'Granton to Burntisland'
The iron hulled paddle
steamer "William Muir" was built at the yard of
J. Key & Son, Kinghorn, 1879, for North British Railway to provide
a passenger service across the Firth of
Forth from Granton Harbour to Burntisland in Fife.
The ferry service was
operated by "William Muir" and "John Sterling".
These were named after the Chairman and a senior director of the
North British Railway. Each of these ferries could carry 950
passengers - and a number of horses!
The vessel was completely
refurbished in 1910. It was given a new engine and boilers and
funnels being removed and replaced by a single larger funnel.
It was, requisitioned by the Admiralty for minesweeping duties in
1917 at Sheerness, until released from service 1919. Her
then Master, Captain Clark remained with the ship during her war
The North British Railway
Company was taken over in 1927 by the London & North Eastern
Railway. "William Muir" served continuously
until withdrawn from service in 1937.
"William Muir" was quietly
towed to the ship breakers yard at Charlestown-on-Forth, after
having travelled over 800,000 miles during her 58 years in
'William Muir' Deckhouse
When "William Muir" was broken up, her deckhouse was
preserved and was built into the clubhouse of the sailing club at
Brucehaven, near Limekilns.**.
A newspaper report in 1937 gave an account of the "William
Muir" shortly before it came to the end of its 58 years'
service. Here is an extract from the report:
"One of the heaviest traffics with
which the "William Muir" has been associated was the transport
from Granton to Burntisland of Lord George Sanger's Circus and
Menagerie one night in 1889, when she and her sister ship, "John
Stirling", shipped over 500 horses, camels, dromedaries, elephants
and other animals and 50 caravans.
Embarkation began at 10 o'clock and by
4 o'clock the next morning, the whole of this vast consignment
was safely landed at the other side.
Some difficulty was experienced in the
loading of the large caravans, and the services of 'Jumbo', the
largest elephant, were enlisted more than once to move these
vehicles across the pier."
This report was found in the Press Cuttings
at Kirkcaldy Library [PC 3866].
The report was written in 1937, but the date and title
of the paper is not recorded.
The 'William Muir'
operated on the ferry service for the last time on 3 March 1937.
was replaced by 'The Snowdrop', built in 1910, which
had previously served between Liverpool and New Brighton.
When it came to the Firth of
Forth, it was given a new name: 'Thane of Fife'" -
the same name as one of the ferries built for the
Granton-Burntisland ferry in 1847 and transferred to
Queensferry in the 1850s.
Here is a photo of 'William Muir' and 'Thane of Fife'
taken at Granton Harbour on 3 March 1937. The following day,
'William Muir' was taken to the shipbreakers' yard at
Charlestown in Fife.
Here is the first of three
verses in a poem by Nan I D MacDonald's:
'The William Muir'
"For nearly three-score years she
And oftentimes her prow and
to our mirth,
The wind and waves have scarred
And made her insecure,
And soon the `breakers` yard
sturdy William Muir."
acknowledgement to Walter Lyle Hume for his research and providing
the "William Muir" details above]
Thank you to Janet
White who wrote:
Names of Ferries
"I am great-great-granddaughter of
William Muir (born Altona, Germany, 1801; died Edinburgh,
He was owner of the distillery called
'William Muir, Bond 9', in Leith, now owned by Whyte & Mackay
- He was Vice-Consul for
(I have a picture of a painting of him.)
owned many North British Railway shares.
I believe that the Granton-Burntisland
ferry was owned by the railway, and and that the railway named one
of its ferries, 'William Muir', after one of its larger stock
"Another ship, the 'Janet Cowan' was
named after William Muir's mother."
Janet White: July 5, 2010
Today, I contacted one of the members of
The Forth Cruising Club, the club that's based at Buckhaven
I had hoped that it would be possible for
me to visit their clubhouse and take some photos of the 'William
Unfortunately, I learnt that the club's
old clubhouse was demolished some time before 1998.
I was not able to discover whether or
not the 'William Muir'
deckhouse has survived, or where it is now if it has survived.
Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: June 8, 2012
William Muir Deckhouse
Perhaps the deckhouse of the William
Muir has not been lost after all. I spoke to John Stevenson,
ship researcher, Trinity Edinburgh this week. He told me
that he heard of somebody who has seen the deckhouse within the
last couple of years. I'll try to discover more about it,
and will add what I find to this page.
Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: July 4, 2013