Looking downstream on the right bank, an obelisk erected in 1838, is the Monument to Henry Bell who designed the paddle-steamer Comet.
Launched at Port Glasgow in 1812, it provided the first regular
steamship service on the Clyde.
Engineer Henry Bell
A contemporary said of Henry Bell, 'His mind was a chaos of
extraordinary projects, the most of which, from his want of
accurate scientific calculation, he never could carry into
practice.' He was certainly something of a visionary and a jack of
all trades; he spent time as a stone mason, millwright, carpenter,
ship modeller and engineer, latterly working in Glasgow. He
became fascinated by the then experimental technology and potential
of steam propelled ships. He corresponded with and may have
assisted the American steamship pioneer Robert Fulton who, in 1807,
introduced a steamboat service in New York. However, Bell failed to
persuade the Admiralty to take any interest in his ideas about
steam propulsion. While continuing to experiment and
speculate, he and his wife moved in 1807 to Helensburgh where they
ran an inn and superintended the public baths.
In 1811, Bell commissioned a Port Glasgow shipbuilder to build a
30-ton wooden paddle steamer with a 3hp engine. He named her Comet
after a spectacular comet that had appeared the previous year. In
August 1812, after a trial voyage from Port Glasgow to the
Broomielaw and then back down to Greenock, during which the boat
made 5 knots against a headwind and dramatically cut the usual
journey time, Bell inaugurated a regular passenger service
between Glasgow, Greenock and Helensburgh. No longer did
ferries need to be so dependent upon wind and tide. This was the
first commercial steam passenger service in Europe.
Lengthened and improved, the Comet then ran a service to Oban
and Fort William via the Crinan Canal, but in 1820 she was
shipwrecked off Oban. A successor Comet sank after a collision with
considerable loss of life. Bell's pioneering venture was soon
superseded technically and eclipsed by rivals but he had shown the
way.
Bell was not a successful businessman and ended his days in
poverty, dependent upon a public subscription on his behalf,
supported by Thomas Telford among others, and an annual stipend
from the trustees of the Clyde Navigation. The Monument was
erected in 1838 on the initiative of James Lumsden, later Lord
Provost of Glasgow, who had been on the Comet's maiden voyage. It
stands in the grounds of Dunglass Castle (ruin). A further obelisk
monument was erected on the seafront at Helensburgh in 1872.
A full size replica of the Comet, constructed for 150th
anniversary in 1962 by shipyard apprentices, is installed at Port
Glasgow. The original engine was salvaged and is now in the Science
Museum, London. The salvaged engine from the second, ill-fated
Comet, can be seen at the Riverside Museum.
Also at Old Kilpatrick and Bowling (Back to
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