The model ship (shown below in 2006) presented by A D Bryce-Douglas esquire has this week been successfully placed on the steeple of the New Parish Church, Ardrossan. The old stone courses at the top of the steeple were taken down a distance of nine feet, the old rod taken out and a new rod two inches thick by twenty feet long inserted. From the top of the base stone to the deck of the ship is eleven feet and the rod rises seven feet clear of the topmost point of the steeple, the indicators north, south, east and west being midway between that and the ship. The work is being done by Mr John Boyd, mason, Mr Robert Barbour junior, joiner, the steeplejack in this instance being Mr John Mellon, joiner, Vernon Street, Saltcoats who has done several jobs of this sort in Paisley and elsewhere. The ship is four feet eight inches long by eight inches broad of beam, three feet intervening between keel and the truck on main topmast. The hull and rigging are of copper, yards of brass and she is steered by 'double spankers' or main sheets.
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, 7 August 1885
On
the morning of Sabbath 29 March, Mr A D Bryce-Douglas (shown right around 1890
from a photograph by John Fergus of Largs) landed at Ardrossan from the Empress
of Japan, then on her trial trip and after a week of severe suffering died at
Seafield Tower, his residence here on the morning of Sabbath last (4 April 1891).
Need we say a shadow of a great sorrow hung over the community of Ardrossan
all week. It was known that Dr Macdonald was in all but constant attendance,
that Dr Moore, Glasgow, made daily visits, that enquiries by telegraph were
coming from all parts of the country and day by day the first enquiry in the
morning and the last at night was an anxious enquiry as to his condition and
this and this anxiety was not to be wondered at. The parish was proud of the
eminence he had attained as a marine engineer. He was the son of their old parish
minister whose qualities as a preacher and freedom from denominational prejudices
were still remembered. He had purchased Seafield Tower because of old it had
been in the family. The poor he had helped. The New Parish Church had the benefit
of his large-hearted generous contributions for late improvements and hundreds
of young men were indebted to him for situations at Fairfield, at Barrow and
in other parts of the world. All this had endeared him to the community. He
was looked up to because of his genius for unquestionably, he was a mechanical
genius of a high order. He was respected for his great administrative abilities
as a large employer. He was one of the kings of labour and liked for his warm-hearted
kindly deeds, his frank intercourse with gentle and simple and his independent
bearing. When his death became known, there was everywhere in the district an
expression of sincere sorrow. It was felt that Commerce had sustained a great
loss and that the poor and the needy were the poorer and the more helpless because
he had passed away. Nor was this feeling confined to his native parish. All
last week, a like anxiety was felt by all classes at Barrow, by Lord Harrington
and the other noblemen and gentlemen associated with him in the works there
and when the news of his death became known, public testimony was borne to the
respect in which he was held by the display of flags half-mast high on public
buildings, on public works, on shipping and elsewhere. Mr Bryce-Douglas was
born at The Manse, Saltcoats on 3 October 1840 being the youngest son of the
late Reverend John Bryce, parish minister of Ardrossan. He was educated at Irvine
Academy under Dr White, master of the Commercial department and afterwards at
Glasgow High School under Dr Bryce, finishing at the university. Like many another
son of the manse, young Bryce was destined by his parents for the ministry of
the church but his bent lay in another direction and as from his earliest days,
he had a mind and a will of his own. His father wisely gave way and allowed
him to carve out his own path through life. Indeed, if it be true that the boy
is father to the man in the case of those who rise to distinction, it was so
in his. 'Still life' was unknown to him as a boy. His restless energy even then
was conspicuous. When seventeen years of age, he was apprenticed to Mr Robert
Drape, joiner, Ardrossan with whom he remained for two years. He also served
for one year as a mill-wright with Mr Hendry, West Kilbride but not yet had
he found his vocation and at the end of that time, he removed to Glasgow and
entered the engineering establishment of Randolph, Elder and Company then situated
in Centre Street, in the evenings attending classes for the study of mechanics
at the Andersonian University. In Messrs Randolph, Elder and Company's employ,
he found congenial work and throwing himself into it with all the ardour of
