Richard M. Orr

Aboard Queen Mary Ii: a Purser's Life on the Glasgow Boat Richard M. Orr

Among the steamers on Scotland's River Clyde, Queen Mary II held a special place in the hearts of Glaswegians. Sailing from the city centre, she was inseparably associated with Glasgow and her name carried an aura of mystique downriver. Clyde steamer design had reached a peak in the 1930s but by the fifties the times were changing: people increasingly abandoned the traditional Clyde resorts of Dunoon, Rothesay and Brodick for foreign climes and shipbuilding on the river was in decline. The book reflects the change and offers an entertaining glimpse of daily life aboard the ship from 1958 to 1964 as seen through the eyes of a young student purser. 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 south side of Glasgow and has two grown up children.