TS Queen Mary

   

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The two funnel Clyde steamer TS Queen Mary, a turbine steamer, joined the Williamson-Buchanan (London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company) fleet in 1932, taking over from the first Clyde turbine steamer, the 1901 TS King Edward on the run from Glasgow down the River and Firth of Clyde to Rothesay, Millport and Arran. After two seasons, Williamson-Buchanan were contacted by the Cunard Company which was getting ready to have its new liner launched by Her Majesty Queen Mary - so Cunard reached agreement with Williamson-Buchanan that the turbine steamer would become TS Queen Mary II, and presented a portrait of Her Majesty to hang in the forward lounge of the Clyde steamer, while their liner became the RMS Queen Mary.

TS Queen Mary II was a roomy and comfortable ship, well suited to the large numbers of passengers on the route, with passenger capacity making up for a modest speed of 19.7 knots on trial. She was a two class ship, with cabin passengers housed forward and the top deck extending aft giving steerage passengers a share of it as well as sheltered space below.

During WW II she worked on maintaining Clyde services while many other steamers became minesweepers or anti-aircraft vessels, then post war 1948 nationalisation of the railways brought the steamers under the Caledonian Steam Packet Company (CSP). As traffic increased in the 1950s the TS Queen Mary II was changed from coal to oil burning, the two funnels were replaced by a single well proportioned funnel and a new mainmast was added so that she now had two masts to meet changed regulations for ship's lights.

In the 1960s a gradual change in holiday habits and a succession of summers with poor weather led to a decline in Clyde sailings. While other ships were retired, the Queen Mary II was refitted and put on cruises from Gourock to Inveraray, Brodick and Campbeltown. The CSP had been gradually merging with the west highland ferry company MacBraynes, and in 1973 the company became Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. After a disappointing first season they decided to reduce their fleet, with the paddle steamer PS Waverley being handed to a preservation society, and its routes taken over by the Queen Mary (which lost the "II" as the Cunard liner had now been retired). Waverley survived and prospered, but with the shift to diesel car ferries and cost pressures the TS Queen Mary retired at the end of 1977 and was laid up in the East India Harbour, Greenock. At some time in the 1980s she was taken south to England, to become a floating restaurant. She is currently moored at Victoria Embankment in London, and is used as a bar and nightclub.

Reference

  • Clyde Pleasure Steamers - Ian McCrorie, Orr, Pollock & Co. Ltd., Greenock, ISBN 1-869850-00-9


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