At the age of 28 he married Helen Fernie (photo on the right)  in the Parish of Kinghorn, Fife.  As a couple they ran a licenced grocers in Kinghorn town.  He and Helen had at least 6 of a family until he started behaving oddly to the point that he could not run his business being confused and disorientated on a regular basis.

Thomas Bollin SEATH (1820-1903) 

From

SONG OF THE CLYDE
A HISTORY OF CLYDE SHIPBUILDING
FRED M WALKER

Of the generations or young people who have read and enjoyed Arthur Ransom’s book Swallows and Amazons, few will associate one of the lake ships in the story with Clyde shipyards. The ship in question n the houseboat belonging to Captain Flint believed to be the Esperance one of several ships on Lake Windermere built by T. B. Seath and Co. of Rutherglen. The Esperance was Seath's 99th ship and constructed in 1869

The story of Thomas Seath and his shipyard has an almost fairytale-like quality, perhaps not rags to riches, but certainly the story 0f a workman for whom toil was no stranger and who enjoyed considerable success and in his later years prosperity of a high order. His unique shipyard can claim many products in good working order, even after the ravages of a century. In the last few years his hull No.209 has been recovered from Loch Rannoch, having had a working history of less than one year, and spent 99 years in the depths or the loch. The vessel is the iron steam yacht Gitana.

Seath was born in Prestonpans in 1820, and around 1828 came to Glasgow with his parents. His father was employed on coasting steamers, to be joined later by his son who rose through the ranks and ultimately obtained his coastal master’s certificate. Throughout his life Seath seemed torn between his desires to build ships and to operate and serve on them. In 1853 he took over a building site on the west bank of the mouth of the Kelvin where Tod & McGregor and D. & W. Henderson were later to become established. In three years he built three ships, one of which PS Artizan was for the Glasgow to Rutherglen service on what was then known as the Upper Clyde Navigation. This paddle steamer drawing only 27 ins. had Seath as captain, owner and chief engineer, controlling the engines by evens passing from the bridge to the engine room The vessel sailed from die Old Weir at Glasgow Green to Rutherglen Quay

In 1856 he moved the business to a yard off Broomloan in Rutherglen, three miles up-stream from the Green, and nowadays, the haunt of oarsmen and the mooring place for converted yachts. During the next 46years he was to prove that the restrictions and inadequacies of the place and the shallowness of the river at that point were not a hindrance to progress but a challenge to be met and overcome, These difficulties were to give him invaluable experience in the design and construction of river and shallow draft vessels, and his 300 Rutherglen built ships gave him a world-wide renown as a specialist builder. His Artizan was later replaced on the Rutherglen service by the paddle steamers Royal Burgh and Royal Reefer, and from then on there was a constant succession of barges, coasters, passenger steamers and steam yachts. Among the yachts were two special orders for the King of Siam and the King of Burma.

In April 1884 the Clyde Trust introduced a river passenger service on small steamers named Clutha’s from the Roman name for the Clyde. Altogether 11 were built and their names were Clutha I through Clutha 12 with No.11 missing. Seath made the initial design and built the first six with iron hulls. All were twin screw ships giving them good manoeuvrability, and the remaining five, constructed of steel, were built by Murray Brothers of Dumbarton and Russel & Co or port Glasgow. The operating schedule was from Victoria Bridge in the city with calls at: Glasgow Bridge. Springfield Lane, Stobcross, Highland Lane, Pointhouse, Water Row, Meadowside, Sawmill Road, Linhouse, Whiteincli.
The great chronicler of the Clyde, Sir James Marwick, noted that in 1900 they carried 2.85 million passengers. However, the extension and efficacy of the Glasgow Tramway system had its effect, and the Clutha service came to an end in November 1903.
In 1885 Seath submitted plans to the Admiralty for a warship 150-ft by 30-ft. with a hull divided into many watertight compartments, as is now the practice in naval ships. A rockered keel was introduced to give quick turning and a 2-ft. armour belt along the topsides designed either to break up missiles on impact, or to deflect them harmlessly. This ship was never built and, indeed, the Broomloan yard would have been hard pressed to build it on the Upper Clyde.

