Ardrossan - On This Day In History

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
31 DECEMBER 1902

LAUNCH AT ARDROSSAN

The steel screw steamer DOUGLAS was launched by Ardrossan Shipbuilding Company yesterday.

The vessel is of the raised quarterdeck type and was built for Messrs D. & J. Nicol, Dundee.

Dimensions:- 115 feet in length; breadth, 22 feet; and moulded depth, 8 feet 6 inches.

The DOUGLAS is constructed to carry 240 tons on a light draft, and she will be supplied with engines by Messrs Menzies & Company, of Leith.


[Further details of this vessel are contained in the following link:-

https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?y ... el=DOUGLAS

[Penny Tray]

LAUNCH AT ARDROSSAN
1 JANUARY 1861

THE MOLLY BAWN

The wooden sailing brig MOLLY BAWN – 89 feet in length, 20 feet in breadth, and 12 feet in depth – built by Barr and Shearer, Ardrossan, for James Crum and Allan Graham, was launched on the above date.

[Further details of this vessel are contained in the following link:-

https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?y ... MOLLY+BAWN

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
1 JANUARY 1890

ARDROSSAN - INDEPENDENT CHURCH

The annual Christmas soiree in connection with the church came off on Monday night, when the church was crowded to overflowing.

The choir rendered a Christmas carol in good style. A dialogue given by five of the girls, beautifully dressed as Mother Sunbeam, Dewdrop, etc., was highly appreciated. Mr Holmes, Beith, contributed two solos, the other soloists being Misses Cross, Craig, and Douglas, and Mr Steven and Miss Jeanie Wylie gave a fine recitation.

The soiree was a great success.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
2 JANUARY 1867

MARRIAGE

At 98 Glasgow Street, Ardrossan, on 31st ultimo by the Rev. J. D. McCall, Mr ANDREW BENNETT, commercial traveller, to MARY, daughter of the late Captain ARCHIBALD CURRIE.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
2 JANUARY 1913

ARDROSSAN DOCK STRIKE

Prospects of an early settlement of the Ardrossan dock strike are now considerably brighter.

The directors are to confer with the men’s representatives at Kilmarnock today, and it is generally expected that terms of settlement will be agreed upon.

The strike has now lasted 10 weeks.

[Penny Tray]

VESSEL TORPEDOED
3 JANUARY 1943

The steel screw steamer BARON DECHMONT, built by Ardrossan Dockyard Limited for the Hogarth Shipping Company Limited and launched on the 18th of October 1929, while on a voyage from Milford Haven to Pernambuco, Brazil, was torpedoed by U-Boat 507.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
3 JANUARY 1968

M.V. LION’S ARDROSSAN-BELFAST MAIDEN VOYAGE

The latest ‘motorway’ between Scotland and Ireland opens today when the new Burns and Laird Lines drive-through passenger and vehicle ferry LION sails from Ardrossan on her maiden voyage to Belfast.

The decision to operate this new service from Ardrossan instead of from Glasgow, was taken by the company on the basis of the much shorter and quicker sea crossing it would provide.

As Mr N. C. B. Wright, general manager of Burns and Laird Lines, has pointed out, this was the shortest and quickest combined land and sea route between Glasgow and Belfast, and, while the normal service would be one return crossing each day, they would be able to make two round trips a day during the season of peak demand in the summer.

Formerly Burns and Laird Lines operated a nightly service from Glasgow, the crossing taking nine hours, but by the LION, operating from Ardrossan, this time will be halved, and as the distance from Glasgow to Ardrossan is less than 30 miles it will be much more convenient when travelling either by car or rail. In the latter case, passengers travelling from Glasgow Central will find themselves under cover from the time they enter the station until they disembark at Belfast.

The sailing time on the crossing is only four-and-a-half hours and the LION leaves Ardrossan at 10 a.m. each morning, arriving at Belfast at 2.15 p.m.

