The Comet, the first steamship

Henry Bell was a Scottish engineer who introduced the first successful passenger steamboat service in Europe with the ship ‘Comet’. The ship was designed by Bell, built of wood by John Wood and Co. at Port Glasgow in 1812 and her engine was built by John Robertson. The ship was used as a passenger ferry on the Clyde between Glasgow and Helensburgh, and later on the Firth of Forth and between the West Highlands and Glasgow. However, she ran aground at Craignish Point near Fort William in December 1820.