MV Pentalina-B
Encyclopedia
MV Pentalina-B was a fast and extremely versatile ferry operated on a variety of Scottish routes. Launched in 1970 as MV Iona, she was the first drive-through roll-on/roll-off ferry built for the David MacBrayne Ltd
fleet. She was the first ship in the company's history to have bridge-controlled engines and geared transmission, rather than direct drive. She enjoyed a far-flung career and inaugurated more endloading linkspan
s than the rest of the fleet put together. Purchased by Pentland Ferries
in 1997, she was renamed MV Pentalina-B and operated across the Pentland Firth until the arrival of their new vessel. In 2009, she was sold to a Cape Verde
owner.
, Jura
, Gigha
and Colonsay
from West Loch Tarbert
. Early in 1968 MacBraynes were authorised to order a large new car ferry for the Argyll Hebrides and placed an order with the Ailsa
yard in Troon. The deep-drafted vessel could not operate from MacBrayne's existing West Loch Tarbert
pier and a site at Redhouse, much further down the loch was identified. In January 1969, Argyll County Council announced that they would not proceed with works at Redhouse. As the alternative route from Oban
was too long, the entire scheme was abandoned in August 1969. Instead, the hoist-loading , one of the pioneering Clyde car ferries replaced at Islay, competing with Western Ferries
.
Iona was launched on 22 January 1970. The historic MacBrayne name had last been used by a celebrated paddle steamer of 1864
, finally scrapped in 1935 after 72 years. She ran trials on 25 and 28 May and entered service the following day on the Gourock
- Dunoon
service for CSP, with . She remained almost constantly on the Gourock - Dunoon station until November 1971, with the occasional assistance at Arran.
She was troubled by a run of early breakdowns: starboard ramp, hoist, forward capstan, bow-thrust unit and automatic steering. All were duly fixed, but her gearboxes continued to be a regular problem throughout her career. The absence of a turntable at the forward end of her car deck made the management of on-board traffic difficult. Initial problems were exacerbated by the need to use a side-loading hoist. Things improved after she hanselled the new end-loading linkspan
at Gourock on 26 July 1971.
In April 1972 Iona moved to the Western Isles, serving Port Askaig
and Colonsay
, but from Oban
rather than West Loch Tarbert. From 1 May she displaced the ageing as the Stornoway
mailboat
, and offered a car-carrying service to Kyle of Lochalsh
and Mallaig
. Iona's basic passenger facilities were less than ideal for the very long sailing to the West Highland railheads. Ullapool
had been selected as a more suitable mainland port and Iona inaugurated a new terminal and linkspan there on 26 March 1973. Hoist loading continued at Stornoway for another two months. Thereafter Iona bow-loaded at Stornoway and stern-loaded at Ullapool. She was not a popular Lewis mailboat.
Major service problems began on 13 June 1973, when the Stornoway linkspan broke down. Iona had to hoist-load, again, for three days. Then Iona herself broke down, and for several days sailed at 10 knots on one engine. The newly rebuilt also lay idle at Stornoway. Iona again suffered engine trouble in July and spent the rest of that season as the Oban - Craignure
ferry, opening the new Oban linkspan on 15 October.
On 29 April 1974, still without a permanent role, she started a new fast "Marine Motorway" from Oban to Castlebay
and Lochboisdale
, inaugurating a Lochboisdale linkspan that July and berthing there overnight. Iona included Coll
and Tiree
only in her winter roster, which also included a non-landing call at Tobermory. She still used her lift at Barra, Coll and Tiree. Even without Coll and Tiree, the sail from Oban to Barra
and South Uist
was still a long one and, with very early morning departures. Iona's lack of sleeping berths was greatly criticised. In her 1975 refit, a new deckhouse was added, aft of the officers' accommodation and incorporating eight double cabins. MV Iona completed five seasons on the Oban - Castlebay / Lochboisdale service, but proved increasingly too small, especially with the heavy year-round army traffic to Uist bases via Lochboisdale.