his nature, he soon attracted the attention of Mr Randolph, the head of the
firm who predicted for him, even at that early age, a distinguished career but
he was not content to remain for more than a few years in the Centre Street
establishment. He had always been possessed by a spirit of adventure and early
in the sixties he shipped as a passenger in a sailing vessel for Auckland where
he had the promise of taking charge of an important machinery plant. On the
way out, the carpenter died and Mr Bryce was offered and accepted the situation
rendered thus vacant. On arriving in New Zealand, the Maori war had just broken
out and taking the situation in at a glance, he soon found an opportunity of
working his passage with a well-known captain with one of our ocean liners to
the Pacific coast. For about a year, he was in the service of the Peruvian Navy
at the end of which time he was offered and accepted a situation as seagoing
engineer with the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. In the year 1865, he revisited
Scotland and after taking a few months with his friends and taking his examination
for extra first-class engineer, in which he was successful, he returned to Callao
to become assistant engineer of the Pacific Company. This position he occupied
till 1869. In that year, the headquarters of the company were removed from the
island of Tobogo in the Bay of Panama to Callao on the establishment of a line
of steamers to sail direct between Liverpool and Valparaiso and a vacancy taking
place at the same time in the office of the superintending engineer through
the resignation of Mr Jamieson. Mr Bryce received the appointment which he held
for a period of six or seven years. On his way home an incident occurred which
was an index of the character of the man. A small coal-laden vessel had stranded
in the Bay of Panama. He took with him, from Callao, a staff of men and the
necessary appliances with the view of raising her. On arriving in the bay, he
learned that the Tagus, one of the Royal Mail Company's steamers had gone ashore
near Colon. Unable, on account of the heavy sea, to accomplish the work he had
come to do, he crossed the Isthmus with his staff and appliances and successfully
carried out the more difficult of raising the Targus. The other vessel was also
raised in due course, Mr Bryce, not only directing, but taking an active part
of working in the diving bells and repairing the hulls, his fertility of resource
being displayed on occasion by the employment of a locomotive to work the pumps.
For the raising of the steamer, the Pacific Company claimed £30000 as
salvage on the ground that Mr Bryce had used their appliance. This claim Mr
Bryce resisted and raised an action in the Court of Session which proved unsuccessful.
On carrying his case, however, to the House of Lords, his contention was partially
sustained and he received a sum of £6000. Shortly after his return to
this country, Mr Bryce resumed his connection with the firm in which he had
received his early training becoming head of the engineering department at the
Fairfield Works which were then carried on under the denomination of Messrs
John Elder and Company. He had found, as told us, the first month of absolute
rest delightful after the close attention of everyday work of previous years,
the second became wearisome and before the close of the third, he was again
glad to be in harness. He remained at the Fairfield Works until he removed to
Barrow in 1888. The history of the Fairfield Works during that period it is
unnecessary to recapitulate. Briefly, it may be stated it was during this time
that the Arizona, Alaska and Oregon and other vessels for the Cunard fleet were
built and that the revolution in the construction of ocean-going steamers, which
has not yet seen its close, was commenced. The whole of these vessels were engined
under the superintendence of Mr Bryce-Douglas as well as the Orient, the Austral
and the Ormuz for the Orient Line. He also constructed the engines for the Czar's
yacht, the Livadin for the Italian iron-clad Magicienne and for several of the
numerous vessels for the British Navy which were turned out of the Fairfield
yard. He also re-engined the Russian warship, Peter The Great. Mr Bryce-Douglas's
connection with Barrow commenced in 1886 when engines of his design were built
under his supervision for the Navigation Steam Navigation Company's Orula and
Orizaba which were constructed by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company. These were
two of the earliest examples of engines of the triple expansion type put into
ocean-going steamers. In 1888, influenced by Lord Harrington and other capitalists,
Mr Bryce-Douglas accepted the position of managing director of the Naval Construction
and Armaments Company which took over the works of the Barrow Shipbuilding Company.
