THE CALEDONIAN MACBRAYNE SHIP ‘COLUMBA’
Posted: 22 Apr 2012, 08:46
THE CALEDONIAN MACBRAYNE SHIP ‘COLUMBA’
[Cruises from Oban in summer, spare in winter]
The car-ferry revolution in the Hebrides can be traced back to 20 November 1963 when Mrs Michael Noble, wife of the then Secretary of State for Scotland, launched the HEBRIDES, the first of three sisters from the shipyard of Hall, Russell in Aberdeen. More than three years beforehand, the announcement of three car-ferry routes had been made - one between Uig in Skye and Lochmaddy in North Uist and Tarbert, Harris, a second between Mallaig and Armadale in Skye across the Sound of Sleat and a third between Oban and Craignure (Mull) and Lochaline (Morvern). The second ferry, CLANSMAN, was named on 15 January 1964 and launched the following day, while the launch of the third was almost two months later, on 12 March.
The most famous MacBrayne steamer of all time - and arguably the best-loved of all Clyde steamers - was the paddle steamer COLUMBA, which sailed from Glasgow to Ardrishaig almost every summer from 1878 until 1935. The revival of the name in 1964 for the third of the MacBrayne car ferries was greeted with enthusiasm, though no one at the time thought that her link with the sixth century saint would become stronger by her transfer to the 'Sacred Isle Cruise' from Oban to Iona, the island where St. Columba first set foot on Scottish soil. The three sisters, each appearing with a gross tonnage of 2104, were the largest ships ever to sail in the MacBrayne fleet. Actually until 1973 they were strictly merely on charter to MacBrayne's, being owned by the Secretary of State and registered at Leith. Their fifty odd cars were loaded by means of a hoist forward, equipped, like the GLEN SANNOX on the Clyde, with turntables and lifted by four hydraulic rams. With sleeping berths for fifty one beneath the car deck and well-appointed passenger accommodation for 600 above, the HEBRIDES, CLANSMAN and COLUMBA admirably fulfilled their dual role as carriers of essential supplies and ships able to win tourist traffic for the islands. The COLUMBA is the only survivor of the trio, the others having been replaced by new purpose-built vessels. However, her fittings have kept pace with the times; only in 1984 her saloon, cafeteria and bar were carpeted and new chairs provided. Externally she has changed little; apart from an alteration in colours following the change in ownership to Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd., the only major change has been the addition of a new tripod mast fitted to the foredeck late in 1980 and the 'Calmac' logo applied to her hull in January 1984.
For the first nine years of her career the COLUMBA maintained the important crossing between Oban and Mull extending her voyage twice a day to Lochaline in Morvern. She entered service on 30 July 1964, replacing two hard-pressed conventional motorships LOCHEARN and LOCHMOR. The main port for Mull now became Craignure, whose pier had only opened to traffic in December 1963. Previously the LOCHEARN had been based at Tobermory, the 'capital' of the island, and had only made one crossing daily to the mainland, calling at several intermediate piers and ferries. Though the Mull traffic is sparse in winter it is a magnet for tourists in summer with Iona accessible by 'overland route' via Fionnphort, and in 1968 the COLUMBA had to be given additional buoyant seats on her after deck to bring her passenger complement up to 870. One of the most popular of the annual Highland Gatherings, the Tobermory Games, takes place in July and from 1969 COLUMBA called specially at Tobermory on that occasion. From 1970 she began to be used quite extensively for livestock movements and this took her for the first time to the Outer Isles. Despite some local opposition, Sunday sailings to Mull started in 1972; COLUMBA combined these with short cruises to such places as the Isles of the Sea and the Corrievreckan Whirlpool.
Then, after the 1972 season, came the conversion of her sister CLANSMAN to drive-through operation. The CLANSMAN's successor as Mallaig - Armadale - Barra - Lochboisdale steamer in summer and relief steamer in winter was, predictably, the COLUMBA. The night service to the Outer Isles was only destined to last one year and so in the 1974 season the COLUMBA merely sailed on an easy schedule between Mallaig and Armadale. This rather wasteful use of a large unit of the fleet coupled with the universally-regretted news that the 48 year-old turbine KING GEORGE V was to be withdrawn as Oban excursion steamer made it almost certain that the COLUMBA, after only two years absence, would return to Oban as her summer base. From 5 May 1975 she instituted a programme of excursions cum ferry sailings, serving Coll and Tiree four times per week, Colonsay three times and Iona twice. This clever dovetailing of two functions, together with the far-sighted and popular innovation of the Mini Cruise whereby passengers used the ship as a floating hotel for two or three days while she sailed to the isles, ensured an unexpected profit in her first season! During the winter, the COLUMBA continued to relieve the HEBRIDES on the Uig triangle and the IONA on the Inner Isles Mail and she also spent some time on the route for which she was built - as the Mull vessel.
