Paddle Steamers At War

The declaration of a state of war on 4 August 1914 had little immediate effect on the Clyde and the river traffic. The construction of warships had been a feature of the shipyards for the previous six or seven years as Britain built up its fleet of Dreadnought battleships, but for the steamships that served the summer resorts, there was little impact until the following spring. In early February 1915, a number of Clyde steamers were taken by the Government to transport troops across the English Channel. Among them were the large paddle steamers Duchess of Hamilton, Duchess of Montrose, and Glen Sannox, and the turbine steamers, Duchess of Argyll, Queen Alexandra and King Edward.

Often armed with just one gun and vulnerable to enemy fire and the weather, these paddle steamers built at John Brown’s in Clydebank, Fairfield’s in Govan, Harland and Wolff in Glasgow and Denny’s in Dumbarton, exchanged their regular livery for Admiralty grey as they became troop carriers, hospital ships or mine clearing vessels.

Over the course of the war, the steamers would transport thousands of troops as part of the war effort. The Duchess of Argyll was one of the busiest vessels, making 655 trips and carrying 326,608 men to war.

Artist’s Response

The image was chosen as it showed a sailor before the maiden voyage of the paddle steamer which made me think of what happened during the voyage. The paddle steamers amongst a gathering of Dreadnought battleships escorting troops across the Channel. Thick black smoke engulfing the route, chaperoned by ‘fighter ships’ during a period of great anguish, carrying bravery and fear on and below deck. Waves crashing, loud noises, wind whistling and reduced vision, sailed the fleet of war ships across the almost 21-mile body of water.

I used a background colour fading from red through orange to yellow portraying a fascinating sunset representing the fascination had by the sailor before his journey to hell. On top of this, I printed the image in an extremely dark blue to resemble the night sky and the atrocities that occurred on the voyage.

Robert Grouchy
City of Glasgow College
Facebook: RobertGroucheyArt

Robert Grouchey is in his second year at City of Glasgow College studying Contemporary Art Practice. He studied Paddle Steamers at War for this exhibit. As a contemporary artist, Robert’s methods vary from fine line and sculpture to abstract paintings, environmental works and textile design amongst others. Likewise, he is inspired by numerous contemporary artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Anthony Gormley to name a few. Robert’s creations involve decision making until he can decide on a final outcome.

In previous years Robert created print based works using lino-cutting which he found to be entirely different from using wood cut. Robert found that wood cutting to create prints was more appealing and easier to glide tools through and found that he could grow fonder of using this type of style in future works. The studio itself was a new experience for Robert as he had never worked within a professional studio before so he found it to be inspiring.