On the return trip she leaves Belfast at 4.30 p.m. getting to Ardrossan at 8.45 p.m. in time for train connections to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, or Stirling the same night. To Carlisle and the south is equally easy with the proximity of Ardrossan to the main A74 route.

The LION, of course, is particularly suitable for the carriage of freight on trailers, lorries, containers, and other unit loads, including refrigerated vans for which there are special power points. Loads which have to be lifted off trailers at the quayside will go on to “slave” trailers and be driven on to the ship so that all freight is on wheels. Tractor units are available for the movement of loaded trailers into and out of the LION.

The “drive-through” feature of the LION – there is access through both the bow and the stern – means that the ship can load and unload it full cargo of vehicles in about 20 minutes, the same time as the previous vessel on the Glasgow-Belfast route, the SCOTTISH COAST, took to move a sixth of the number.

A one-class ship, the LION has a one-fare structure, 36s for the single voyage and 72s for the round trip, while for vehicles the charges range from £4 10s for a car not exceeding 11 feet up to £11 for a car not exceeding 15 feet in length. Where four adult fare-paying passengers are accompanying a vehicle the driver travels free.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
4 JANUARY 1879

ARDROSSAN PAROCHIAL BOARD

The monthly meeting of this board was held in the Saltcoats Town Hall on Thursday evening – Mr James Fullarton, chairman of the board, presiding.

The Inspector reported that upwards of 100 tons of coal had been distributed among the poor of Ardrossan and Saltcoats, and that an additional 40 tons for the poor of Saltcoats had been given by two gentlemen.

The Collector reported that he had collected and lodged in the bank £2500 of the current year’s assessment. The collection was as well paid-up as in former years, notwithstanding the dullness of the times.

The chairman stated that the total amount in the bank at the credit of the Board amounted to £3,102, the reason of such a large sum being that Cunningham Combination Poorhouse had not yet applied for payment of £1,644 due in May last.

The Inspector was instructed to pay £300 to the treasurer of the School Board that being the amount collected up to date.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
5 JANAUARY 1857

LAUNCHES AT ARDROSSAN

On New Year’s Day two beautiful vessels were launched from the building yard of Messrs Barr & Shearer – one named the JANE SPIERS, a barque of 350 tons, the property of James Spiers, Esquire, Glasgow, and intended for the West India trade; the other named the MARY HAMILTON, a three-masted schooner of 300 tons, the property of Messrs Lauchlan & Brown, Glasgow, and intended for the African trade.

[Further details of the JANE SPIERS are contained in the following link:-

https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?y ... ANE+SPIERS

[Further details of the MARY HAMILTON are contained in the following link:-

https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?y ... Y+HAMILTON

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
5 JANUARY 1877

BODY FOUND

Yesterday morning the body of a woman, who appeared to be about 50 years of age, was found near the Inches at Ardrossan, within the water mark. The face was very much decomposed, and the body had evidently been some time in the water.

The body has been examined by a medical man, but there are no marks of violence perceptible.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
4 JANUARY 1930

OBITUARY

Mr. James Cook, whose death took place late on Thursday night at Ardrossan was well known in shipping circles in Glasgow and Ayrshire.

He was marine superintendent of Messrs Harper and Son, Carlton Place, Glasgow, with which firm he had been associated for 40 years.

GLASGOW HERALD
6 JANUARY 1930

DEATH

COOK: At Glasgow Street, Ardrossan, on 3rd January, 1930, JAMES COOK, marine superintendent, Robert Harper & Son, Carlton Place, Glasgow. Funeral today (Monday at 2.30 p.m.).

[Penny Tray]

VESSEL WRECKED
6 JANUARY 1957

THE VAILA

The naval trawler VAILA, previously called the ACACIA, built by Ardrossan Dockyard Limited for the Admiralty, London, and launched on the 7th of March, 1940, was wrecked at Loch Shell, Lewis, with the loss of five lives.