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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
PS
Waverley Built : 1946/47. Substantially rebuilt : 2000/2003. Operating Area : Firth of Clyde (high summer) and UK coast (late summer/autumn) Above
: Waverley leaves her Glasgow berth on the morning of 22nd August 2020
for the first cruise after the replacement of her boilers. When
in Glasgow, she is now generally turned by her own work boat "Push On" nudging the
bow around as seen above. Photo by
Kenny Whyte. Waverley
is owned by the Waverley Steam Navigation Company Ltd (WSN)** on behalf
of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society (PSPS), which
aims to preserve the two remaining operational British
examples of this
type of ship in sailing condition and assist in the preservation of
other survivors. The Society has around 2800 members and is a
registered charity. It is now almost 50
years since Waverley was retired by its state-controlled operators
as obsolete and uneconomic at a time when car ferries had taken over
much of the steamer fleet's business. The demand for day sails
alone appeared to be falling and the assumed only option was for this
last example of a long line of paddle steamers on the Clyde to go to
the scrapyard. The ship's owners have managed to defy
predictions by maintaining it in service.
Waverley
Excursions Ltd (WEL) is the trading subsidiary of WSN and operates a
cruise on Waverley most days in the sailing
season, for which bridge, deck and catering crew are
employed. A small office
staff is
contracted throughout the year for essential management, administration
and marketing. Whilst Waverley makes a good surplus on its sailing
programme, this is generally insufficient to finance the
statutory annual dry-docking, maintenance and inspection.
Therefore the ship still requires donations
from its many supporters for a proportion of this unavoidable expense
as well as for capital programmes and any
unforeseen repair bills.
Waverley
is probably in better condition now than at any time in its
history through continuous investment in its fabric, attentive
maintenance of its machinery and in meeting ever tighter regulatory
controls. In practice, much of the ship's fabric, except for the hull
frames
and the main engine parts, dates only from 2000 and 2003 when it
was substatially rebuilt in two phases. Whilst
sheltered
conditions on the Clyde mean that there are few if any disruptions
to services there, visits to the Bristol Channel, South
Coast,
Thames and
Irish Sea can be beset with problems if conditions are unfavourable.
Nevertheless, a successful programme in these areas provides essential
income and it remains an objective of the PSPS to make paddle steamer
trips
available to as many people as possible around the country.
**
Note : All shares are owned under mortgage to the Trustees of the
National Heritage Memorial Fund in respect of the lottery grant
accepted to finance the major reconstruction of the ship between 2000
and 2003 Above
: Waverley at Ilfracombe on the Bristol Channel on 7/6/09 by kind courtesy of Kenny Whyte. She has visited this area regularly since 1978 SHIP SPECIFICATIONS Built : 1946-47 by A&J Inglis, Pointhouse, Glasgow Substantially rebuilt : 2000-03 in two phases by George Prior Engineering, Great Yarmouth
Dimensions
: 239 ft 11 in (73.13 m) long - 30 ft 2 in (9.19 m) breadth
- 57 ft 3 in (17.45 m) over the sponsons - currently around
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) draught
Engines : Triple expansion, three crank : 24, 39 and 62 inches (cylinders) x 66 inches (stroke) - by
Rankin & Blackmore, Greenock (View here)
Fuel
: Originally coal-burning, she was converted in 1957 to consume fuel
oil. In 2019 she was converted to use marine gas oil and uses this in
her 2020 boilers
Note : Her original boiler is now preserved at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine
Speed : On trial she managed 18.37 knots but is limited to 16 by her
certification. Normal service speed is generally limited to 14.5 knots
Fuel
consumption is around 0.7 tonnes (755 litres) per hour at an average 14
knots (25.9 km/h) : 29.15 litres/km (around 0.1 miles per gallon)
693 Gross Registered Tons ie capacity calculation, not the actual weight of the ship
Passenger capacity (2014) : maximum 860 (Class V), 800 (Class IV) or 740 (Class III) - depending
on which category of waters she is sailing in ** In 2021/2 this number was restricted to 650/650/550 pending a review by the national regulatory authority
Waverley's Class III
certificate allows sailings with passengers up to 18 miles from the
coast and 70
miles from its point of departure (between April 1st and October 31st
only). The ship also makes other voyages to position herself around the
UK coast, but without
passengers for these movements. Class IV/V requires it to remain
within more restricted waters (ie estuarine, such as the upper reaches
of the Firth of Clyde) Note : In 1947 the passenger certificate
allowed 1350 passengers and until 2013 was 925 in the most protected sailing areas In
1973 allowable maximums were 1350 (Class V), 967 (Class IV summer),
888 (Class IV winter), 571 (Class III - later improved due to extra
inflatables etc added)
Crewing (2014) :MCA
certification requires a minimum of 19 crew (or 15 if sailing with
restricted passenger numbers as Class IV/V vessel in restricted waters)
Port of Registry : Glasgow. IMO Number : 5386954. Official number : 169494
