Glasgow and Inverary Steamboat Co., Ltd.

GLASGOW AND INVERARY STEAMBOAT Co., Ld., Glasgow.

    Tourists, holiday-makers, and sightseers have more than ordinary cause to feel thankful for the existence of this spirited and enterprising Steamboat Company. It was formed in the year 1876 for the purpose of placing facilities at the disposal of the public for seeing all that is most enchanting and interesting in the Western Highlands of Scotland, rich as they are not only in their natural sublimity and rare beauty, but in historical associations reaching back as far even as the beginning of the Roman domination of Britain. The Company have opened up all the famous routes, and provide not merely for visiting the places of interest by the swiftest steamers, but have a splendid service of road conveyances between all the principal points : between Oban and Edinburgh, with Glasgow as a centre.

    First a word as to the steamers. The most magnificent of these is the celebrated “Lord of the Isles”, built in 1891 by Messrs. D. & W. Henderson. This is a saloon steamer of the first class, and represents the highest achievement of Clyde shipbuilding in this line. Her length (if we may use the feminine gender in reference to his lordship) is about 250ft. She is built with splendid saloons fore and aft, superbly fitted together with private suites, lavatories, postal and telegraph offices, smoking lounges, bookstalls, and all the best modern appointments. The engines are of the most powerful type, act directly on the paddle shaft, and are equal to a speed of 23 1/2 miles an hour. The “Chancellor”, built in 1880, is on a scale of equal magnificence in appointments and fittings, and can do 20 miles an hour. Next comes the “Edinburgh Castle”, with a speed of 19 miles per hour ; the “Windsor Castle”, also 19 miles per hour ; and the “Fairy Queen”, with Gondola saloons from stem to stern, somewhat less both in size and speed, but a veritable Titania for exquisite get-up. These and a small steam ferry on Loch Fyne make up the fleet of this popular Company, and altogether are the finest in the world. We need hardly say that the offices and working staffs are specially selected.

    Several routes, of course, may be adopted in visiting many of the points of interest in the Western Highlands. But it is very well known that those who love the sea from the shore must fail in obtaining, in this romantic and sea-indented district, anything like an adequate conception of its unsurpassed natural beauties. It is only by sailing up the far-reaching and picturesque lochs that this object can be obtained. The above Company supply this indispensable desideratum. The most westerly route embraces the river and estuary of the Clyde, the charming Kyles of Bute, and then away to the North round Ardlamont Point up the fifty-mile stretch of Loch Fyne, sacred to the humble but esteemed herring, and only a few miles across at the widest point. This magnificent salt water canal is guarded at the extremity by the ancient and most picturesque town of Inverary. From this point three other routes branch out, partly by water and partly by road and rail. The first is a suburban route by St. Catherine’s, Hell’s Glen, Loch Gail, and Loch Long ; the second, a similar and parallel route, by Loch Eck, Holy Loch, and Dunoon ; the third by Tarbet, Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine, and the famous Trossachs, to Edinburgh. The points of interest here are of uncommon interest, immortalised as they are by Sir Walter Scott. The last route is by Loch Awe, no “far cry”, thanks to this energetic Company, and thence to Oban.

    To mention even the points of historical or romantic interest on these routes embracing references to almost every illustrious North Briton from St. Patrick to Sir William Pearce is utterly beyond the limits of our space. The natural scenery we do not speak of, for that can only be described by some wizard of the North, and would soon swallow up all the poor stock of adjectives in our own and two or three other languages. For those who contemplate a short or prolonged stay in this charming country there are the descriptions of the great Bard and many hand-books to point out what is generally necessary. This liberal-minded Company, however, have not been idle, and have issued an official Guide Book, splendidly got up and illustrated, and which can be had from them or from the Oswald Publishing Company, Glasgow. The public have shewn their sense of the obligation they are under to this Company by a splendid patronage, and during the season their boats, crowded with passengers, are the pride of all good Glaswegians. The Glasgow agent is Mr. Malcolm Turner Clark, a gentleman in whom no one can fail to recognise one of the good geniuses of this invaluable and esteemed Company.

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