PS Comet
First commercial steamboat in Europe
title: "PS Comet" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1812-ships", "clyde-steamers", "paddle-steamers-of-the-united-kingdom", "ships-of-scotland", "tourist-attractions-in-scotland", "1820-in-scotland", "ships-built-on-the-river-clyde", "replica-ships", "maritime-incidents-in-december-1820", "maritime-incidents-in-february-1875"] description: "First commercial steamboat in Europe" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Comet" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary First commercial steamboat in Europe ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox ship"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| section1 | {{Infobox ship/image |
| image | PS Comet replica.jpg |
| image_caption | Replica of PS Comet in Port Glasgow town centre, showing the elongated paddle boxes over the two paddle wheels on each side. |
| section2 | {{Infobox ship/career |
| country | Scotland |
| flag | |
| name | Comet |
| owner | Henry Bell |
| launched | 24 July 1812 |
| maiden_voyage | August 1812 |
| out_of_service | 21 December 1820 |
| fate | Wrecked in strong currents at Craignish Point near Oban. Subsequently rebuilt as a schooner, sank February 1875 |
| section3 | {{Infobox ship/characteristics |
| tonnage | 28 ton |
| length | 45 ft |
| beam | 10 ft |
| propulsion | Steam |
| :: |
|section1={{Infobox ship/image | image = PS Comet replica.jpg | image_caption = Replica of PS Comet in Port Glasgow town centre, showing the elongated paddle boxes over the two paddle wheels on each side.
|section2={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = |country=Scotland |flag= | name = Comet | owner = Henry Bell | operator = | registry = | route = | ordered = | builder = | original_cost = | yard_number = | way_number = | laid_down = | launched = 24 July 1812 | completed = | christened = | acquired = | maiden_voyage = August 1812 | in_service = | out_of_service = 21 December 1820 | identification = | fate = Wrecked in strong currents at Craignish Point near Oban. Subsequently rebuilt as a schooner, sank February 1875 | notes =
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header = | header_caption = | class = | tonnage = 28 ton | displacement = | length = 45 ft | beam = 10 ft | height = | draught = | draft = | depth = | decks = | deck_clearance = | ramps = | ice_class = | sail_plan = | power = | propulsion = Steam | speed = | capacity = | crew = | notes = PS (paddle steamer) Comet was built in 1812 for Henry Bell, a Scottish engineer who with his wife had become proprietor of the Baths Hotel offering sea bathing in Helensburgh. On 15 August 1812, Bell's ship began a passenger service on the River Clyde, connecting Helensburgh to Greenock and Glasgow. This was the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe. Bell obtained the engine from John Robertson of Glasgow, and the ship was built for him by John and Charles Wood of Port Glasgow.
History
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.
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, It had two paddle wheels on each side, driven by a single-cylinder engine rated at 3 to. The engine was made by John Robertson of Glasgow, and the boiler by David Napier, Camlachie, Glasgow (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). 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. 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".
Comet was launched on 24 July 1812 with her trial run on 6 August from Port Glasgow to the Broomielaw in Glasgow, taking three and a half hours for the 20 mi.Some sources have the launching in 1811 and 18 January 1812 for a trial trip The double paddlewheels were found to be unsatisfactory and a pair of single wheels were substituted which increased her speed to almost 7 knots.
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 mi each way:
The subscriber, having at much expense, fitted up a handsome vessel to ply upon the River Clyde from Glasgow, to sail by the power of air, wind, and steam, intends that the vessel shall leave the Broomielaw on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays about mid-day, or such hour thereafter as may answer from the state of the tide, and to leave Greenock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the morning to suit the tide.}}
On 15 August Comet made the first commercial sailing from Glasgow for Bowling, Helensburgh and Greenock, opening the era of the steamboat on the Clyde, and more widely in Britain and Europe. The fare was "four shillings for the best cabin, and three shillings for the second." As the vessel clearly had no cabins in the modern sense it is unclear what this meant. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Engine_of_Comet_(1812_steamboat).jpg" caption="The original engine of ''Comet''"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Flywheel_from_P.S.Comet-geograph.org.uk-_39208.jpg" caption="Flywheel from ''Comet'' on East Esplanade Helensburgh"] ::
The success of this service quickly inspired competition, with services down the Firth of Clyde and the sea lochs to Largs, Rothesay, Campbeltown and Inveraray within four years, and the Comet was outclassed by newer steamers. Bell briefly tried a service on the Firth of Forth.