Builders' Yard No : 1330P Note
- this is not a sequential number for A&J Inglis' yard. After
takeover by the Harland & Wolff company, the yard operated under
its original name, but ships adopted a unified H&W yard number,
with the "P" denoting the Pointhouse shipyard, Glasgow as the specific
yard involvedHISTORY : KEY DATES 1946 : Launched 2/10/1946 at builders A&J Inglis,
Pointhouse, Glasgow, UK (now the site of the Glasgow Riverside Museum of Transport) 1947 : Entered service primarily on the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) Craigendoran (railhead) service to Arrochar
at the head of Loch Long 1948 : After railway nationalisation transferred to British
Transport Commission ownership and received buff funnels with black tops 1951 : Transferred to the Caledonian Steam Packet Co, former
pre-nationalisation rivals of the LNER and the name adopted for the consolidated fleet. 1953 : Deckhouses were repainted white - but paddleboxes remained, for the time being, black 1957 : Converted in time for the 1957 season to burn oil, replacing coal as
fuel. 1959 : Black paddle boxes (LNER/BTC legacy) were painted "Caledonian" white 1960 : Radar fitted 1961 : Welded forward funnel replaced the original stack 1962 : New welded funnel aft fitted - but the rake of each funnel was different, giving an odd appearance from various angles 1965
: Received the British Rail "Monastral blue" hull colours.
The traditional Caledonian funnel colour remained, but with the
addition of red lions rampant 1969
: The Caledonian Steam Packet Company
was taken over by a new state entity, the
Scottish Transport Group (effective January 1969) and at the
end of the same season, the hull was painted black 1972
: Black paddle boxes restored. The Paddle Steamer Preservation Society
was keen that the ship's status as a paddler was highlighted 1973
: Following the merger of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co into
Caledonian-MacBrayne, the funnels were repainted red, with yellow disc
and the "Caledonian" lions retained 1973 : Withdrawn after the
1973 season
1974 : Sold to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society (PSPS) forefronted by
Douglas McGowan and Terry Sylvester for a token £1 fee 1975
: Re-entered service, owned by Waverley Steam Navigation Co on behalf
of PSPS in colours approximating those of the LNER (but with white
deckhouses) 1975 : Sailed from Anderston Quay, Glasgow, where WSN also established their offices 1977 : On 28/4/77, left the Clyde for the first time to cruise from
Liverpool and Llandudno as it was believed that the ship needed to sail beyond the
Clyde to survive 1977 : Faced an uncertain future after running aground on the Gantocks rocks off Dunoon on
15/7/77 and losing six weeks worth of vital revenue 1978 :
Sailed from Stobcross Quay (where the ship's offices were also
relocated) due to demolition of old offices and warehouses for urban
renewal along the Clyde 1978 : Sailings extended to the south of the UK, setting the
pattern for future operation 1980 : Cruised to Cap Griz Nez off the French coast on 12/5/80 for 40th
anniversary of Dunkirk evacuation - where the LNER lost PS Waverley (of 1899) 1981 : A new boiler improved operational and economic
performance 1981 : Berth and offices relocated to Lancefield Quay as riverside redevelopment progressed 1981 : The ambitious cruise programme involved circumnavigating Great Britain for
the first time. Over the next 20 years she was to visit numerous unusual piers and ports 1986 : Waverley's home berth reverted to Anderston Quay but the Waverley Excursions office remained at Lancefield Quay 1990 : Sailed to Dunkirk for the 50th anniversary remembrance
1998 : Awarded Heritage Lottery Fund partnership funding for
a comprehensive rebuilding 1999 : Changes to safety legislation delayed the rebuild and
Waverley sailed as normal 2000 : Rebuild contract commenced in earnest in January at the yard of George Prior Engineering of Great
Yarmouth. - Cost escalation meant that the whole ship could not be attended to at this stage. - Waverley reappeared for the late summer season in 2000 greatly
improved but restored wherever possible to 1947 appearance as required by the funding agency. - Work
included much new hull plating (included riveted plates above the
waterline for historical accuracy) and some renewal of frame elements,
plus new sponsons. - New (twin) boilers -
Some internal arrangements such as companionways and saloons, changed
over time, retained their modern arrangements albeit with traditional
decoration and styling - Wood-grain effect as per LNER colours replaced the white paint on the deckhouses. New riveted effect funnels fitted (correcting the unequal rake present since 1962). 2002 : Returned
to George Prior Engineering in the winter of 2002-03 for the completion
of the rebuilding programme (mainly the forward part of the ship). 2004
: Plans for a new bridge over the Clyde would make Anderston Quay
inaccessible, so Waverley moved to the south bank at Plantation Quay (at
the Science Centre) 2011 : Expensive
repairs and lost sailing time led to a national appeal to "Save
the Waverley" and a rescuing donation from Euromillions lottery
winners, the Weirs 2015 : Appeared without the scumbling (woodgrain effect) on its deck saloons -
due to the prohibitive cost of renewing the traditional
effect 2019
: Out of service for the whole season due to a defective boiler.
