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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Firth
of Clyde, UK
Gillies &
Campbell
James Gillies
and son-in-law Alexander Campbell (not related to the more well-known
captain of Kilmun and Bristol Channel fame) entered steamboat owning
with PS Venus in 1868, a 16-year old vessel originally owned by
Captain McKellar.
Gillies and Campbell became the successful operators of railway
connections from Wemyss Bay from 1870 for twenty years in association
with the Greenock & Wemyss Bay Railway Company, taking over the
remaining vessels of the railway company's liquidated steamboat
subsidiary.
They were to lose the business when the Caledonian Steam Packet Co,
the steamboat subsidiary of the Caledonian Railway (owners of the
Wemyss Bay rail line), took over the station as a result of Gillies
& Campbell withdrawing services in a dispute over the share of
the through fare revenue that was being given to the steamer
operator.
Venus
Largs
Victory
Argyle
Lady Gertrude
Lancelot
Sheila
Adela
Bonnie Doon
Arran
Victoria
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