Two well-known Caledonian MacBrayne ferries celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2024. The Norwegian-built Suilven and the Edinburgh-built Pioneer, which not only entered service in the same year, but went on to became reliable and dependable vessels within the Cal Mac fleet, both met unfortunate ends after having been sold abroad.
SUILVEN (1974-2015)
Suilven was purchased by Caledonian MacBrayne for the Stornoway to Ullapool route as a replacement for the 1964-built Clansman. A new direct link from Stornoway to Ullapool had commenced in March 1973, in what was the first year of Caledonian MacBrayne’s operations. Clansman proved unreliable due to mechanical breakdowns, and was not a long-term solution to the route, so the new company looked for additional tonnage.
In December 1973 they came across a Norwegian ship, the keel of which had just been laid. Cal Mac acquired the vessel, named it Suilven after a prominent peak in Sutherland, and modified her to meet British standards for the Lewis service. Launched on 19 April 1974, she became the largest vessel and flagship of the CalMac fleet. On trials she reached a top speed of almost 15 knots.
Due to a strike of electricians in Norway, she was not handed over encountered bad weather in the North Sea, but was found to cope well with this. She lay at Gourock for a week while finishing touches were made to her, before heading to Oban for trials.