Following a nationwide appeal and a major grant from the Scottish
Government, two new boilers were ordered 2020
: Boilers replaced and three new diesel generators installed by Dales Engineering at Greenock 2020 : A short delayed Clyde season with much reduced
capacity due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions ended following a
collision with the Brodick ferry terminal 2021
: Sailed on the Clyde only due to uncertainties resulting from the
global Covid-19 pandemic and the problem in sourcing crew for the
traditional late summer season in England 2022
: Returned to sail on the South Coast of England and the Thames Estuary
(but not the Bristol Channel or Liverpool & North Wales)
DID YOU KNOW ?
Above : Waverley
at her home base outside the Science Centre on the south bank of the
Clyde in Glasgow (Feb 2016). Picture by kind courtesy of Kenny Whyte. The ship normally sails
from here on Fridays, weekends and Monday mornings in the high summer
season, with very limited sailings in May and October. Midweek in the
high summer Waverley starts her cruises at either Largs, Ayr or Greenock.
In the winter and spring when Waverley is out of service, she is moored outside the Science Centre in Glasgow, where volunteers
work aboard on her maintenance. This includes specialist refurbishment
of engine parts but also general joinery, plumbing and non-skilled work
such as sanding and revarnishing the outdoor seating.
Waverley is based in
Glasgow and in high summer offers a range of
cruises on the Firth of Clyde into areas of magnificent natural beauty
and calling at resorts such as Dunoon, Rothesay, Largs and Brodick (click
here to see photos of this attractive area).
It also spends parts of the year sailing in areas which, many years
ago, lost their own paddle steamers, such as the Bristol Channel, the
south coast of the UK and the Thames estuary, which are currently
served after the main summer season. There is usually a short programme
of cruises in the Western Isles prior to the summer season.
Since 1974 the ship has been owned by a (now) charity (Waverley Steam
Navigation Company, "WSN") on behalf of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society
(itself a charity, click
here for more details). Since 1980, operation has been in the hands of Waverley Excursions Ltd, the trading subsidiary of WSN. Home
base and winter lay-up location is Pacific Quay, Glasgow, adjacent to the Science Centre and BBC
Scotland
offices - with an administrative office on the opposite north bank of
the Clyde at Lancefield Quay.
Waverley is marketed as the "World's Last Sea-Going Paddle Steamer"
to
the extent that many cruises now see the ship venture out of
protected estuarine waters into what are classed as "sea" by the UK's
maritime safety agency and visits to other sailing areas often
involve journeys across open seas. It was not until 1977 that
Waverley first left the relatively protected waters of her native Firth of
Clyde
in search of out-of-season business. There are numerous other paddle steamers in the world, but these
offer cruises on lakes, rivers and estuaries only although some have on
occasion entered coastal waters
It takes her name from Sir Walter Scott's
first novel, the leading character of which was Edward Waverley. Names
from Scott's novels were widely used by one of the companies operating
on
the Clyde for their steamers. There were a number of other paddle
steamers named Waverley
operating in the UK, although none during the lifetime of this
version of Waverley. See the section near the foot of this page for
more details.
