The 'Small Island' class vessels

The mini fleet were responsible for inaugurating several new services during their heyday. The Kilbrannan opened the new crossing from Kintyre to Arran, while a short while later her sister, the Morvern started a crossing from Fishnish, six miles north-west of Craignure on Mull, to a new slipway just inside the mouth of Lochaline, fifteen minutes sail across the Sound of Mull.

Both of these vessels were soon superseded by larger sisters, the Rhum and the Bruernish respectively, and the smaller ferries went on to pastures new. The Morvern went on to serve Lismore on a new crossing from Oban, take over the Scalpay service from the old turntable ferry Scalpay and finally in 1979 settle down on another new car ferry service form Fionnphort on the western tip of the Ross of Mull to the sacred isle that is Iona, although it was deemed necessary to restrict the vehicle service so that only islanders’ vehicles and those of necessary services would be carried.

Things were more settled for the Kilbrannan however. Following replacement at Lochranza, she spent some time as relief vessel, often backing up the Cumbrae ferries at busy periods before heading to the Outer Hebrides in 1977 when she took over the Scalpay service – a service she was to remain on for over a decade.

By the end of 1973 there were five members of the class: Kilbrannan, Morvern, Bruernish, Rhum and Coll; the Coll arriving on the scene as the new dedicated Lochaline ferry in November of that year, following a short spell relieving at Mallaig. Following displacement from the Lochaline service by the new Coll in late 1973, the Bruernish adopted the role of spare unit and also undertook charter workings until she was finally given her own long-term employment on yet another new route.

In 1979 Gigha could no longer be served by the Islay ferry due to the Iona being of too deep a draught. Bruernish was dispatched to Kennacraig where she took charge of a temporary service to Gigha before a new slipway and pier were constructed for her at Tayinloan, nearly twenty miles south of Kennacraig and only a twenty minute passage time from the island. Apart from overhauls, Bruernish seldom deviated from this crossing for nearly fifteen years.

There was a gap in construction of over a year before the second batch of ferries appeared in the local waters. The sixth ‘Island Class’ ferry was named Eigg and duly appeared in service in the early part of 1975 running from Portree on Skye to the island of Raasay. Again this was to be a short-term job. Vessel seven was launched in January 1976 and named Canna she replaced the Eigg on the Raasay service in April, opening the new Sconser slipway at the same time – a development that reduced the crossing time to just fifteen minutes and allowing a much more frequent service for the islanders.

The Canna was also only a temporary vessel, as upon entry of the final member of the class, Raasay, she too was sent for alternative employment and something of a cascade of vessels was seen. Eigg began her current career serving the islanders of Lismore whilst the Canna replaced the Coll on the Lochaline crossing.

The fleet of ‘Island Class’ ferries was now complete, just four years after it was first started. Through the rest of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s these little ferries worked hard on their respective routes and traffic built up quickly on some crossings. Perhaps the largest growth was seen on Canna’s Fishnish – Lochaline crossing where vehicles were frequently being left behind for the next sailing. Following the introduction of the first ‘Loch Class’ ferries in July 1986, Canna assumed the spare role, replaced on the Sound of Mull crossing by the Isle of Cumbrae; a vessel with three times the vehicle capacity.

In many ways it could be argued that the coming of the ‘Loch Class’ ferries heralded the beginning of the end for some of the little bow-loaders. 1987 saw the Rhum follow in the footsteps of the Canna when she was replaced on the Lochranza crossing by the appropriately named Loch Ranza. Caledonian MacBrayne now had three spare vessels of a design that was by this time acknowledged as being too small for solo use on a growing number of crossings. As it was, these vessels were soon found new work; the Coll (spare since 1976) was assigned to the Tobermory – Kilchoan service although this was passenger only at first; the Canna and then Rhum both had spells of service at Iona, partnering the hard-pressed Morvern on a route that had seen passenger numbers rise sharply following the introduction of the new 1000 passenger capacity Isle of Mull on the service from Oban. The Canna went on to replace the smaller Kilbrannan on the Scalpay service from 1990 to 1997 whilst the Rhum opened yet another new route in 1994 from Tarbert on Loch Fyne to the tiny village of Portavadie on the eastern shore of the loch.

