Clyde steamers and Clyde pilots

[jennyblain]

Does anyone have information on the masters and crew of the early steamers on the Clyde - in particular the Comet and the Elizabeth?

Also on piloting sea-faring ships (such as the St James) up the Clyde, in the first half of the 19th c.

One of my ancestors, George Knaggs, was a pilot on the Clyde.

Jenny

[DavidWW]

Jenny

If you haven't already done so have a good trawl through Hugh Stevely's Marine Data thread, - see http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2457 .

And I'm sure that Hugh would welcome direct contact as well.

Otherwise a richt guid Google is recommended is you haven't already done so.

And then it occurs to me to recommend that you contact The Mitchell (see contact details under the Libraries tab on the home page here).

David

[jennyblain]

The online websites that I've found (which are I think indexed by Hugh there) tend to not have details of the early vessels... indeed I haven't found anything about the Elizabeth at all, other than the mention of the name on main Clyde Steamers website. But I will admit I haven't been through all the 14 (or is it now 15?) pages of Hugh's information. Wish there was an easy way to search!

Oh, the google was done a long time ago (and repeated)! But not much doing - well, not much that actually helps...


Jenny

[Hugh Stevely]

Hi David and to you Jenny.
If you have seen this info ok -i am still looking.

Not much info but i found- Comet-1812--Comet 1821 and the Elizabeth 1812.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/tramways/Ear ... eamers.htm

Hugh.

[Hugh Stevely]

Hi Jenny have you seen this link before.

PS COMET.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Comet

Hugh.

[jennyblain]

Yes - thanks Hugh. What I'm looking for is more on the work and conditions, and if possible on crew lists. My ggggf George Knaggs was apparently a deckhand on the Comet, then admitted as a pilot on the Clyde (on 28th May 1815) and became master of the Elizabeth, so say family stories. He later brought seagoing ships up the Clyde, one being the St James in 1821 (with cargo from Jamaica). Much later, as a senior pilot, it was he who piloted Victoria and Albert on the Clyde, on their visit to Glasgow in 1849.

Jenny

[Hugh Stevely]

Hi Jenny,
If we see any more info will get back to you good luck with your search.

Hugh.

[jennyblain]

Thanks Hugh!

From my previous post - I'm now wondering (having done a bit more googling tonight) whether the date of 1821 for bringing the St James of 200 tons to the Broomielaw shouldn't be 1831.. after some early dredging of the Clyde and given the building of a 'St James' in 1823! That date I have in email from a distant cousin who's still in Greenock. The piloting of Queen Vicky, though, is told through many family strands. Some say that George Knaggs was called up out of (effectively) retirement to do the piloting, others that he retired soon after this. He died in 1868, aged 86, survived by his third wife!

Look forward to anything more that may emerge. If anybody (Hugh or another) has access to books on Clyde shipping, I'd be interested to know what's useful and if there are any specific mentions.

Should add that shipping remained in the Knaggs family. George's son George apprenticed as a pilot but seems to have not followed through on this. However his son in turn, another George, became a sailmaker and travelled with the ships of the last, or height, of the age of sail - one being, families stories say, the Thermopylae - and latterly worked from a sailmaker's loft in Greenock. His was a long life and he died in the 1930s - my g-grandfather. I have a photo of him, the 'four generations' photograph taken for the Scottish Co-operator with his daughter Margaret, her son William Blain my father, and my eldest brother as a young baby.

Jenny