It is newer than you might think : Although
celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2017, little apart from most of its
framework and much of the engine remains from the Waverley of 1947.
The greatest changes took place between 2000 and 2003 with a
substantial rebuild, and although ship maintenance requires on-going
replacement of parts, there have been other changes which have
changed both its external appearance (albeit only slightly) and
internal arrangements (much more substantially). Most noticeable was
the difference in the rake of the two funnels after replacement in
1961/2 (lasting until 2001), the removal of the aft lifeboats in favour
of other evacuation devices - and one change often overlooked : the
replacement of the square windows in the sponsons (which were
themselves replaced in 2001) by ports, recovered from the withdrawn
Clyde buoy tender "Torch" and fitted in 1978 as a condition imposed by
the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) for the ship to undertake visits away from the Clyde.
A few common mis-perceptions:
Dunkirk :
This Waverley was built shortly after the end of the
Second World War and was therefore not at the Dunkirk evacuations. Two
paddle steamers named Waverley (one renamed Snaefell for wartime
purposes) were at Dunkirk. Waverley was lost during the operation
whilst "Snaefell"
survived, only to be sunk later in the war. The current Waverley has visited the
French coastline off Dunkirk, however, having sailed to take part in
commemorative events in 1980 and 1990.
It replaced the Waverley lost at Dunkirk
: Strictly
speaking, this Waverley did not replace the Waverley sunk at Dunkirk,
although built for the same owners, because the company
had already
decommissioned the old Waverley without any planned replacement at the
end of the 1938 season. They had intended to reduce their fleet size.
The new ship was needed, however, as another member of
the fleet, Marmion, was sunk later in the war and the ageing Lucy
Ashton, which had maintained services on the Clyde during hostilities,
urgently needed replacing.
Waverley around Britain :
This Waverley remained on the Clyde and never visited other parts of
the UK coastline until 1977. Since then it has made short visits to
other areas (particularly those where there were once local paddle
steamers) outside of the main Firth of Clyde summer season. Many
people remember paddle steamers on the Bristol Channel. The era ended
in 1967 when Campbell's two remaining paddlers, Bristol Queen and
Cardiff Queen were withdrawn. Both, but Cardiff Queen in particular,
bore a reasonable resemblance to the Clyde's Waverley, being
contemporaries and the latter built at the nearby Glasgow shipyard,
Fairfield's. Waverley first visited the Bristol Channel in 1979 WHAT IS IT LIKE ABOARD WAVERLEY ?
Click here to
step aboard Waverley and go into the deck saloons and below deck,
where you can see the restaurant, the bar, the souvenir kiosk and the steam engines.
WHAT IS IT LIKE ON A WAVERLEY CRUISE ?
Join three cruises from the 2013 season and see what it is like from a passenger's perspective (Photos and text by webmaster Gordon Stewart) :
WAVERLEY'S OPENING SEASON - WITH THE L&NER RAILWAY
Waverley's
first season - 1947 and also her last under LNER ownership.
Waverley now sails in almost exactly the same livery with these colours
chosen by Waverley Steam Navigation Company to reflect her history and
continue memories of a much-loved fleet. She sailed on the company's
ferry routes from Craigendoran to Dunoon and Rothesay, but also to
Arrochar at the head of Loch Long. Photo by Alan Brown, shown by
kind courtesy of Gillon Ferguson.
NATIONALISATION THEN INTEGRATION INTO THE CALEDONIAN STEAM PACKET COMPANY
Waverley
heads down Firth from Gourock in April 1969 in a photo by Gordon
Stewart. This was the last season
when the Clyde had more than one paddle steamer. Caledonia was paid off
as the decade drew to a close. Turbine steamer Duchess of Hamilton
followed shortly afterwards. The introduction of car ferries in 1954
began the changes which were to lead to the reduction in passenger-only
vessels
CALEDONIAN MACBRAYNE : A NEW MERGER IN 1970 AND NEW FUNNEL COLOURS IN 1973
Following
the merging of the Caledonian Steam Packet Company and David MacBrayne,
Waverley sailed for one season (1973) in new colours. It was a
problematic season and the costly and unreliable paddler was paid off
by the state-controlled company after only one summer. The company
retained two older passenger turbine steamers - Queen Mary for work on
the Clyde and King George V for excursions out of Oban - for the time
being. No longer required as ferries, the passenger ships' business was
primarily excursion traffic and this was now in severe decline.