Since the advent of the CLAYMORE on the Islands run from Oban, the COLUMBA's off-season employment has been confined to extended periods based at Uig and livestock sailings from places as far apart as Barra, Lochboisdale, Lochmaddy and Port Askaig in Islay. Unusually, when the latter pier was closed for reconstruction in 1978-79, the cattle runs were made from Bruichladdich in Loch Indaal. Sometimes in October and after Easter she has found employment sailing to Colonsay, Coil or Tiree, unusually over the Christmas/New Year period of 1980-81 she was the second ferry on the Arran route on the Clyde.
Most interesting of all has been the employment of the COLUMBA on sailings marking special events. In 1978, to commemorate the centenary of her illustrious predecessor, the COLUMBA gave the public a unique opportunity to sail from Gourock round the Mull of Kintyre to Oban. The following year, thanks to the huge success of this trip, she repeated the experience, and extended her voyage to St. Kilda, "the island on the edge of the world", 38 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, this time as a celebration of the centenary of David MacBrayne Ltd. The appetite of the public was insatiable, and in May 1980, the COLUMBA again voyaged from Oban to St Kilda, anchoring in Village Bay and circumnavigating Hirta and the satellite islands. The anniversary this time was rather sad - for it was fifty years previously that St Kilda had been evacuated. Then, in May 1983, she had the privilege of carrying HRH the Prince of Wales from the former railhead at Strome Ferry in Loch Carron to the newly completed Howard Doris oil platform 'Maureen' in Loch Kishorn some six miles away. At the end of that month, the COLUMBA was involved in protests from the islanders on Mull over the future of Tobermory pier. The COLUMBA had made the last calls on 28 May as an engineer's report had recommended its closure due to its perilous state. The demonstrations were so vigorous that eventually - in February 1984 - the Secretary of State for Scotland agreed to the complete renewal of the pier at a cost of some £200,000. Work started at the end of July and by the time the COLUMBA re-appeared for the 1985 season she could call at all states of the tide and normally no longer had to land passengers by ferryboat. At one stage a plan was drawn up to use Tobermory as a 'half way stage' to Coil and Tiree just as Uig is for the Outer Isles, but this was firmly rejected. How the service to these islands and Colonsay in summer should operate after the COLUMBA reaches the end of her useful life remains a very difficult problem. For that very reason the veteran Western Isles car ferry could survive many more seasons, although the provision of ro-ro facilities at Uig, Tarbert and Lochmaddy precludes her use on that station. [Quoted from ‘Hebridean and Clyde Ferries of Caledonian MacBrayne. 1985. by Ian McRorie.]
[Cruises from Oban in summer, spare in winter]
The car-ferry revolution in the Hebrides can be traced back to 20 November 1963 when Mrs Michael Noble, wife of the then Secretary of State for Scotland, launched the HEBRIDES, the first of three sisters from the shipyard of Hall, Russell in Aberdeen. More than three years beforehand, the announcement of three car-ferry routes had been made - one between Uig in Skye and Lochmaddy in North Uist and Tarbert, Harris, a second between Mallaig and Armadale in Skye across the Sound of Sleat and a third between Oban and Craignure (Mull) and Lochaline (Morvern). The second ferry, CLANSMAN, was named on 15 January 1964 and launched the following day, while the launch of the third was almost two months later, on 12 March.
The most famous MacBrayne steamer of all time - and arguably the best-loved of all Clyde steamers - was the paddle steamer COLUMBA, which sailed from Glasgow to Ardrishaig almost every summer from 1878 until 1935. The revival of the name in 1964 for the third of the MacBrayne car ferries was greeted with enthusiasm, though no one at the time thought that her link with the sixth century saint would become stronger by her transfer to the 'Sacred Isle Cruise' from Oban to Iona, the island where St. Columba first set foot on Scottish soil. The three sisters, each appearing with a gross tonnage of 2104, were the largest ships ever to sail in the MacBrayne fleet. Actually until 1973 they were strictly merely on charter to MacBrayne's, being owned by the Secretary of State and registered at Leith. Their fifty odd cars were loaded by means of a hoist forward, equipped, like the GLEN SANNOX on the Clyde, with turntables and lifted by four hydraulic rams. With sleeping berths for fifty one beneath the car deck and well-appointed passenger accommodation for 600 above, the HEBRIDES, CLANSMAN and COLUMBA admirably fulfilled their dual role as carriers of essential supplies and ships able to win tourist traffic for the islands. The COLUMBA is the only survivor of the trio, the others having been replaced by new purpose-built vessels. However, her fittings have kept pace with the times; only in 1984 her saloon, cafeteria and bar were carpeted and new chairs provided. Externally she has changed little; apart from an alteration in colours following the change in ownership to Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd., the only major change has been the addition of a new tripod mast fitted to the foredeck late in 1980 and the 'Calmac' logo applied to her hull in January 1984.
