were not just as attractive as the one "modern" funnel, she was still a sleek looking steamer.

One of my earliest living memories is sailing down the Clyde. My parents were from Campbeltown and we went there every year for holidays. Back in the early 'thirties Campbeltown was served by a daily sailing to and from the Broomielaw by the old steamers, Davaar and Dalriada, and I can still capture the excitement of getting on a tramcar and going up to the Broomielaw for the steamer. In my young years I rated this sail down the Clyde as my most exciting experience.

As a boy I had a great passion for these Clyde steamers and at the height of the summer I spent a lot of time standing at the Govan pier at the foot of Holm Street watching the boats dock and let some passengers off. Only a few of the steamers stopped at the Govan pier, but I still found it thrilling to see all the other passenger ships sailing to and fro.

I got quite a thrill too out of seeing the other side of the shipyards with their skeletons of ships and all the hustle and bustle involved in their building. I use "other side" because as a resident of Govan I'd long been familiar with the front of the yards bordering on the Govan Road. The hammering of the riveters' hammers was the background noise with which I was brought up in Govan.
Despite living in Govan, I only ever saw two launchings. The first time was about 1940(?) during the Second World War when, from the Govan horse-ferry, I saw a battleship being launched from Fairfields'. At the time the ship's name was the "Beatty", but I don't know if she carried this name after leaving the Clyde. I saw this ship sailing, multi-tug-assisted, past Linthouse later in the war. I think it was 1943 on a Sunday, and although the ship's departure was supposed to be a wat-time secret, there were hundreds of people standing along the Clyde at the Linthouse ferry.

The second launching I saw was a 35,000 ton oil-tanker built by Harland and Wolff's at Govan Cross. This was at the end of 1959 (or beginning of '60) and I was in Glasgow on holiday. I heard about the launching and took my wife across the Clyde on the Govan ferry, and from the Partick side we had a perfect view of the launching. I recall speaking to one of the yard workers while going back over to Govan, and he told me that there wouldn't be many more ships getting launched from the Harland's Govan yard. He was right.

In more recent years I have been a passenger on the Waverley many times. Strange though, I never quite took to this paddle-steamer at all. I see her as a tourist gimmick, oh, a bit of an impostor, not really a Clyde steamer, not a boat that had to race the Duchess of Hamilton or the St Columba for a berthing space at Dunoon on Fair Saturday. Perhaps, for me, the Waverley is symbolic of the demise of the Clyde steamers' scheduled passenger sailings . Well, I'll leave it at that anyway, although perhaps it's the demise of my own youth I'm lamenting.

Cheers Macbeast, Dugald.

[Luceo]

It might be of interest that the King George V Class battleship HMS Howe was originally to be named HMS Beatty. This was changed before she was completed. She was launched at the Fairfield yard in Govan in 1940 and was commissioned in August of 1942. The battleship served throughout the war and was finally scrapped in 1958.

Luceo

[dugald_old]

Thanks for the information about the battleship Luceo. I wasn't sure of either date; I was just using the knowledge I'd been at school for both the launching and the departure. Wonder why Admiral Howe got the heave.

After the war there were a number of 'KGV' battleships mothballed in the Gareloch and Loch Striven. I saw them often enough, but they were all so alike one couldn't distinguish which was which....all I can say for sure is that one of them was not the 'Prince of Wales'!
Cheers, Dugald.

[Macbeast]

Dugald: thanks so much for the very interesting reply in Post#3.

I have a feeling that the Waverley spent years rotting away near Rochester / Chatham, before being restored and put back into service but I may be confusing her with some other ship.

Anyway, I'm new to this site and it's really fascinating reading all the posts, particularly about Maryhill which I used to know well. However, getting off-topic here so, thanks again

[annie laurie]

Dugald,

Do you remember a family called Watson, from Cambletown, just a shot in the dark I know but thought it is worth a try to ask anyway,
They lived in Campbletown, for years had a Farm and Property there I think, Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dugald_old]

Annie Laurie, yes, I knew a Watson family in Campbeltown. They lived beside my granny at Kilmory Place, High St. in Dalintober. The boy was a good friend of my cousin. The only thing i recall about him was that he was a great 'talker', and the last time my cousin saw him, in the late seventies, he was still a great talker!

"Watson" wasn't an uncommon name in Campbeltown, and i doubt this 'Dalintober' Watson is the one you are thinking of, since I don't think they had a farm...but then I'm talking of when I was a boy, they could well have acquired a farm since then.

Sorry I can't be any more specific Annie Laurie, but I did enjoy the brief mental excursion to High St. Dalintober!
Cheers, Dugald.

[RonD]

I won't consider this off topic but I will consider it a different "Doon the Watter" My older siblings and parents lived near the Forth and Clyde canal at Cadder. My oldest sister used to tell of the pleasure boats that sailed along the canal with day trippers. These were special boats made to fit the narrow canal. I believe they are named queens as in Fairy Queen etc. I also heard stories of my father and his brother as boys swimming in the canal and when the boats went by tourists would throw hae'pennies into the canal for which they would dive and retrieve them.

[RonD]

Here's a picture of one.

Attached image(s)

 

[dugald_old]

Rdem, I have a picture postcard of one of the old Govan ferries sailing with a load of passengers on the Forth and Clyde canal. When I saw your picture i thought at first that it was a Govan ferry, but it clearly isn't. I have never seen the ferry sailing on the canal, but one of these days i'm going to go looking for one and have a sail on it!
cheers dugald.

[RonD]

They have reinstated sails on the canal here's a site that will you find where to go.
http://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/Web+Site/L...GR?OpenDocument

[chooky]

i went to dunoon for a holiday when i was 16, many years later iam married and living in dunoon

[stratson]

Hi Chooky,,,,,,,,,,,Next trip "Doon the Watter" will meet up with you.
Did any other members of your family move beside you?
Good Luck.

Sorry, am off topic here.


stratson

[stuarty]

does anybody remember the grapes pub in rothsey my best pal at secndary school owns it and has done very well so if your doon the watter say to the landlady stuarty was asking for her shes a giggler anaw oh a would love too meet her as a was her best mad at her wedding years ago a know she broke up and married again oh she was my friend that knew me inside out and thats a fact am having a memorylane day the day sorry stratson doll big huggles