The arrival of the new at Oban and the purchase of Western Ferries' Kennacraig
facilities in October, finally allowed Iona to take up the Islay service on 15 February 1979. At first she gave three return runs daily between Kennacraig and Port Ellen
, with two on Sundays. From 24 October 1979, she gave two calls weekly at the newly extended Port Askaig
pier. After Western Ferries finally abandoned their Islay service at the end of September 1981, Cal-Mac offered more calls to Port Askaig.
Each winter Iona returned to Oban, relieving Claymore and usually had her own refit in February or March, sometimes at Govan, but more usually in Greenock. Losing her crane in 1983 and a Perspex canopy on her limited open deck space, she was extensively refurbished in 1984. She continued to be bothered with mechanical trouble, usually her gearboxes.
In May 1989, Iona was once again displaced by Claymore, cascading to the Islay station on the commissioning of . Iona took over the Mallaig
- Armadale
service. For the first time in sixteen years, she was again on a purely hoist-loading route, until she opened linkspans at Mallaig and Armadale on 1 April 1994. She was a great success at Armadale seeing an increase in traffic, and offering a varying routine of weekend sailings from Mallaig to Castlebay, Lochboisdale. In winter she relieved widely throughout the fleet.
It was not deemed worth massive alterations for her to remain in year-round Cal-Mac service. With the arrival of a new in July 1998, took over the Mallaig - Armadale run and Iona was placed on the sale list. She was sold during the 1997 season to newly reformed Pentland Ferries
, eager to revive a Pentland Firth car ferry service from Gills Bay
in Caithness
to Burwick
or St Margaret's Hope
on Orkney.
Renamed MV Pentalina-B, it was several seasons before she took up the Gills Bay - Orkney service. In plain red and black funnels, she had an unexpected Cal-Mac charter in May 1998, when sustained a major breakdown before the new was ready for service. She maintained the Oban
- Craignure
service for just under three weeks, in partnership with .
Pentalina-Bs hoist and side ramps were removed in the summer of 1999.
From 2006 to 2009 Pentalina-B was chartered out in her off-season, to carry livestock across the English Channel
from Dover. She was chartered to Cal-Mac in December 2008, operating the Ullapool
- Stornoway
freight run in place of . She was again chartered to Cal-Mac in April 2009, operating a freight run from Kennacraig
to Port Askaig
.
She was sold in late 2009 to an owner in Cape Verde
and passed through the Irish Sea on 10 January 2010, en route for Mindelo
. On the delivery voyage, she suffered water ingress and was towed to Brest Roads for repair.
MV Iona was ten feet longer than , and of greater draft, but twin rudders gave her greater manoeuvrability than the earlier MacBrayne ferries. She was the company's first vessel without traditional teak decking. Her vehicle facilities impressed, but passenger accommodation compared poorly with the 1964 ships. She had very little open deck space for passengers. Forward on the boat deck ('B' Deck), there was a full-width lounge for 101 passengers with seating upholstered in blue until they were recovered with sick coloured vinyl in 1984. High bows obstructed the forward view for seated passengers. Aft of this, a deckhouse held a cafeteria. On the lower deck ('E' Deck'), below the car deck were a smoke-room/bar (no longer used) and crew quarters. Unusually for a large MacBrayne ship, Iona had no sleeping accommodation for passengers.
MV Ionas main machinery was twin Paxman engines, each driving a fixed-pitch propeller through a gearbox, reducing an engine speed of 900 rpm to a propeller speed of 300 rpm. The first ship in the company's history to have such geared transmission, these gearboxes were a regular source of trouble throughout her career. She was equipped with Denny-Brown retractable stabilisers and a bow-thrust controllable-pitch propeller. Engine Control was possible from the consoles in the engine-room, in the wheelhouse, in the bridge wings, or at the aft end of the navigation bridge deck, for astern working.
MV Iona's car deck could take vehicles up to 16.5 feet in height and 32-ton in weight. She had a bow visor, a stern-and side-ramps with a hoist that could handle 27.5 tons. Traffic for the hoist was marshalled by automatic barriers. Her bow-visor, raised by a racking system, rather than a hinge, was not watertight, limiting her passenger-carrying capacity later in her career. The bow-ramp was in several sections, which coiled back into the vehicle deck, reducing available car spaces.