For the first nine years of her career the COLUMBA maintained the important crossing between Oban and Mull extending her voyage twice a day to Lochaline in Morvern. She entered service on 30 July 1964, replacing two hard-pressed conventional motorships LOCHEARN and LOCHMOR. The main port for Mull now became Craignure, whose pier had only opened to traffic in December 1963. Previously the LOCHEARN had been based at Tobermory, the 'capital' of the island, and had only made one crossing daily to the mainland, calling at several intermediate piers and ferries. Though the Mull traffic is sparse in winter it is a magnet for tourists in summer with Iona accessible by 'overland route' via Fionnphort, and in 1968 the COLUMBA had to be given additional buoyant seats on her after deck to bring her passenger complement up to 870. One of the most popular of the annual Highland Gatherings, the Tobermory Games, takes place in July and from 1969 COLUMBA called specially at Tobermory on that occasion. From 1970 she began to be used quite extensively for livestock movements and this took her for the first time to the Outer Isles. Despite some local opposition, Sunday sailings to Mull started in 1972; COLUMBA combined these with short cruises to such places as the Isles of the Sea and the Corrievreckan Whirlpool.
Then, after the 1972 season, came the conversion of her sister CLANSMAN to drive-through operation. The CLANSMAN's successor as Mallaig - Armadale - Barra - Lochboisdale steamer in summer and relief steamer in winter was, predictably, the COLUMBA. The night service to the Outer Isles was only destined to last one year and so in the 1974 season the COLUMBA merely sailed on an easy schedule between Mallaig and Armadale. This rather wasteful use of a large unit of the fleet coupled with the universally-regretted news that the 48 year-old turbine KING GEORGE V was to be withdrawn as Oban excursion steamer made it almost certain that the COLUMBA, after only two years absence, would return to Oban as her summer base. From 5 May 1975 she instituted a programme of excursions cum ferry sailings, serving Coll and Tiree four times per week, Colonsay three times and Iona twice. This clever dovetailing of two functions, together with the far-sighted and popular innovation of the Mini Cruise whereby passengers used the ship as a floating hotel for two or three days while she sailed to the isles, ensured an unexpected profit in her first season! During the winter, the COLUMBA continued to relieve the HEBRIDES on the Uig triangle and the IONA on the Inner Isles Mail and she also spent some time on the route for which she was built - as the Mull vessel.
Since the advent of the CLAYMORE on the Islands run from Oban, the COLUMBA's off-season employment has been confined to extended periods based at Uig and livestock sailings from places as far apart as Barra, Lochboisdale, Lochmaddy and Port Askaig in Islay. Unusually, when the latter pier was closed for reconstruction in 1978-79, the cattle runs were made from Bruichladdich in Loch Indaal. Sometimes in October and after Easter she has found employment sailing to Colonsay, Coil or Tiree, unusually over the Christmas/New Year period of 1980-81 she was the second ferry on the Arran route on the Clyde.
Most interesting of all has been the employment of the COLUMBA on sailings marking special events. In 1978, to commemorate the centenary of her illustrious predecessor, the COLUMBA gave the public a unique opportunity to sail from Gourock round the Mull of Kintyre to Oban. The following year, thanks to the huge success of this trip, she repeated the experience, and extended her voyage to St. Kilda, "the island on the edge of the world", 38 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, this time as a celebration of the centenary of David MacBrayne Ltd. The appetite of the public was insatiable, and in May 1980, the COLUMBA again voyaged from Oban to St Kilda, anchoring in Village Bay and circumnavigating Hirta and the satellite islands. The anniversary this time was rather sad - for it was fifty years previously that St Kilda had been evacuated. Then, in May 1983, she had the privilege of carrying HRH the Prince of Wales from the former railhead at Strome Ferry in Loch Carron to the newly completed Howard Doris oil platform 'Maureen' in Loch Kishorn some six miles away. At the end of that month, the COLUMBA was involved in protests from the islanders on Mull over the future of Tobermory pier. The COLUMBA had made the last calls on 28 May as an engineer's report had recommended its closure due to its perilous state. The demonstrations were so vigorous that eventually - in February 1984 - the Secretary of State for Scotland agreed to the complete renewal of the pier at a cost of some £200,000. Work started at the end of July and by the time the COLUMBA re-appeared for the 1985 season she could call at all states of the tide and normally no longer had to land passengers by ferryboat. At one stage a plan was drawn up to use Tobermory as a 'half way stage' to Coil and Tiree just as Uig is for the Outer Isles, but this was firmly rejected. How the service to these islands and Colonsay in summer should operate after the COLUMBA reaches the end of her useful life remains a very difficult problem. For that very reason the veteran Western Isles car ferry could survive many more seasons, although the provision of ro-ro facilities at Uig, Tarbert and Lochmaddy precludes her use on that station. [Quoted from ‘Hebridean and Clyde Ferries of Caledonian MacBrayne. 1985. by Ian McRorie.]