Old Photograph Fairy Queen Steamer Loch Eck Scotland

Old photograph of the Fairy Queen Steamer on Loch Eck, North of Dunoon, Scotland. It was in 1878 that the small propellor driven coal fired steamer Fairy Queen appeared on Loch Eck. She was built by the shipbuilders T B Seath and Company of Rutherglen, just south east of Glasgow. After construction, the iron steamer was dismantled at her builders yard, transported in sections to Cowal and then reassembled on the shores of Loch Eck. The dimensions of the diminutive but attractive looking ship were 70 feet in length with a breadth of 12 feet and her tonnage was 33 tons. She was lengthened in 1881 to be 79.5 feet and this increased her tonnage to 43 tons. The Fairy Queen gave the appearance of a private yacht. She had two passenger decks. The exposed promenade deck and the main deck which provided passengers with covered accommodation in bad weather. She sported one small funnel painted red and black with two white and one black rings, the colours of the Glasgow and Inveraray Steam Packet Company. She carried no masts. The Fairy Queen was owned and operated by the Glasgow and Inveraray Steam Packet Company and sailed from Inverchapel, at the southern end of the loch, to just south of Glenbranter at the northern end of the loch. The excursion typically involved travelling by steam train from Glasgow Saint Enoch station early in the morning to piers at Greenock or Gourock then onward by steamer to Dunoon where passengers were met by a utilitarian horse-drawn coach. This would transport the excursionists the 7 mile [12km] road trip to Inverchapel. Passengers would then board the Fairy Queen for the leisurely sailing to the northern end of the loch, near Glenbranter. The powan is a kind of freshwater whitefish endemic to two lochs in Scotland, Loch Lomond and Loch Eck, though it has been successfully introduced in two other sites, Loch Sloy and the Carron Valley Reservoir.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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