The world's first commercial steam turbine ship was the T S King Edward
Clyde-built, she was one of the few larger vessels to serve most of her life locally.
Built at William Denny's Dumbarton shipyard, TS King Edward was launched in 1901. Weighing around 550 tonnes, she was built as an experimental vessel for the Turbine Steamer Syndicate.
Her three direct drive turbines proved highly efficient and economical, reaching speeds of more than 20 knots.
So she was put to work as a passenger and cruise vessel and sailed up and down the west coast, touching in at places such as Campbeltown, Dunoon and eventually even Inveraray.
During the First World War she was seconded as a troop ship on the English Channel and also as a hospital vessel in the White Sea in the Russian Arctic.
After the war she returned to cruising and by 1927 was travelling between Glasgow and Rothesay on the Island of Bute for Williamson Buchanan Steamers Ltd.
She remained on the Clyde during the Second World War, undertaking commercial work but by 1946 she had been returned to passenger cruising under the ownership of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co Ltd.
Sadly, in 1951, just after celebrating her 50 years' service she was sold for scrap.
Two turbines, however, were saved by the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and in 1987 were transferred to the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine.
This info was copied from here