This was the MV Loch Seaforth ordered by MacBrayne's for the important run from Mallaig and Kyle of Lochalsh to Stornoway on the island of Lewis. The picture above is scanned from their 1947 summer timetable printed on very thin, post-war utility type paper of almost toilet paper thin-ness. Post war scarcity also led to the new ship not, in fact, being ready "early this summer" as the brochure predicted and being delayed until December 1947.
The artist's impression is a good likeness of how the ship ended up looking except that her funnel was actually a bit narrower and taller and she also ended up being called "Loch Seaforth" (two words) rather than "Lochseaforth" (one word). It wasn't a printing mistake in the brochure, though. In 1928, when the company passed from the MacBrayne family to the joint ownership of Coast Lines and the London, Midland & Scottish Railway Company, MacBrayne's adopted the convention of naming all their new ships after Scottish lochs but always as one word - thus "Lochearn" rather than "Loch Earn". The Loch Seaforth broke that rule and became the first new ship in the fleet with a two word loch name (although in 1934, an existing ship, the Plover, had been renamed Loch Aline). Thereafter, new ships named after lochs followed the same pattern unless a one word loch name was being re-used (thus "Lochdunvegan" (1950) because she was the second MacBrayne ship of that name but "Loch Carron" (1951) because there had never previously been a "Lochcarron" in the fleet).
The Loch Seaforth at Kyle of Lochalsh - picture credit clydeboy63 |
Finlaggan at Port Askaig - picture credit Richard Cameron |
Excellent Neil. You may already be aware that 'robbeale' has posted two short video clips of Loch Seaforth at Kyle of Lochalsh (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wymCXlC-pUI)
ReplyDeleteand Mallaig (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omGFTy3nzDs).
Thanks Roy. I have seen these clips but thanks for drawing attention to them here.
ReplyDeleteThe last CalMac vessel to have the passenger's removed by lifeboat was M.V. Claymore at Lochboisdale in February 1982 when it hit rocks at Gasay island while trying to avoid a fishing boat.
ReplyDelete