A new wave of ‘redundancies’ came in 1992 when the new Loch Buie and Loch Tarbert were introduced on the Iona and Lochranza routes respectively. These new arrivals signalled the end for the Morvern on the Iona run and for the Bruernish on the Gigha run (the 5 year old Loch Ranza was transferred from Arran on the Loch Tarbert’s arrival), although the Morvern did win a temporary reprieve when the new ferry damaged a propulsion unit on the Fionnphort slipway on her first day in service and was sent away for repairs. Ultimately though, the latest arrivals did spell the end for the Kilbrannan which was sold out of the fleet in 1992.

While all this was going on it appeared that there was demand for a car ferry service to Kilchoan from Tobermory, and once the necessary infrastructure was in place, the Coll duly obliged. Traffic grew on this service and it eventually became a full year-round service, upgraded from seasonal status. Things remained settled in the fleet for a couple of years, with two spare units: Morvern and Bruernish providing back up and cover where necessary.

There was only one obvious choice when it came to deciding which spare vessel was no longer required in 1995 and so it was that the Morvern, with her capacity of just four cars was sold out of the fleet and went to join her older sister in Ireland. The Coll and the Rhum, the latter having seen out the end of the Scalpay service, followed suit in the April 1998, leaving just four of the ‘Island Class’ ships in CalMac service as the new millennium dawned.

Bruernish saw increasingly less active service as she was designated as a spare vessel, spending time lying idle on the Clyde and at Oban at various points. Her only duties now involved occasional relief stints on the Lismore service while Eigg was away at Corpach for her overhauls, at Rathlin to cover for Canna or the odd spell covering on the Tobermory - Kilchoan route - even forming half of a two-ship service with Raasay for a brief spell when Loch Linnhe was called away to cover elsewhere. Such events were something of a rarity and Bruernish was put up for sale in the summer of 2006, departing from Scottish waters in September, bound for Ireland.

Canna was seldom seen in Scotland after taking over as the dedicated Ballycastle - Rathlin ferry and generally she only returned north for her annual pilgrimage to the slipway at Corpach, usually in the late summer. She left CalMac service on 1st July 2008 when her Rathlin service contract was passed to local operator Rathlin Ferries Ltd.

This left just Eigg and Raasay in service and they would remain so for nearly ten more seasons. Eigg continued as the Lismore ferry until 2013. Her services became surplus to requirements following the Loch Striven's arrival in Oban and she was retained as a back-up ferry. In truth she spent much of the time lying at the berth adjacent to Oban slipway and only ventured forth for occasional relief work on the Lismore run and a very brief spell on the winter Kilchoan service. Her passenger certificates were maintained up until her departure from the CalMac fleet in April 2018.

Raasay on the other hand saw far more action with CalMac following Bruernish's departure. She was the dedicated winter ferry on the Kilchoan service and also the relief ferry dispatched to Rathlin up until CalMac lost the contract to run the route. Up to 2008 Raasay was also the relief car ferry for the Small Isles while Lochnevis was away in the autumn, running a seemingly ad-hoc service and playing second fiddle to various chartered passenger launches, usually Ullin of Staffa. Raasay was also called upon to provide emergency relief cover on a number of occasions. This wasn't just restricted to the Lismore and Kilchoan services however, and in January 2009 she was called in to keep a frequent service running to Gigha following a spell of particularly stormy weather which rendered Tayinloan inaccessible for the larger Lochs. There was a very brief spell on the Port Askaig - Jura service - she was brought down from Tobermory for one day's work following a breakdown of the regular ferry. Raasay's final irregular bout of relief duty came in September 2017 when she was brought round to the Clyde and was pressed into service shuttling back forth between Tarbert and Portavadie whilst Isle of Cumbrae was suffering from mechanical woes. Her last passenger service came four months later, towards the end of January, serving Kilchoan. She was up for sale by this point and was handed over to her new owners on 28th February 2018.

Text thanks to John MacLeod and updated by Ships of CalMac