Clyde coasters

摘要

Clydeside ship builders largely developed the steam coaster, the classic coal-burning cargo carrier that was effectively the heavy lorry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1870s builders such as Swans of Maryhill, John Fullerton and Henry Murray of Paisley took elements of the tiny iron steamers, known as Clyde puffers, and added water ballast tanks, which had been perfected by the screw collier builders of Tyne and Wear. The result was a handy-sized, economical steamer which could effectively compete with sailing ships in carrying low-value bulk cargoes such as coal, ore, grain and timber. But the ships would not have been successful without ship owners willing to finance and operate these small craft, and Glasgow provided numbers of such men. They were ready to exploit healthy local trades in bulk commodities, including coal from mines in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, iron ore and limestone destined for Clyde steel works. Indeed, there were so many such owners that this feature can address only the major players in the tramping sector. Those who specialised in the liner trades, who were eventually subsumed into the Coast Lines group, must await a separate treatment.