Richard M. Orr

The Marchioness of Graham: a Purser's Log: a Diary from a Clyde Steamer in 1957 Richard M. Orr

Carrying commuters, day-trippers and holidaymakers, more than twenty steamers once served more than fifty piers on Scotland's River Clyde. This meticulously recorded Day Book provides an accurate account of the daily highs and lows at the height of the popularity of trips "Doon The Watter". It concentrates on the last season of the Graham, the last coalburner in the fleet, with strong Arran and Ayr connections, before she sailed away to a new life in Greece. Richard Orr attended the High School of Glasgow, then read classics and law at Glasgow University, serving as assistant purser on the River Clyde during eight summer vacations. His love of the River Clyde and its ships never left him, and he organised various educational charters in the later 1970s. In retirement, he maintains his varied interests including ships, travel and hillwalking. He lives with his wife June in the home of his birth in the south side of Glasgow and has two grown up children.