David MacBrayne Ltd
David MacBrayne Ltd is a company owned by the Scottish Government. Formed in 1851 as a private shipping company, it became the main carrier for freight and passengers in the Hebrides...
fleet. She was the first ship in the company's history to have bridge-controlled engines and geared transmission, rather than direct drive. She enjoyed a far-flung career and inaugurated more endloading linkspan
Linkspan
A linkspan or link-span is a type of drawbridge used mainly in the operation of moving vehicles on and off a RO-RO vessel or ferry.Linkspans are usually found at ferry terminals where a vessel uses a combination of ramps either at the stern, bow or side to load or unload cars, vans, trucks and...
s than the rest of the fleet put together. Purchased by Pentland Ferries
Pentland Ferries
Pentland Ferries is a privately owned, family company which has operated a ferry service between Gills Bay in Caithness, Scotland and St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in Orkney since May 2001.-History:...
in 1997, she was renamed MV Pentalina-B and operated across the Pentland Firth until the arrival of their new vessel. In 2009, she was sold to a Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
owner.
History
MV Iona (VII) was the first of a new generation of major car ferries built for the Scottish Transport Group to replace the ageing 1939 mailboat Lochiel, serving IslayIslay
-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...
, Jura
Jura, Scotland
Jura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, situated adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. Part of the island is designated as a National Scenic Area. Until the twentieth century Jura was dominated - and most of it was eventually owned - by the Campbell clan of Inveraray Castle on Loch...
, Gigha
Gigha
The Isle of Gigha is a small island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of about 150 people, many of whom speak Scottish Gaelic. The climate is mild with higher than average sunshine hours and the soils are fertile.Gigha has a...
and Colonsay
Colonsay
Colonsay is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, located north of Islay and south of Mull and has an area of . It is the ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeill. Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures in length and reaches at its widest...
from West Loch Tarbert
West Loch Tarbert, Argyll
West Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a long and narrow sea loch on the western side of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland.-Geography:The head of the loch lies near the village of Tarbert and it reaches the open sea at Ardpatrick Point some distant....
. Early in 1968 MacBraynes were authorised to order a large new car ferry for the Argyll Hebrides and placed an order with the Ailsa
Ailsa Shipbuilding Company
-History:The company was founded in 1885 by the 3rd Marquess of Ailsa.In 1902 the Ailsa yard fitted out the polar exploration ship Scotia for the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of 1902-04...
yard in Troon. The deep-drafted vessel could not operate from MacBrayne's existing West Loch Tarbert
West Loch Tarbert, Argyll
West Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a long and narrow sea loch on the western side of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland.-Geography:The head of the loch lies near the village of Tarbert and it reaches the open sea at Ardpatrick Point some distant....
pier and a site at Redhouse, much further down the loch was identified. In January 1969, Argyll County Council announced that they would not proceed with works at Redhouse. As the alternative route from Oban
Oban
Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban...
was too long, the entire scheme was abandoned in August 1969. Instead, the hoist-loading , one of the pioneering Clyde car ferries replaced at Islay, competing with Western Ferries
Western Ferries
Western Ferries is a private ferry company with its headquarters in Dunoon, Scotland. It currently operates on the River Clyde running a year-round, high-frequency service between Hunters Quay and Gourock in Inverclyde.-History:...
.
Iona was launched on 22 January 1970. The historic MacBrayne name had last been used by a celebrated paddle steamer of 1864
PS Iona
PS Iona was a MacBrayne paddle steamer, which operated on the Clyde for 72 years, the longest-serving Clyde steamer.-History:Iona was built in 1864 to replace Iona of 1863. She was built by J & G Thomson of Clydebank, for David Hutcheson & Co., which became David MacBrayne Ltd in 1879. Two...
, finally scrapped in 1935 after 72 years. She ran trials on 25 and 28 May and entered service the following day on the Gourock
Gourock
Gourock is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a seaside resort on the Firth of Clyde...
