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Lot Essay
The iron paddle-steamer Gareloch was built by Henry Murray & Co. at Port Glasgow for the North British [Railway] Steam Packet Company in 1872. Intended for the picturesque run down the Gare Loch, first from Helensburgh and later from Craigendoran, she was registered at 172 tons gross and measured 180 feet in length with an 18 foot beam. Powered by a 2-cylinder oscillating engine by Rowans of Glasgow fired from a 40lb. haystack boiler, she boasted a charming little raised quarter-deck and had capacity for 600 passengers. Her performance on her trials in May 1872 delighted both her owners and her builders and, within her limits, she proved a remarkably successful addition to the Clyde's rapidly expanding pleasure fleet. After almost twenty years on her original route, she was transferred to the Firth of Forth in June 1891 in order to join the fleet of the Galloway Saloon Steam Packet Co., a subsidiary of the North British Railway, and renamed Wemyss Castle. Employed on sailings between Leith and the ports of Fife, she maintained this service until withdrawn and broken up in 1906.