TIMELINE FOR THE STEAMBOATS BUILT FOR THE FORTH & CLYDE NAVIGATION COMPANY UNDER THE DIRECTION OF LORD DUNDAS
5 June 1800: At a meeting of the board of Governors and Council of the FCNC in London, Lord Dundas produced a model of a boat by Capain Schank to be worked by a steam engine by Mr. Symington [1]
30 June 1800: First invoice issued from Carron Company to the Forth and Clyde Navigation Company for engine parts. [2]
12 March 1801: “The Governor also reported, That the Boat to be worked by a Steam Engine was launched, but the engine was not yet set up in it.” [3]
23 April 1801: Invoice from Carron Company for additional engine parts including a new cylinder, air pump and components for the water wheel. [4]
24 June 1801: Steamboat trial on the river Carron from Carronshore to Grangemouth reported. [5]
30 June 1801: Invoice from Carron Company for more components, including the fitting of the engine on the boat. [6]
December 1801: Steamboat trial with the new engine in which three barges were towed at two and a half miles per hour. [7]
June 1802: Construction of the hull of the Charlotte Dundas was under way at Grangemouth. [8]
18 June 1802: The Committee in Glasgow, chaired by Archibald Spiers, son-in-law of Lord Dundas, concerned about the mounting costs, observed that the steamboat had cost £858/12/1 and would “by no means answer the purpose of tracking vessels” [9]
July 1802: William Symington demonstrated his model steamboat at the Royal Institution, London. [10]
3 July to 7August 1802: Reports from the Surveyor to the Forth and Clyde Navigation Company indicated that a new steamboat was under construction: “When on my survey of Grangemouth these few days I found a vessel in the process of building which had been begun about three weeks ago under the direction of the same person who built the former. He has contracted with one John Allan to build her, who says he understands she is intended for the Canal Company.” [11]
25 August 1802: William Symington had issued accounts to the Canal Company amounting to £168.17.1 [12]
25 August 1802: The committee resolved that no further accounts would be met for the steamboat experiments. [13]
9 November 1802: The Committee resolved that the steamboat be converted to a ballast lighter. [14]
4 January 1803: Penultimate trial of the Charlotte Dundas on the Forth and Clyde Canal. [15]
28 March 1803: The seminal trial on the Forth and Clyde Canal in which the Charlotte Dundas towed two fully laden vessels from Lock Sixteen to Port Dundas in Glasgow. [16]
June 1806: Report of the Committee of Management of the Company of Proprietors of the Forth and Clyde Navigation on the Annual Survey to Grangemouth on 23rd & 24 June 1806: (at Bainsford) “looked at the steam boat lying here and conceive the same with the machinery might be converted into a machine for taking out Banks of mud and Sand at the entry of the canal at both ends and the Chairman of the Committee having mentioned that Lord Dundas is willing the company should make any use of the Boat and Machinery they think proper, ordered, that estimates be procured of the expense of converting it to that use.” [17]
[1] SRO BR. FCN 1/27 Page 159
[2] Carron Company Invoice Book NA GD58/4/19/26 Page 318
[3] SRO BR. FCN 1/27 Page 162
[4] Carron Company Invoice Book NA GD58/4/19/26 Page 430
[5] Caledonian Mercury 27 June 1801
[6] Carron Company Invoice Book NA GD58/4/19/26 Page 468
[7] Young, Thomas, Proceedings of the Royal Institution Volume I 1802, Page 196
[8] SRO BR. FCN 1/48 Pages 106-107
[9] SRO BR. FCN 1/48 Page 15
[10] Young, Thomas, Proceedings of the Royal Institution Volume I 1802, Page 196
[11] SRO BR. FCN 1/48 Pages 106-107
[12] SRO BR. FCN 1/14 Pages 193-195
[13] SRO BR. FCN 1/48 Pages 49-51
[14] SRO BR. FCN 1/48 Page 62
[15] Glasgow Herald 7 January 1803
[16] Edinburgh Advertiser 1 April 1803
[17] SRO BR. FCN 1/14 Page 398