Cruising around Loch Lomond, the Trossachs and the Clyde in the 1960's

PS Maid of the Loch was the last large paddle steamer built in the UK but has not sailed in over three decades.Constructed on the Clyde in 1953 at the A&J Inglis yard at Pointhouse she was dismantled and re-built at Balloch on Loch Lomond. From her home port of Balloch, the steamer sailed the length of Loch Lomond for the next 29 years. A decline in passenger numbers and various other cost pressures saw her laid up in 1981. Restoration efforts soon began and in 1992 she was bought by the local council before a charitable trust was formed to oversee the project.
In September 2018 the Heritage Lottery Fund turned down the Maid for vital funding which would have seen her sailing again in 2019. The fight continues to return the Maid to service.

SS Sir Walter Scott is a small steamship that has provided pleasure cruises and a ferry service on Loch Katrine in the scenic Trossachs of Scotland for more than a century, and is the only surviving screw steamer in regular passenger service in Scotland. It is named after the writer Walter Scott. Denny's assembled Sir Walter Scott at their yard in 1899 and completed its reassembly and launch on the loch in 1900.

The PS Comet replica was built by local shipyard apprentices in 1961/2 to mark the 150th anniversary of the launch of the original PS Comet on 24th July 1812. On 2nd September 1962, she sailed under steam from Port Glasgow to Helensburgh (home of Henry Bell, owner of the original PS Comet) with a dozen local dignitaries on board.

SS Canberra was an ocean liner, which later operated on cruises, in the P&O fleet from 1961 to 1997. She was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland at a cost of £17,000,000. The ship was named on 17 March 1958, after the federal capital of Australia, Canberra. She was launched on 16 March 1960, sponsored by Dame Pattie Menzies, GBE, wife of the then Prime Minister of Australia.

PS Caledonia was built by William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton for the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. She was launched on Thursday 1 February 1934 and completed later that year.
In 1939 she was converted to a minesweeper and renamed HMS Goatfell. Her wartime service continued after 1941 as an anti aircraft ship.
In 1969 she was retired from service and sold for scrap. Saved by subsequent sale to Bass-Charrington, she served as a floating pub and restaurant named Old Caledonia on the Victoria Embankment of the River Thames. Badly damaged by fire in 1980, she was beyond economic repair and was scrapped in July 1980 at Milton Creek on The Swale near Sittingbourne, Kent.
Caledonia’s engines were saved and are preserved at the Hollycombe Steam collection near Liphook, Hampshire.

MV Cowal was a hoist-loading vehicle ferry introduced by Caledonian Steam Packet Company in 1954. She spent the whole of her 24 years with Caledonian MacBrayne on the Upper Clyde crossings.
MV Cowal was the second of a trio of vehicle vessels ordered in 1951 to modernise the Clyde fleet. Three "general purpose" vessels were planned for the Clyde routes of their names,MV Arran,MV Bute and MV Cowal. Built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Cowal was launched at Troon on 20 January 1954.
Cowal was the last vessel to receive the new CalMac livery, retaining the vivid CSP yellow funnel until 1974.After 24 years' service, she was laid up in East India Harbour, Greenock from early June 1977.

Clyde Hover Ferries operated a hovercraft ferry service connecting Rothesay with locations such as Wemyss Bay,Gourock,Dunoon,Millport,Tarbert and Largs. The Largs service was terminated when the local council decided they had the right to impose a charge for the hovercraft's use of the shore. A service to Helensburgh never materialised, as a suitable landing area was not available.The service was only to last from 1965 to 1966.

RMS Queen Elizabeth was constructed in the mid-1930s by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, the build was known as Hull 552. Launched on 27 September 1938, she was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, then Queen Consort to King George VI, who became the Queen Mother in 1952. She has the distinction of being the largest-ever riveted ship by gross tonnage. She first entered service in February 1940 as a troopship in World War II, and it was not until October 1946 that she served in her intended role as an ocean liner.Finally the Elizabeth was sold to Hong Kong businessman Tung Chao Yung, who intended to convert her into a floating university cruise ship now called the Seawise University. In 1972, while undergoing refurbishment in Hong Kong harbour, fire broke out aboard under unexplained circumstances and the ship was capsized by the water used to fight the fire. In 1973, the wreck was deemed an obstruction to shipping in the area, and so was partially scrapped where she lay.

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