Henry Bell and Comet

ONE of the highlights of the bicentenary celebrations in Helensburgh was the Henry Bell and the Comet Exhibition, lovingly compiled in 2002 by Bell enthusiast Doris A.Gentles, BA, and revived and augmented for this occasion.

It was in the exhibition area upstairs at Helensburgh Library in West King Street from August to October, and also on display were a number of relevant works of art lent by the local Anderson Trust Collection.

HELENSBURGH may soon have its own Comet Gate.

It has been designed by Helensburgh Modellers Club, who had hoped it might be placed on the pier where there was formerly a stone arch.

THE COMET SONG

 by Alan Reid

THE SAGA OF HENRY BELL

First Provost of Helensburgh and Inventor of the Steamship

"This Is Your Life" used to be one of the most popular programmes on television, featuring well-known personalities.

The programme was revived in Helensburgh on Thursday August 23, but with two major differences: firstly, it took the form of a play rather than a TV programme; and secondly, the subjects of the play had been dead for many years . . .

HELENSBURGH was not the only place where the bicentenary of Henry Bell’s Comet was remembered on Saturday August 4 — a toast was proposed in Sweden.

As he had done 50 years earlier, retired naval architect Gerhard Schack raised a glass in tribute to the man who pioneered commercial steamships.

AUTHORS Iain Quinn and Alistair Deayton signed copies of their new book '200 Years of Clyde Paddle Steamers' — which started with Henry Bell's Comet — aboard the paddle steamer Waverley on Friday August 10 2012 on a trip from Glasgow to Rothesay.

WEREN'T we lucky with the weather!

The weather forecasts in the days running up to the Comet Bicentenary celebrations in Helensburgh were for a strong risk of thundery showers — and the forecasts were right.

WHAT is known about Henry Bell the man, rather than the steamship pioneer?

Henry was Helensburgh’s first Provost and builder and proprietor of the Baths, later Queen’s, Hotel on the east seafront, close to the original pier where the Comet berthed.

A REINCARNATION of the early 19th century pioneer of steam navigation, Mr Henry Bell, returned to Helensburgh on Saturday August 4 2012 to assist with bicentenary celebrations of the commissioning of his revolutionary Comet, the world’s first commercially successful sea-going paddle steamer.

Before Mr Bell went on to welcome the arrival at Helensburgh pier of the world’s last sea going paddle steamer Waverley, he attended a gathering on the town’s promenade where he unveiled a new panel featuring information about the town including references to himself and his ground breaking invention.

A VERY interesting article on Henry Bell and the Comet was published in the Guardian on Saturday July 28 2012.

Ian Jack writes that thanks to Bell's efforts, the Comet was recognised as the first commercially successful steamship in Europe, enabling Bell to claim his title as the father of steam navigation, and thus a leading figure among the Britons, and particularly Scotsmen, who shaped the modern world.

A SOUVENIR of the Comet centenary celebrations turned up in Aberdeen in the summer of 2012, the bicentenary year.

Robert Campbell got in touch with Helensburgh Heritage Trust chairman Stewart Noble to say that he had a medal celebrating the Comet and Henry Bell Centenary, and he asked if there were any plans to produce a bicentenary medal.