Builders: A & J Inglis Pointhouse 1953
Propulsion type: Paddle Compound diagonal by Rankin & Beardmore, Greenock
Owners: Caledonian Steam Packet Co Ltd, becoming Caledonian MacBrayne. Now owned by Loch Lomond Steamship Company
Service dates: 1953 - 1981
Tonnage: Gross 555 tons
Comments:
This picture is previously unpublished and comes from a slide kindly loaned by Cyril Perrier, who took the picture at Balloch Pier on 1 June 1971.
The Maid of the Loch is the largest inland steamer ever built for British waters and was the last of her kind built in Britain. She replaced two older, smaller vessels on Loch Lomond and had a troubled history, right from the start. Labelled the "Great White Elephant", she was maligned by many commentators as being too big, over crewed and unviable. She narrowly escaped the axe many times until the owners, Caledonian MacBrayne, withdrew services at the turn of the eighties. Laid up, she passed through a succession of owners and would have had the same fate as her eighties sister ship, the Countess Fiona who was burned to pieces by torch, if it were not for the dedication of a band of individuals who sought to turn the ship's fortunes round. Now owned by caring owners, the Loch Lomond Steamship Company, her future seems more or less secure and she is currently undergoing extensive restoration at Balloch Pier.
My thanks go toBruce Biddulph, who kindly supplied the narrative for this page.
For two pictures fromTom McGrattan taken on board on 6 August 1981, in her last operational season, please click here.