The Waverley

The weather has been a bit miserable today, but there has been the odd break when the sun and blue sky has appeared.

On Friday the Waverley returned to the Clyde for her summer season. She is not only the last Clyde paddle steamer built, but also the last sea-going paddle steamer operational in the world. She regularly comes into Greenock at the Custom House Quay.

She was built by A. & J. Inglis, on the Clyde for the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) to replace war losses, she was launched on 2 Oct 1946 and berthed in the River Kelvin for fitting out. She moved to her base at Craigendoran for her maiden voyage on 16 June.

The Waverley's main excursion route in the early days was the cruise from Rothesay to Loch Goil and Loch Long where most passengers left the ship at Arrochar, to journey over to Tarbet, rejoining the Waverley at Craigendoran. Her weekend duties took her into Loch Fyne and the Kyles of Bute.

By 1974 the Waverley was sold to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society and refitted for the Waverley Steam Navigation Company and her livery was returned to the LNER colour scheme of red, white and black. In 1975, she re-entered service on the Clyde, sailing at weekends from Glasgow and in mid-week from Ayr. In 1977, she spent a week on excursions from Liverpool and the success of this led to over a month being spent on the South Coast in the following year. In 1981, she was fitted with a new boiler and embarked on her first full season of Round Britain cruising, with the peak summer weeks spent back on the Clyde.