- Dunoon
Dunoon
Dunoon is a resort town situated on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll, Scotland. It sits on the Firth of Clyde to the south of Holy Loch and to the west of Gourock.-Waterfront:...
service for CSP, with . She remained almost constantly on the Gourock - Dunoon station until November 1971, with the occasional assistance at Arran.
She was troubled by a run of early breakdowns: starboard ramp, hoist, forward capstan, bow-thrust unit and automatic steering. All were duly fixed, but her gearboxes continued to be a regular problem throughout her career. The absence of a turntable at the forward end of her car deck made the management of on-board traffic difficult. Initial problems were exacerbated by the need to use a side-loading hoist. Things improved after she hanselled the new end-loading linkspan
Linkspan
A linkspan or link-span is a type of drawbridge used mainly in the operation of moving vehicles on and off a RO-RO vessel or ferry.Linkspans are usually found at ferry terminals where a vessel uses a combination of ramps either at the stern, bow or side to load or unload cars, vans, trucks and...
at Gourock on 26 July 1971.
In April 1972 Iona moved to the Western Isles, serving Port Askaig
Port Askaig
Port Askaig is a port village on the east coast of the island of Islay, in Scotland.-Transport:Port Askaig serves as the main port of Islay, sharing passenger services to the Scottish mainland with Port Ellen...
and Colonsay
Colonsay
Colonsay is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, located north of Islay and south of Mull and has an area of . It is the ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeill. Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures in length and reaches at its widest...
, but from Oban
Oban
Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban...
rather than West Loch Tarbert. From 1 May she displaced the ageing as the Stornoway
Stornoway
Stornoway is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.The town's population is around 9,000, making it the largest settlement in the Western Isles and the third largest town in the Scottish Highlands after Inverness and Fort William...
mailboat
Mail steamer
Mail steamers were steamships which carried the mail across waterways, such as across an ocean or between islands, primarily during the 19th Century and early 20th Century, when the cost of sending a letter was declining to the point an ordinary person could afford the cost of sending a letter...
, and offered a car-carrying service to Kyle of Lochalsh
Kyle of Lochalsh
Kyle of Lochalsh is a village on the northwest coast of Scotland, 63 miles west of Inverness. It is located at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye...
and Mallaig
Mallaig
Mallaig ; is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line , completed in 1901, and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".The village of Mallaig...
. Iona's basic passenger facilities were less than ideal for the very long sailing to the West Highland railheads. Ullapool
Ullapool
Ullapool is a small town of around 1,300 inhabitants in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest settlement for many miles around, and is a major tourist destination of Scotland. The North Atlantic Drift passes by Ullapool, bringing moderate temperatures...
had been selected as a more suitable mainland port and Iona inaugurated a new terminal and linkspan there on 26 March 1973. Hoist loading continued at Stornoway for another two months. Thereafter Iona bow-loaded at Stornoway and stern-loaded at Ullapool. She was not a popular Lewis mailboat.
Major service problems began on 13 June 1973, when the Stornoway linkspan broke down. Iona had to hoist-load, again, for three days. Then Iona herself broke down, and for several days sailed at 10 knots on one engine. The newly rebuilt also lay idle at Stornoway. Iona again suffered engine trouble in July and spent the rest of that season as the Oban - Craignure
Craignure
Craignure is a village and the main ferry port on the Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, Scotland.The village is located around Craignure Bay, on Mull's east coast. It has a population of roughly 200 people....
ferry, opening the new Oban linkspan on 15 October.
On 29 April 1974, still without a permanent role, she started a new fast "Marine Motorway" from Oban to Castlebay
Castlebay
Castlebay is the main village and a community council area on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is located on the south coast of the island, and overlooks a bay in the Atlantic Ocean dominated by Kisimul Castle, as well as nearby islands such as Vatersay.- Church :The...
and Lochboisdale
Lochboisdale
Lochboisdale is a community and the main population centre on the island of South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland.The town profited from the herring boom in the 19th century, and a steamer pier was built in 1880...