Famous passengers
- Sir Walter Scott
- James Watt (in 1816, visiting his home town of Greenock in old age) – by this date Bell offered a return trip from Glasgow to Rothesay on the same day which Watt undertook.
Wreck
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/At_the_Science_Museum,_London_2025_100.jpg" caption="Engine at the [[Science Museum, London"] ::
Bell had the Comet lengthened and re-engined, and from September 1819 ran a service to Oban and Fort William (via the Crinan Canal), a trip which took four days. On 15 December 1820 the Comet was wrecked in strong currents at Craignish Point near Oban, with Bell on board. There were no deaths. and is now in The Science Museum in London.
Fate
In 1875, the schooner Ann was driven against a steamship at Greenock, Renfrewshire and sank. The Glasgow Herald reported a piece from the Greenock Telegraph which stated "part of the hull of the Ann was all that was left of Henry Bell's old Comet, the first steam-vessel ever to sail in European waters. Some years ago she was bought up by Smillie, of Glasgow, and Bell's old engine taken out. She was lengthened, made a schooner, and was run on the Larne trade, where she was at great favourite, and was familiarly called the 'Long Ann'. Some time since she was burnt down to the waters edge, but her hull was so good, and she was such a favourite with her owners, that they hauled her into dock and fitted her. The curious thing is, that having been built at Port-Glasgow 63 years ago, and undergoing many vicissitudes, she should, like an old weather-beaten sailor, end her days almost at the threshold of her own home."
''Comet II''
Bell built another vessel, Comet II, but on 21 October 1825 she collided with the steamer Ayr off Kempock Point, Gourock, Scotland.
Comet II sank very quickly, killing 62 of the estimated 80 passengers on board, After the loss of his second ship, Bell abandoned his work on steam navigation.
Replica
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/The_Comet_-geograph.org.uk-_485232.jpg" caption="Replica at Port Glasgow"] ::
A replica of the Comet, situated in Port Glasgow, was built by Lithgows shipyard apprentices in 1962 for the 150th anniversary of the original.
In 2011, just before the original's 200th anniversary, the replica was restored by a partnership of Inverclyde Council, Ferguson Shipbuilders and an organisation called The Trust. The restoration cost £180,000.
A survey and condition report was commissioned by Inverclyde Council and reported back in 2019. The survey found that the wooden hull of the replica is in such bad condition that it is beyond economic repair, and recommended that the machinery be removed and placed in a new hull.
In April 2023, the replica ship was dismantled and the woodwork scrapped by Inverclyde Council. No trace of the replica ship remains at the site.
Notes
References
Bibliography
- Clyde Pleasure Steamers Ian McCrorie, Orr, Pollock & Co. Ltd., Greenock,
References
- (1960). "A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900, Part 1900". Courier Corporation.
- Walker, F.M.. (2010). "Ships & Shipbuilders: Pioneers of Design and Construction". Pen & Sword Books.
- (1924). "Echoes of Old Clyde Padddle-Wheels". Gowans & Gray.
- (1958). "The Birth of the Steamboat". Charles Griffin & Co Ltd.
- (2013). "Directory of Clyde Paddle Steamers". Amberley Publishing.
- [[Robert Chambers (publisher, born 1802). (1864). "[[Chambers Book of Days]]".
- Iain Lundy. (9 May 2006). "The passengers 'precipitated into Eternity' when their steamship sank". The Scotsman.
- (3 August 2004). "Comet engine used in brewery!". Greenock Telegraph Online.
- (25 February 1875). "Gale and Snowstorm". The Herald.
- Gavin Stewart. (2010). "Comet Replica to be Refurbished by Local Shipyard". Paddle Steamer Preservation Society.
- (17 October 2020). "ICONIC Comet Replica Is "Beyond Repair", Expert Finds". Inverclyde Now.
- (4 April 2023). "COMET Replica In Port Glasgow Being Removed". Inverclyde Now.
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