29/05/2026
The 2 artics and Lowloaders have been like passing ships 😂 this week transporting and building this puzzle in port Glasgow transported in 8 pieces and the final load and the last pieces to the puzzle was put together today
Earlier this year, Port Glasgow lost its identity.
The original PS Comet was removed from port Glasgow and this week we’ve been part of putting the history back we’re it belongs and we’ve transported a newly constructed comet back to port Glasgow to replace it with a replica PS Comet
Little bit of history about the PS Comet
Henry Bell had become interested in steam-propelled boats, and to learn from the Charlotte Dundas venture corresponded with Robert Fulton, who got the North River Steamboat (also known as the Clermont) into operation in 1807 as the first commercially successful steamboat.[1]
In the winter of 1811/1812 Bell got John and Charles Wood of John Wood and Company, shipbuilders of Port Glasgow, to build a paddle steamer which was named Comet,[3][4] named after the "Great Comet" of 1811. The 28 ton burthen craft had a deck 43.5 feet (13.3 m) long with a beam of 11.25 feet (3.43 m).[5] It had two paddle wheels on each side, driven by a single-cylinder engine rated at 3 to 4 horsepower (2 to 3 kilowatts).[5] The engine was made by John Robertson of Glasgow, and the boiler by David Napier, Camlachie, Glasgow[3][6] (a story has it that they were evolved from an experimental little steam engine which Bell installed to pump sea water into the Helensburgh Baths)[citation needed]. The funnel was tall and thin, serving as a mast, with a yard, allowing it to support a square sail when there was a following wind.[3][5] A small cabin aft had wooden seats in front of concealed beds and a table. Comet was reported as "brightly painted, having for her figurehead a lady garbed in all the colours of the rainbow".[3]
Comet was launched on 24 July 1812[5] with her trial run on 6 August from Port Glasgow to the Broomielaw in Glasgow, taking three and a half hours for the 20 miles (32 kilometres).[3][5][Note 1] The double paddlewheels were found to be unsatisfactory and a pair of single wheels were substituted which increased her speed to almost 7 knots.[5]
On 15 August 1812, Bell advertised in a local newspaper "The Greenock Advertiser", that the Comet would begin a regular passenger service from that day, a distance of 25 miles (40 kilometres) each way:[7]
Great project to have been apart of well done to all involved