Photo by kind
courtesy of Kenny Whyte.
WAVERLEY : SAILING FOR THE WAVERLEY STEAM
NAVIGATION COMPANY
Although
most people thought the ship's life once reactivated in 1975 by
preservationists acting in the interests of the Paddle Steamer
Preservation Society would be short, that was to be far from the
truth. Waverley embarked on the most remarkable stage of her
career, surpassing everything it had done before. She left the Clyde
for the first time in 1977 testing the water in North Wales and then
embarking on extensive tours around the British coastline and also
across to Ireland. Her "commercial" service had lasted only 27 seasons.
By the end of 2018, she had completed 44 seasons in operational
preservation
Above : Waverley leaving Rothesay in the wake of Queen
Mary II in 1975, its first season back after leaving the Cal-Mac
fleet. Photo by Kenny Whyte PHOTOS BY GORDON STEWART
Gordon
Stewart has photographed Waverley on a number of occasions over the
years for the paddlesteamers.info photo archive as listed below : Links
to full sets presented in smaller-sized format (1975-2009). Later
series shown below. Gordon Stewart has decided not to make photographs
of Waverley after 2013 due to the proliferation of photos posted on
internet sites by other photographers.
Above;
Waverley at Haldon Pier. Torquay in May 1979. Although Torquay is
a prime holiday resort on the "English Riviera", she has called very
rarely. Much of this has to do with vehement opposition from local boat
owners. Waverley first called for bunkers in 1978 before this 1979
pre-booked trip. One further charter followed in the early 1980s.
Photo by kind courtesy of Waverley's purser at the time, Derek Gawn
WAVERLEY IN THE 1990s by Phil Barnes, featuring in particular the south of England
As well as the Firth of Clyde, Waverley affords the opportunity
to see various parts of the UK coastline which were once familiar to
paddle steamer customers. Here Waverley approaches Swanage pier
with the limestone cliffs of this part of the south
coast providing a magnificent backdrop. This photo dates from 1996
and was
taken by Phil Barnes.
See
why Waverley began making calls again at this long-abandoned Clyde pier
(above, in a photo by Kenny Whyte) and see how it sailed to Liverpool
- but was unable to tie up at Llandudno despite a close approach
............ and more. Click here
It
is not intended to post further photographs of Waverley due to the
large amount of photographic material posted on the internet and on
social media
WAVERLEY : Other paddle steamers with the same name
See also the following British excursion paddle steamers named Waverley :
Waverley
derives her name from the novel written by Sir Walter Scott and
published in 1814. This and a number of subsequent novels, originally
published anonymously, became known as the Waverley novels as they were
originally accredited to the writer of "Waverley". Book titles and
characters from these books were adopted as names for almost all of the ships built for
the North British Railway Company's Clyde services (operated by the North British Steam Packet Company).
These include Jeanie Deans, Dandie Dinmont, Meg Merrilies, Lucy Ashton,
Lady Rowena, Lady Clare and Guy Mannering. Marmion, Talisman and
Kenilworth are, like Waverley, names derived from Scott novels or
poems.
Waverley itself is an English name and is now an administrative
division of the county of Surrey and an ancient parish in which a
monastery was founded in 1128, the ruins of which remain. Stone from
the dissolved abbey was used in the construction of Waverley House, a
stately home close to the ruins, which was visited on several occasions
by Sir Walter Scott. The hero of Scott's novel, from the south of
England, was called Edward Waverley, perhaps inspired by the Surrey house
although there appears to be no link between the fictional Waverley and
the family of Scott's hosts. The novel is, however, widely regarded as
the first of the historical novel genre, basing its fictional romantic
story amongst the tumultuous events of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Waverley
had been used as a name before it became familiar on Clyde ferries.
Various sailing ships had been named Waverley. The North British
Railway had two paddle steamers Waverley built for its Irish Sea
connection between Silloth in Cumbria and Dublin. It was not until 1899
that Waverley
was used by the North British for Clyde service, by which time the name had already been
used for another Clyde steamer. This was in 1885 and for Captain Bob
Campbell's Kilmun ferry trade. Found too large for the run she was
chartered to a Bristol-based consortium in 1887 and credited with
showing that a steamboat service could be operated successfully in that
area. When the Campbell business (now run by the retired Bob's two
sons) was moved to Bristol in 1889, Waverley became the first ship in what was to become the famous P&A Campbell "White Funnel" fleet. The name was to be given to a later Campbell ship, the former PS Barry,
taken over from the Barry Railway Company in 1922. The original
Waverley had survived World War I but found to be in no state to be
re-commissioned and had been scrapped in 1921. Neither of the two
Waverleys survived World War II. The Scottish ship was lost at the
beaches of Dunkirk and Campbell's ship was bombed and sunk off
Sunderland a little over one year later.
