CROSSING THE RIVER ON A CLYDE FERRY
Readers recall journeys over to Govan
FOR many Times Past readers, one of the most exciting things to do growing up in Glasgow was to take a trip on a Clyde ferry. Ian Hutcheson got in touch to share his evocative memories.
“An everyday experience for adults can seem like an adventure to a child,” he tells us. “Taking a trip on one of the Clyde ferries was a fantastic thing to do.
“We are not talking here about travelling to resorts like Arran or Dunoon, but the short crossing to Govan...”
Ian’s grandmother would often take him on the Govan ferry to visit her friend who lived on the south side.
“For her it was a social call, but for me it was more like going on an expedition,” he smiles.
“To get across the river you could take the ‘big’ ferry or the ‘wee’ one. The big one did not really look like a ferry, or indeed any kind of boat, but more like a giant floating tea trolley, as it proceeded in slow and stately fashion over to Govan.
“It had two levels (or shelves), the lower sat on the water, the higher held the cars and lorries.”
Ian adds: “From official notices giving warnings on procedures to be followed on boarding, I saw that it was officially the ‘vehicular’ ferry.
“That was just about the oddest word I had come across. How would you pronounce it? I heard people say, ‘vee – HIC -u-lar’; as if there was a hiccup in the middle of the word.”
Although the “big” ferry was a spectacular adventure, being so high above the water, the wee ferry was much more exciting, recalls Ian, because it was “a little scary”.
“From the riverside you had to descend a steep, dark stairway to the ferry moored at the foot of the narrow dock – a final step and you were on the deck,” he says.
“You then had the choice of huddling under the canopy in the central section warmed by the heat from the engine or, as I was eager to do, go through to the front so that I could see Govan getting closer and closer as the ferry chugged its way across the river.”
He adds: “Govan was a busy place.
“On landing, you seemed to find yourself in the middle of a shipyard as you could pass almost underneath the bow of a ship under construction, while cranes loomed threateningly overhead.”
Glasgow had several river crossings, and Ian remembers getting the opportunity to continue his adventures with a trip on the city’s famous Renfrew ferry.
“This operated on a chain link system,” he explains.
“Two parallel chains stretched across the river from Yoker to Renfrew and, passing through the sides of the hull of the vessel, enabled it to haul itself from bank to bank by winding the chains in, or as I imagined, by eating them up.
“Like Govan, Renfrew was a busy place particularly when the shipyard closed for the day and the men poured out the gate and down the road to board the ferry.
“They streamed between the cars on the deck and gathered impatiently behind the gate at the front.
“When the ramp clanged down on to the surface of the slipway on the Yoker side and the gate swung open, the men were released and charged up the slope to the main road.”
Ian laughs, adding: “It was like
a re-enactment of the Normandy landings.”
Our archives have lots of great pictures of the old Clyde ferries, including some of the Finnieston Ferry and ferryman W Gilchrist, shining his searchlight to guide the boat across the Clyde in 1954.
“The ferries at Whiteinch, Partick and Finnieston became redundant after the building of the Kingston Bridge and the Clyde Tunnel,” adds Ian.
“These are much valued parts of Glasgow’s transport infrastructure, of course, but I doubt if they spark a child’s imagination in the same way.”
Did you take a trip on any of the Clyde Ferries?
Share your memories and photos with Times Past by getting in touch – ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes. co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.