Tay Seekers

Ferries across the Tay

Three Thousand Years of Transport across the Tay Although the fares that the ferrymen could charge were regulated, the ferries themselves were not and ran haphazardly both in timing and in safety. This was all to change after the morning of Sunday 28th May 1815 when a pinnace (a small rowing and sail boat), overloaded …

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Broughty Castle

Fortress Guarding the Tay Broughty Castle has defended the entrance of the Tay for over 500 years, has been involved with Russia once, France twice, and two monarchs who lost their heads (Mary Queen of Scots and King Charles I). It was mirrored across the Tay by a Z-plan castle at Tayport which would have …

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Romans on the Tay

Eighteen hundred years ago the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus would have been a magnificent and terrifying sight as he sailed down on the River Tay. Born in Libya, in North Africa, he found Scotland cold and wet, as did his troops who moaned about the weather, particularly “the water”. In 208 Severus travelled to Britain, …

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SS Dalhousie

The wreck of the steamer Dalhousie The story of the River Tay’s worst recorded shipwreck began late on the evening of a storm-lashed Thursday, 24 November 1864. The Dundee-bound steamer London was crossing St Andrews Bay when her crew spotted a blue light, then a recognised distress signal, among the breakers off Tentsmuir. A strong …

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