The latter company had all along been an unsuccessful enterprise but, under
the new regime, several and extensions were made and new plant and machinery
were laid down. Important contracts were soon secured which rapidly brought
about a renewal of activity in the shipbuilding and engineering trades of the
port. Among the first orders, Mr Bryce-Douglas procured were four steamers of
large size and full power for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, a number
of steamers for the British and African Steam Navigation Company and for Messrs
Elder, Dempster and Company of Liverpool. He also obtained the contract for
three second-class cruisers to be built for the Admiralty all of which have
been launched and one, the Latona, delivered while a second cruiser, the Melampus,
will be handed over to the Admiralty at the close of this month. He also undertook
the building of three high-speed 5000 tons steamers for the Caledonian Pacific
Railway Company and intended for the service between Vancouver and Japan and
China. The pioneer of these steamers, the Empress of India, is now on her way
from Hong Kong to Vancouver on her maiden voyage. The sister ship, the Empress
of Japan, ran most successful trials last week as reported in another column
and was taken over by her owners and the third steamer, the Empress of China
was launched a fortnight ago. In the yard, there are at present building nine
steamers of various sizes. There are over 5000 employees in the works and the
weekly payments in the shape of wages amount to about £8500. Thus, if
at Fairfield, Mr Bryce-Douglas made an advance on his achievements on the Pacific
coast by constructing swifter-sailing steamers than companies up till that time
constructed, it was at Barrow where he gave the fullest token of what he was
capable of accomplishing. The directors had the fullest confidence in him, a
confidence justified by his few years of management and with practically a free
hand, he was further a development both as respects increased speed and beneficial
results to commerce and civilisation which would have marked a new era in steam
navigation. Long ago, at Fairfield, the idea was conceived of crossing the Atlantic
by fast-sailing steamers of twin-screw, triple-expansion type from Liverpool
to Canada in five days and then by equally fast-sailing steamers from Vancouver
to Australia thus developing new routes to the east and establishing a new direct
line from England to Australia, crossing the British territory of Canada by
the Canadian Pacific Railway. Last autumn, he visited Canada to take the initiative
in this great scheme and the Premier of the dominion, Mr John MacDonald granted
him a grand subsidy of $750000 per annum for ten years if he would establish
the line. Had he lived to carry out this scheme, it would have been regarded
as one of the greatest conceptions in the history of Commerce and for the sake
of the great works at Barrow, with which from henceforth his name will ever
be connected, it is hoped that the proposed Imperial Steam Navigation Company
will be formed and the enterprise entered upon in the spirit and confidence
which commands success. No better monument could be raised to the memory of
him whom Lord Brassey, at the launch of the cruiser Naiad, said was "a
great benefactor to the place" than by realising his dream and for which
it is said he had secured nigh a million of money. The immediate cause of death
was a cold caught, it is believed, at the launch of the Empress of China and
which developed into peritonitis. He was ill on board and was prescribed for
by a medical gentleman of the party and when he landed at Ardrossan on a bitterly
cold morning, he was able to walk to Seafield. No time was lost in calling in
medical aid and all that human skill and good nursing could do was done for
him. The inflammation, however, had got too firm a hold and a constitution,
remarkable for its strength, succumbed and at the comparatively early age of
fifty, a life of much usefulness and still greater promise came to a close.
He had probably when at sea faced death too often to dread the approach at the
last. This at least is certain, that when told the illness might have a fatal
termination, he received the tidings with the greatest calmness and with the
utmost composure, awaited the end. Beside possessing several patents, Mr Bryce-Douglas
was proprietor of Seafield, Ardrossan (shown below left as Quarriers in 2008)
which he purchased from the liquidation of the City of Glasgow Bank and greatly
enlarged and beautified.