The current Waverley took the name of the Dunkirk victim although strictly speaking, she was a relacement for "Marmion"
which was also lost during the war (the Waverley of 1899 having already
been withdrawn from the fleet, with no plans in place for her to be
replaced). The name disappeared from the Bristol Channel and South
Coast ................ until it was seen once again in what have now
become regular visits by the Clyde's Waverley.
A remarkable survivor : Waverley passes the Gantocks rocks off Dunoon on 28th June 2011
in a photo kindly supplied by Kenny Whyte. Almost 34 years earlier
Waverley grounded on these rocks in an incident which brought an
end to the third season of "preservation" and almost brought
an end to the whole project. Even though the ship returned the following
season despite the scepticism of many, very few would have been
confident that Waverley would survive much longer
Above
: With Waverley receiving new boilers in 2020, it should be noted that
this is the third reboilering of her career. Her first boiler was a
single, double-ended, Scotch-type boiler which lasted from 1947 until
the end of the 1980 season. It has been preserved at the Scottish
Maritime Museum at Irvine. It is seen, above, in 2019
There are many books about Waverley
- here is a range of the most important
Waverley Steam Navigation Company
Compilers - Alistair Deayton and Iain Quinn
Published 2014 by Amberley Publishing ISBN - 978-14456-4155-3 The
definitive detailed history of Waverley Steam Navigation Company from
1974 until 2000 with sections written by many of the main players
involved in the ship's remarkable survival Waverley - the Golden
Jubilee
Various Contributors
Published 1997 by Waverley Excursions Ltd and Allan T Condie
Publications
ISBN 1-85638-025-4 (Hardback) or 1-85638-026-2 (Softback)
The definitive and copiously illustrated history, by those
involved in the ship's operation and
preservation giving a personal assessment of many of the aspects of her operation Waverley -
the Golden Jubilee (see above) builds on the long-running
Waverley-The Story of the World's Last
Sea-Going Paddler, complied by Fraser
McHaffie, later assisted by Joe McKendrick and Leslie Brown, first
issued in 1976 and reissued with updated text and new photographs up
to and including a 7th edition in June 1994 (IBSN 0-9505177-7-1).
P.S. Waverley - Last
in the World
Richard H. Coton
Published in 1973 by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society
Issued by the PSPS shortly before the announcement of Waverley's
"official" withdrawal from serviceBirth of
a Legend
Compiled by Eric Armstrong, Leslie Brown, Joe McKendrick and Clem
Robb
Published in 1987 by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society
(Scottish Branch)
ISBN 0-9505177-4-7
Extensive photo coverage of the construction, launch , fitting out
and first season of
Waverley
Waverley - A Legend Reborn Compiled
by Stuart cameron and Joe McKendrick Published in 2000 by Waverley Excursions
Ltd ISBN 0 9505177 8 X Full colour photographs with extensive captions
charting the first phase of the "Heritage Rebuild"
Reboilering a National Treasure : The Illustrated Story of Paddle Steamer Waverley's 2020 Boiler Refit Published by Waverley Excursions Ltd in 2021 ISBN 978-1-9168752-0-3 The definitive highly detailed and copiously illustrated story of the refit as described by the ship's operators themselves.
Acknowledgements :
All text by Gordon Stewart. All photos by Gordon Stewart unless
otherwise acknowledged. Please do not use photos without permission
Above : A sight that most people thought would never happen.
Paddle steamer Waverley opens its short pre-summer season on May 27th, 2016 and steams close by
James Watt Dock before calling at Custom House Quay, Greenock. Kenny
Whyte was able to capture the two last Clyde steamers almost reunited
once again following the recent return under tow of TS Queen Mary
to the Clyde. Waverley's former fleet-mate, withdrawn in 1977 and laid-up in Greenock until 1981, will be
used as a static attraction in Glasgow after being refurbished.
