THIS week our columnist Leslie Maxwell looks at how Helensburgh and Rhu schoolkids benefitted from training ships.

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TRAINING SHIPS were a way of life - and a hard one - in the Gareloch from 1869 for 54 years.

But Helensburgh and Rhu benefitted in various ways from the two former sailing ships moored off Kidston Point and the boys who lived on them.

I have published material from various sources telling the story of life in the ships, and recently I came across a different account I had not seen before.

It first appeared in the March 2010 edition of the newsletter of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society, and was written by one of its members, William B.Black.

Editor Sheila Duffy has kindly given permission for me to republish his article here . . .

With the massive expansion of Glasgow in the early 19th century poverty and social deprivation reached horrific levels, in particular the many children living on the streets with no obvious means of support.

Among the more prosperous citizens some considered that it was their moral duty to try to make these children “respectable members of the community.”

This led to the founding of an industrial school in 1847, a day school only up until 1854, then came the Industrial Schools Act in 1866, defining precisely the children to be included and also introducing a licensing system.

Ten years earlier the Royal Navy had introduced training ships to prepare boys for entry into the Service and, following the new Act, Lord Shaftesbury decided that this concept had merit for the Merchant Navy, opening the first civilian training ship Chichester in December 1866.

Others followed and on November 5 1868, John Burns, senior partner in Cunard, hosted a meeting in the Royal Exchange, Glasgow with a similar objective.

This agreed to the foundation of the Clyde Industrial Training Ship Association, with Burns as president and the local MP, Robert Dalglish, was asked to approach the Admiralty for provision of a suitable vessel.

The vessel selected was the obsolete wooden sailing warship Cumberland, which arrived on the Clyde in May 1869.

By September she had been refitted and was berthed midway between Rosneath and Rhu, with a row of houses in Rhu — Cumberland Terrace — being provided for the use of families of staff.

The age range of boys was from eleven to fourteen and, when the ship opened there were 176 aboard of a capacity for 360, sleeping in the lower deck in iron framed beds.

Day started at 0530, 0600 in winter and was broken down into a mixture of school and practical classes. As well as seamanship, boys received instruction in tailoring, shoemaking, bookbinding and brush making, while working with the cook taught basic culinary skills.

Their work day ended at 1630 and, after supper at 1700, they had some recreation time until pipe down at 2130.

As the ship settled into this routine time was allocated within the working day for tuition on reed or brass instruments or, alternately, choral singing.

There was no instructional programme on Saturday, the entire company being involved during the morning in Captain’s Rounds, followed by ‘Clean Ship’. In the afternoon they were taken ashore to play football in a Rhu field.

After two months aboard, subject to good behaviour, boys were permitted a monthly visitor, either friend or family.

Parcels were permitted to be brought but were subject to search when they came aboard. Despite the age of the boys this proved essential as, often, they included tobacco, which was confiscated.

The ship was non-denominational and on Sundays the Captain would hold a religious service, although it is not known if special arrangements were made for Roman Catholic boys.

Soon after Cumberland opened, a small cutter, Racer, was obtained, both to act as an isolation hospital for infectious diseases and provide suitable sailing experience for the boys in the summer.

Another recreational facility was a run ashore at Rosneath and this led to a Royal connection lasting many years.

Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, married the Marquis of Lome in 1871 and from that date was a regular visitor and benefactor to the ship.

With strong local shipping connections, recruitment of leavers into the merchant marine proved steady, with several achieving the rank of master mariner in later years.

Little progress was achieved in this direction with the Royal Navy, despite changes being made to the syllabus several times at their suggestion. This included in 1880 the purchase of the brig Cumbria, permitting older boys to carry out extended cruises as far as the English Channel.

Another was the introduction of arms drill, using Schneider rifles and cutlasses. Most boys were of small stature, so the handling of these heavy weapons proved a sore trial to many over the years.

A further innovation arose from gas being introduced into the ship in 1873, an engineer being employed, who also gave the boys instruction in tinsmith skills.

The Captains of the ship had all been ex-Royal Navy, and the third to arrive in 1887, Commander George Thomas Deverell, became a legend.

A strict disciplinarian, his service had been in small ships and he took a personal pride in building positive relationships with the boys.

Even after boys left he kept up a regular correspondence with many and took great pride in their achievements, relaying them eagerly to those attending the yearly General Meeting.

He remained in command until 1912 and, when World War One broke out, he returned for six months when his replacement was recalled to the Service.

This remarkable service almost faltered within eighteen months of Deverell joining the ship, ironically, due to the actions of disgruntled boys.

During Saturday February 16 1889 there had been a brief scuffle among some boys and, when Deverell could not identify the culprits, he put their entire mess on ‘bread and water’.

The mess complained and Deverell suspended the punishment the next day, but it appears that resentment continued throughout the day.

Around 2.34 George Maddick, the ship’s carpenter, who was officer of the watch, was doing his rounds, when he smelled smoke.

Mainly this was coming from a clothing store in the orlop deck, the lowest one in the ship, and when the hatch was opened, dense smoke billowed out.

The fire alarm was sounded and Deverell hurried out from his cabin aft, unfortunately locking the door with his Newfoundland dog still inside.

Boys manning the fire pumps attempted to contain the blaze but the thick smoke drove them back and, realising that the fire was out of control, Deverell ordered “abandon ship”.

All of the boys and staff aboard, plus Deverell’s family, evacuated safely, although the dog was forgotten and became the only casualty.

The boys were taken initially to Cumbria then on the following day to Rhu School, then to the former House of Refuge in Glasgow.

Investigations soon concentrated on four boys, one of whom had absconded recently, but although one eventually confessed to a minor role, none of the main participants did so. They stood trial for arson on April 15 1889 but the evidence proved flimsy and one was acquitted, while the others were found Not Proven.

Cumberland had burned to the waterline, being broken up on Rosneath beach, and it was not until November 1891 that the boys were able to leave the old House of Refuge and return to a new ship.

She was another wooden warship, originally named Revenge but, unlike her predecessor, she had steam propulsion.

This was removed for her new role, while her name was altered to Empress, an indirect appreciation of the interest of Princess Louise.

The regular routine was resumed with one addition, gymnastics, a fully equipped gymnasium being fitted within the ship.

This did not preclude games ashore, although a new field had to be obtained, immediately to the east of the Ardencaple Inn.

To be continued next week.