Pure Nostalgia

Last Century

Long ago, my little sister and I had a holiday with our parents and grandparents in Dunoon, Scotland. Grandfather loved things mechanical, steam-driven and related to the sea, so the opportunity to sail aboard the Waverley, a paddle-driven steamship, was as close to heaven as he could get on this earth. He bought tickets lasting a week and we sailed the Clyde with him every day.

From Dunoon, the Waverley set across to Wemyss Bay for more passengers, and the adventure began. We approached the Isle of Arran, a misty blue hillock on the horizon. Gradually, it resolved into a mountain of colour, green bracken on the lower slopes, replaced by yellow gorse and then purple heather over the top backed by the blue sky. At Lochranza, groups of young people disembarked to visit the Youth Hostel. Would I ever be old enough to be considered a youth and leave for an adventure on an island? I hovered between childhood and being a youth, wanting to be considered grown-up.

We sailed on to Campbelltown and then by bus to Machrihanish, where North Atlantic rollers dashed against the rocky shore. Against the wind, the roar of the waves and sea spray like a fog on the land, we held bags of chips in our hands and felt good to be alive.

In the gloaming, we sailed the smooth obsidian-black waters of Loch Fyne with mountains on either side. We had a feeling of space and stillness on the quiet waters. Sheep grazed the hillsides, and white-washed cottages dotted the shore.

Later that year, the Scottish Nationalists removed the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey and took it back to Scotland.

Last Month

Seventy or more years passed, and my sister and I embarked, once more, on the Waverley but in Southampton. On a beautiful sunny day, our cruise took us to Portsmouth, Yarmouth, around the Needles to Freshwater Bay and back.

Waverley was the same as before. The brass plate announcing her launch in 1947 was still there, as were the ribbed wooden seats. Some modern health and safety measures were in place so that passengers could not use the decking above the paddle wheels.

We re-enacted a visit to the engine room, the place Grandfather loved most. The three mighty connecting rods thrust the massive crankshaft, which turned the paddles around 60 times per minute. Designed in 1897, the triple-expansion steam engine was the height of power and efficiency. The con-rods slid swiftly over their oiled guides, and at full power, the Captain was pleased to announce that we were making almost 20 knots down the Solent.

The Solent’s hustle and bustle contrasted with the Scottish Lochs’ stillness. Ships hooted greetings and the crews of sailing ships saluted us while passengers lined the decks of the Isle of Wight ferries to wave our passing. Hovercraft and fast catamarans buzzed by in clouds of spray, and aircraft flew overhead en route to Southampton. The scenery of mountains and lochs of Scotland was replaced by old Napoleonic forts, the tower of Netley Hospital Chapel, Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower, Fawley Refinery and the Needles Lighthouse.

Once around the Needles, the cruise became like Scotland again. There were few ships. The quiet majesty of the chalk cliffs rose above us, brilliant white in the afternoon sunshine. Tiny figures walking on Tennyson Down waved to us. Freshwater Bay nestled cosily in its chine. We broke out our picnic and toasted Grandfather with Prosecco as the Waverley turned for home. On the approach to Southampton, we passed two gigantic cruise liners. At over 140,000 tons, the size of a town, the Brittania and Norwegian Traveller dwarfed our 700 tons. By now, it was dusk, and the sight of these two ships, lit up and moving against the lights of the towns and slipways of the Isle of Wight, was surreal.

Parental Influences

As we drew into a darkened Southampton, I thought of how Grandfather had whetted our curiosity about ships, cars and planes, how they moved and were made. I asked him, one day, how we humans moved. He told me I would have to be very clever to know about that, but he meant that I had to have the curiosity and the opportunity to discover. Thanks to him for sparking my curiosity and my parents for the opportunity, I learned how muscles work and many other things he had no opportunity to study.

For the Tecchies

·         Built in 1947 to replace an earlier Waverley lost at Dunkirk in 1940.

·         Triple expansion steam engine delivering approximately 2000 hp.

·         Displacement of almost 700 tons.

·         Operating speed of 14 knots.

·         Draught 6 ft 3 in. (Nearly 2 metres).

·         Limited manoeuvrability as both paddles are fixed on the same crankshaft.