The Caledonian Steam Packet Company provided a scheduled shipping service, carrying freight and passengers, on the west coast of Scotland. Formed in 1889 to complement the services of the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

, the company expanded by taking over rival ferry companies. In 1973, they were merged with MacBraynes as

Caledonian MacBrayne Caledonian MacBrayne ( gd, Caledonian Mac a' Bhriuthainn), usually shortened to CalMac, is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries, and ferry services, between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west ...

Formation

Rival railway companies, the

(CR), the

North British Railway The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

(NBR) and the

Glasgow and South Western Railway The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was a railway company in Scotland. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle. It was formed on 28 October 1850 by the merger of two earlier railways ...

(GSWR) at first used the services of various early private operators of

Clyde steamer The Clyde steamer is the collective term for several passenger services that existed on the River Clyde in Scotland, running from Glasgow downstream to Rothesay and other towns, a journey known as going ''doon the watter''. The era of the C ...

s. The CR failed to attract private ship owners to their new extension from Greenock to the fishing village of

Gourock Gourock ( ; gd, Guireag ) is a town in the Inverclyde council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its main function today is as a ...

. They had purchased the harbour at Gourock, which had advantages of a faster line from Glasgow, bypassing the

Prince's Pier at

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowland ...

, and being closer to the Clyde resorts. The CR began operating steamers on its own account in 1889. The Caledonian Steam Packet Company (CSP) was formed as a packet company in May 1889, with Captain James Williamson as secretary and manager. Nominally an independent company, they bought the ships needed to operate steamer services to and from Gourock. On withdrawal of the Wemyss Bay Steamboat Company in 1890, CSP took over services to Rothesay, Largs and Millport. In June 1890, they established a service to Arran from the

Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway The Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway (L&AR) was an independent railway company built to provide the Caledonian Railway with a shorter route for mineral traffic from the coalfields of Lanarkshire to Ardrossan Harbour, in Scotland. It opened in ...

railhead at

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the ' Three Towns'. Ardrossan is located on the east shore ...

. In the years that followed, there was significant investment in piers and ships.

Amalgamations

After years of fierce competition between all the fleets, the CR and GSWR amalgamated with several other railways at the start of 1923 to form the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

(LMS) and their fleets amalgamated into the Caledonian Steam Packet Company, their funnels being painted yellow with a black top. At the same time the NBR (and its shipping fleet) also amalgamated with other railways to create the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

(LNER), which built the in 1947. In 1935, Williamson-Buchanan Steamers was taken over by the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. In 1945, the Caledonian Steam Packet Company took responsibility for the

Kyleakin Kyleakin (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Caol Àcain'') is a village situated on the east coast of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The village is along the strait of Kyle Akin opposite the northwest Scottish mainland town of Kyle of Loch ...

Kyle of Lochalsh Kyle of Lochalsh (from the Gaelic ''Caol Loch Aillse'', "strait of the foaming loch") is a village in the historic county of Ross-shire on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the L ...

ferry. With nationalisation in 1948, the LMS and LNER fleets were amalgamated as Clyde Shipping Services, under the control of the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

. In 1957 a reorganisation restored the Caledonian Steam Packet Company name, and in 1965 a red lion was added to each side of the black-topped yellow funnels. The headquarters remained at Gourock pierhead. At the end of December 1968 management of the Caledonian Steam Packet Company passed to the

Scottish Transport Group The Scottish Bus Group (SBG) was a state-owned group of bus operators covering the whole of mainland Scotland. The origin of the grouping was the operators owned by and including the Scottish Motor Traction company, which were transferred t ...

, which gained control of David MacBrayne's the following June. The MacBrayne service from Gourock to

Ardrishaig Ardrishaig ( gd, Àird Driseig) is a coastal village on Loch Gilp, at the southern (eastern) entrance to the Crinan Canal in Argyll and Bute in the west of Scotland. It lies immediately to the south of Lochgilphead, with the nearest larger to ...

ended on 30 September 1969, leaving the Clyde services entirely to the Caledonian Steam Packet Company.

Merger with MacBraynes

On 1 January 1973 the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. acquired most of the ships and routes of

David MacBrayne Ltd David MacBrayne is a limited company owned by the Scottish Government. Formed in 1851 as the private shipping company David Hutcheson & Co. with three partners, David Hutcheson, Alexander Hutcheson and David MacBrayne, it passed in 1878 to David ...

and commenced joint Clyde and West Highland operations under the new name of

, with a combined headquarters at Gourock.

List of ships operated by the company

Sources

References

{{Authority control Ferry companies of Scotland Packet (sea transport) Shipping companies of Scotland Defunct companies of Scotland Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom Highlands and Islands of Scotland Transport in Argyll and Bute Transport in Highland (council area) Transport in Inverclyde Transport in the Outer Hebrides Transport companies established in 1889 Transport companies disestablished in 1973 1889 establishments in Scotland 1973 disestablishments in Scotland *Steam Packet Company *Steam Packet Company 1973 mergers and acquisitions British companies disestablished in 1973 British companies established in 1889