As the PS Comet (the first paddle steamer) came towards Bute in 1812, folk flocked to the shore to see. As it pulled into Rothesay, the locals ran up Barone Hill in fear, thinking it a ship sent from hell by the deil himsel as they’d never seen its like before.
The first iron vessel to “sail” on the Firth of Clyde was a soap boiler ordered by an Ayr man named Bonaparte in 1813. It wouldn’t fit down the vennel off High Street to his shop (where Poundland is now), so took a bet to “sail” it up the R. Ayr from the Clyde.
