near the replica of the Comet which was built in Port Glasgow, launched on 24th July 1812, it was shipwrecked near Oban in 1819 without loss of lives.
The Inverclyde coastal trail runs from Finlaystone in the east to Wemyss Bay in the west. I walked part of the trail and saw several of the seats and noticeboards giving information about the area.
The information on the seat
The comet was Europe’s first steam-powered passenger vessel to operate successfully. It served Greenock, Helensbrugh and Glasgow, and began two centuries of Travel by steamer and ferry up, down and across the Clyde.
The Comet
Henry Ball owned a hotel and baths in Helensbrugh. He commissioned the Comet to convey his customers across the Clyde. A ‘best cabin’ cost four shillings (20p today)
Aye, that’ll be right!
A merchant is stranded on an island… and is befriended by a mermaid… who follows him to Port Glasgow after he is rescued… gives him their baby to look after… and appears now and then in the Clyde and sings …they say.
No, that’ll be wrong!
‘Chippy’ McNish from Port Glasgow went on the Antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, who refused to recommend his spirited carpenter for a Polar medal.
‘Chippy’ McNish was a ‘splendid shipwright’ and, at 40, one of the oldest men on Shackleton’s ship Endurance. The picture shows him cutting a shipmate’s hair
