Turbine Steamers Ltd (1901

	Turbine Steamers Ltd

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE THE CLYDE STEAMERS
Trading in 1901 as the Turbine Steamer Syndicate before incorporation the following year, Turbine Steamers Ltd was set up to operate TS King Edward, the world's first commercial turbine steamer. The operating partner was Captain John Williamson, the independent steamboat owner, with risk shared with Charles Parsons & Co, the Newcastle engineering firm which pioneered the marine turbine. Turbine steamers operated alongside the Williamson fleet and obtained titular ownership of a number of older paddlers as well as three other new turbines. King Edward was transferred to Williamson-Buchanan Steamers for the 1927 season onwards. Turbine Steamers Ltd and Williamson-Buchanan Steamers Ltd thus were very closely associated. In 1935 a partnership of the LMS and David MacBrayne Ltd decided to take over Williamson-Buchanan Steamers Ltd and Turbine Steamers Ltd. As a result after the 1935 season, the Williamson-Buchanan Steamers operation passed to the LMS and was absorbed by the Caledonian Steam Packet Company (CSP) as a subsidiary. After the Second World War, Williamson-Buchanan Steamers was fully merged with CSP and so ceased to exist as an independent identity. As a result the King Edward and the Queen Mary transferred to LMS control. But the Turbine Steamers Ltd operation passed to David MacBrayne Ltd and the two remaining vessels registered with Turbine Steamers (King George V and Queen Alexandra) thus passed to David MacBrayne Ltd.