, inaugurating a Lochboisdale linkspan that July and berthing there overnight. Iona included Coll
Coll
Coll is a small island, west of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breachacha Castle.-Geography and geology:...
and Tiree
Tiree
-History:Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland....
only in her winter roster, which also included a non-landing call at Tobermory. She still used her lift at Barra, Coll and Tiree. Even without Coll and Tiree, the sail from Oban to Barra
Barra
The island of Barra is a predominantly Gaelic-speaking island, and apart from the adjacent island of Vatersay, to which it is connected by a causeway, is the southernmost inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.-Geography:The 2001 census showed that the resident population was 1,078...
and South Uist
South Uist
South Uist is an island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. In the 2001 census it had a usually resident population of 1,818. There is a nature reserve and a number of sites of archaeological interest, including the only location in Great Britain where prehistoric mummies have been found. The...
was still a long one and, with very early morning departures. Iona's lack of sleeping berths was greatly criticised. In her 1975 refit, a new deckhouse was added, aft of the officers' accommodation and incorporating eight double cabins. MV Iona completed five seasons on the Oban - Castlebay / Lochboisdale service, but proved increasingly too small, especially with the heavy year-round army traffic to Uist bases via Lochboisdale.
The arrival of the new at Oban and the purchase of Western Ferries' Kennacraig
Kennacraig
Kennacraig is a hamlet situated on West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, a few miles south of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula.Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the terminal, on the rocky islet Eilean Ceann na Creige, to Port Ellen or Port Askaig on Islay and to Colonsay....
facilities in October, finally allowed Iona to take up the Islay service on 15 February 1979. At first she gave three return runs daily between Kennacraig and Port Ellen
Port Ellen
Port Ellen is a small town on the island of Islay, in Argyll, Scotland.Port Ellen is named after the wife of the founder, Frederick Campbell of Islay. Its previous name, Leòdamas, is derived from old Norse meaning "Leòd's Harbour"....
, with two on Sundays. From 24 October 1979, she gave two calls weekly at the newly extended Port Askaig
Port Askaig
Port Askaig is a port village on the east coast of the island of Islay, in Scotland.-Transport:Port Askaig serves as the main port of Islay, sharing passenger services to the Scottish mainland with Port Ellen...
pier. After Western Ferries finally abandoned their Islay service at the end of September 1981, Cal-Mac offered more calls to Port Askaig.
Each winter Iona returned to Oban, relieving Claymore and usually had her own refit in February or March, sometimes at Govan, but more usually in Greenock. Losing her crane in 1983 and a Perspex canopy on her limited open deck space, she was extensively refurbished in 1984. She continued to be bothered with mechanical trouble, usually her gearboxes.
In May 1989, Iona was once again displaced by Claymore, cascading to the Islay station on the commissioning of . Iona took over the Mallaig
Mallaig
Mallaig ; is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line , completed in 1901, and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".The village of Mallaig...
- Armadale
Armadale, Isle of Skye
Armadale is a village near the southern end of the Sleat Peninsula, on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Like most of Sleat, but unlike most of Skye, the area is fairly fertile, and though there are hills, most do not reach a great height...
service. For the first time in sixteen years, she was again on a purely hoist-loading route, until she opened linkspans at Mallaig and Armadale on 1 April 1994. She was a great success at Armadale seeing an increase in traffic, and offering a varying routine of weekend sailings from Mallaig to Castlebay, Lochboisdale. In winter she relieved widely throughout the fleet.
It was not deemed worth massive alterations for her to remain in year-round Cal-Mac service. With the arrival of a new in July 1998, took over the Mallaig - Armadale run and Iona was placed on the sale list. She was sold during the 1997 season to newly reformed Pentland Ferries
Pentland Ferries
Pentland Ferries is a privately owned, family company which has operated a ferry service between Gills Bay in Caithness, Scotland and St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in Orkney since May 2001.-History:...