Something like 16 steamers for the Clyde or the Scottish Lochs were built at Rutherglen. In 1888, as a subcontract, Seath constructed the hull of a paddle steamer for the North British Railway. On completion, the new ship entered service causing little stir or sensation but 60 years later, when retired from the fleet, the Lucy Ashton had earned affection from the Clydesiders for her regular and dependable functioning in all conditions and weather. Her story did not end there.

A wonderful opportunity presented itself in 1949 to the British Shipbuilding Research Association (BSRA). They had been anxious to carry out full-scale systematic resistance tests on a ship hull, and preferably without the water being disturbed by propellers, paddles or even a tug nearby. Such experiments had not been carried out in Britain since the tests on HMS Greyhound in 1874 and scientific reasoning had come a long way since then.

In 1949 British Railways decided to dispose of their oldest Clyde steamer, the PS Lucy Ashton. She was purchased by BSRA and stripped down, engines and paddles removed, and just abaft of midships a bridge fitted by Denny of Dunbarton on which were placed four Rolls Royce Derwent jet engines for propulsion. During 1950, with ear-piercing screeches, the Lucy Ashton ran on the Gareloch mile during which time information was amassed on speed, power output and, by deduction, considerable information on the resistance of ships underwater skin to motion through the water.

Six exact scale models or 'geosms' were manufactured correct down to the 5.75-in. sag on the Lucy Ashton's keel, and these were tested in various ship-model tanks. When T. B. Seath built this fine little steamer at Rutherglen in 1888 and when the North British Railway bestowed the name Lucy Ashton taken from Scott's novels, little did they anticipate the fame she would eventually acquire in the world-wide technical press!!
As can be seen from his portrait, Seath was a man of energy, initiative and enthusiasm. Despite physical disabilities, he was never defeated and brought credit to the river and his profession He died in 1903, a year after the yard had its first idle period. The business name continued for a while as his sons set up a consultancy service, but the shipyard was sold.

Margaret Turnbull Black (1828-1921)

Margaret Turnbull Black was born to Alexander Black, a gardener, and Robina Turnbull on the 15th August 1828 in Liberton, Edinburgh.  She married Andrew Seath on the 19th of June 1843 in the parish of Dalgety, Fife.  Andrew was a coalminer and son of John Seath and Mary Ann Simpson (my Great x5 grandparents).  They had 9 of a family, (4 sons and 5 daughters) seven of whom achieved adulthood.   

On the 11th February 1889 Andrew died.  Margaret was 60 years old when widowed but five years later she married David Leitch a 'widower of the parish'.

She lived a long life finally succumbing to old age on the 7th September 1921 at the age of 93 in the Northern Hospital at 84 Cemetery Road (now Leys Park Road), Dunfermline.

Normally this would be all the detail available, however, not in Margarets case.  In 1913, just prior to her 85th birthday she was interviewed for an article in the local newspaper.  A very interesting article.  It should be noted however, on further research no one aboard the Victory at Trafalgar was named either Seath or Leitch.  This is made all the more confusing by the fact that on Andrew Seath's death certificate his fathers occupation is noted as a 'Man o' War Seaman' although on the death certificates of all his other children he is always a coalminer.  Is this just family myth or is there something in it??

Addendum 8th Oct 2008 - The National Archives at Kew have added a search facility for all serving crew aboard all the British ships at Trafalgar.  The father in law from her first marriage to Andrew Seath, one John Seath does not appear there.  However, there is an Andrew Leitch who served aboard HMS Temeraire.  He was noted as 18 years of age (making him around 40 when Margarets second husband David Leitch was born).  He was born in Uxbridge in Devon. There is no proof that this was indded Margarets father-in law.   If you want to search the archive you can find it here.

The Peoples Journal
Saturday August 9, 1913