, eager to revive a Pentland Firth car ferry service from Gills Bay
Gills Bay
Gills Bay, which is situated some 3mls. West of John o' Groats with the community of Gills close by, has one of the longest stretches of low-lying rock coast on the northern shores of Caithness. Its main features are a small harbour and the pier used as the mainland terminal for Pentland Ferries...
in Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
to Burwick
Burwick
Burwick is a small peninsula north of Scalloway in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The Hill of Burwick rises to 107 metres, the Ness of Burwick is a headland that guards the bay of Bur Wick, and Burwick Holm is a small island with an elevation of about 10 metres, just off shore in the Scalloway...
or St Margaret's Hope
St Margaret's Hope
St Margaret's Hope, known locally as The Hope , is a village in the Orkney Islands, situated off the north-east coast of Scotland. It has a population of about 550, making it Orkney's third largest settlement after Kirkwall and Stromness....
on Orkney.
Renamed MV Pentalina-B, it was several seasons before she took up the Gills Bay - Orkney service. In plain red and black funnels, she had an unexpected Cal-Mac charter in May 1998, when sustained a major breakdown before the new was ready for service. She maintained the Oban
Oban
Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban...
- Craignure
Craignure
Craignure is a village and the main ferry port on the Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, Scotland.The village is located around Craignure Bay, on Mull's east coast. It has a population of roughly 200 people....
service for just under three weeks, in partnership with .
Pentalina-Bs hoist and side ramps were removed in the summer of 1999.
From 2006 to 2009 Pentalina-B was chartered out in her off-season, to carry livestock across the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
from Dover. She was chartered to Cal-Mac in December 2008, operating the Ullapool
Ullapool
Ullapool is a small town of around 1,300 inhabitants in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest settlement for many miles around, and is a major tourist destination of Scotland. The North Atlantic Drift passes by Ullapool, bringing moderate temperatures...
- Stornoway
Stornoway
Stornoway is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.The town's population is around 9,000, making it the largest settlement in the Western Isles and the third largest town in the Scottish Highlands after Inverness and Fort William...
freight run in place of . She was again chartered to Cal-Mac in April 2009, operating a freight run from Kennacraig
Kennacraig
Kennacraig is a hamlet situated on West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, a few miles south of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula.Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the terminal, on the rocky islet Eilean Ceann na Creige, to Port Ellen or Port Askaig on Islay and to Colonsay....
to Port Askaig
Port Askaig
Port Askaig is a port village on the east coast of the island of Islay, in Scotland.-Transport:Port Askaig serves as the main port of Islay, sharing passenger services to the Scottish mainland with Port Ellen...
.
She was sold in late 2009 to an owner in Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
and passed through the Irish Sea on 10 January 2010, en route for Mindelo
Mindelo
For the parish in Portugal, see Mindelo, PortugalMindelo , is a port city in the northern part of the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde. Mindelo is also the seat of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Luz, and this island's municipality...
. On the delivery voyage, she suffered water ingress and was towed to Brest Roads for repair.
Layout
MV Iona bore hardly any resemblance to a previous Ailsa car ferry like or the 1964 trio of MacBrayne ferries. The most obvious influence was her intended rival, , built in Norway for Western Ferries in 1968 – the first drive-through ferry in west coast waters.MV Iona was ten feet longer than , and of greater draft, but twin rudders gave her greater manoeuvrability than the earlier MacBrayne ferries. She was the company's first vessel without traditional teak decking. Her vehicle facilities impressed, but passenger accommodation compared poorly with the 1964 ships. She had very little open deck space for passengers. Forward on the boat deck ('B' Deck), there was a full-width lounge for 101 passengers with seating upholstered in blue until they were recovered with sick coloured vinyl in 1984. High bows obstructed the forward view for seated passengers. Aft of this, a deckhouse held a cafeteria. On the lower deck ('E' Deck'), below the car deck were a smoke-room/bar (no longer used) and crew quarters. Unusually for a large MacBrayne ship, Iona had no sleeping accommodation for passengers.
MV Ionas main machinery was twin Paxman engines, each driving a fixed-pitch propeller through a gearbox, reducing an engine speed of 900 rpm to a propeller speed of 300 rpm. The first ship in the company's history to have such geared transmission, these gearboxes were a regular source of trouble throughout her career. She was equipped with Denny-Brown retractable stabilisers and a bow-thrust controllable-pitch propeller. Engine Control was possible from the consoles in the engine-room, in the wheelhouse, in the bridge wings, or at the aft end of the navigation bridge deck, for astern working.
MV Iona's car deck could take vehicles up to 16.5 feet in height and 32-ton in weight. She had a bow visor, a stern-and side-ramps with a hoist that could handle 27.5 tons. Traffic for the hoist was marshalled by automatic barriers. Her bow-visor, raised by a racking system, rather than a hinge, was not watertight, limiting her passenger-carrying capacity later in her career. The bow-ramp was in several sections, which coiled back into the vehicle deck, reducing available car spaces.
Service
| for Calmac: | |
| 1970 - 1971 | Gourock Gourock Gourock is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a seaside resort on the Firth of Clyde... - Dunoon Dunoon Dunoon is a resort town situated on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll, Scotland. It sits on the Firth of Clyde to the south of Holy Loch and to the west of Gourock.-Waterfront:... (charter to CSP) |
| 1972 | Stornoway Stornoway Stornoway is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.The town's population is around 9,000, making it the largest settlement in the Western Isles and the third largest town in the Scottish Highlands after Inverness and Fort William... - Kyle Kyle of Lochalsh Kyle of Lochalsh is a village on the northwest coast of Scotland, 63 miles west of Inverness. It is located at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye... - Mallaig Mallaig Mallaig ; is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line , completed in 1901, and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".The village of Mallaig... |
| 1973 | Stornoway - Ullapool Ullapool Ullapool is a small town of around 1,300 inhabitants in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest settlement for many miles around, and is a major tourist destination of Scotland. The North Atlantic Drift passes by Ullapool, bringing moderate temperatures... |
| 1974 - 1978 | Oban Oban Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban... - Castlebay Castlebay Castlebay is the main village and a community council area on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is located on the south coast of the island, and overlooks a bay in the Atlantic Ocean dominated by Kisimul Castle, as well as nearby islands such as Vatersay.- Church :The... - Lochboisdale Lochboisdale Lochboisdale is a community and the main population centre on the island of South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland.The town profited from the herring boom in the 19th century, and a steamer pier was built in 1880... |
| February 1979 - May 1989 | Kennacraig Kennacraig Kennacraig is a hamlet situated on West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, a few miles south of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula.Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the terminal, on the rocky islet Eilean Ceann na Creige, to Port Ellen or Port Askaig on Islay and to Colonsay.... - Islay Islay -Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far... |
| 1989 - 1993 | Mallaig - Armadale Armadale, Isle of Skye Armadale is a village near the southern end of the Sleat Peninsula, on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Like most of Sleat, but unlike most of Skye, the area is fairly fertile, and though there are hills, most do not reach a great height... (& - Tobermory - Coll Coll Coll is a small island, west of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breachacha Castle.-Geography and geology:... - Tiree Tiree -History:Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland.... ) |
| 1994 - 1997 | Mallaig - Armadale (& - Castlebay - Lochboisdale) |
| for Pentland Ferries Pentland Ferries Pentland Ferries is a privately owned, family company which has operated a ferry service between Gills Bay in Caithness, Scotland and St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in Orkney since May 2001.-History:... : |
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| 2001 - 2007 | Gills Bay Gills Bay Gills Bay, which is situated some 3mls. West of John o' Groats with the community of Gills close by, has one of the longest stretches of low-lying rock coast on the northern shores of Caithness. Its main features are a small harbour and the pier used as the mainland terminal for Pentland Ferries... - St Margaret's Hope St Margaret's Hope St Margaret's Hope, known locally as The Hope , is a village in the Orkney Islands, situated off the north-east coast of Scotland. It has a population of about 550, making it Orkney's third largest settlement after Kirkwall and Stromness.... |
| 2006 - 2009 | Dover Dover Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings... - Dunkerque |
| April 2009 | Kennacraig Kennacraig Kennacraig is a hamlet situated on West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, a few miles south of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula.Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the terminal, on the rocky islet Eilean Ceann na Creige, to Port Ellen or Port Askaig on Islay and to Colonsay.... - Port Askaig |