By Golfnut, Ferry Correspondent

I’m not sure what fond memories Neil Arthur [in the Herald letters page yesterday] has of the ‘ service ‘ in bygone days, but I can assure you they’ve never had it so good. They’ve lost the service to the Isle of Man and Ireland but they were provided by different companies and presumably we’re discontinued in the modern era as financially unviable. The current 2 ship service dates back to 2004 and that service provision would have quickly disappeared had the Scottish government not introduced subsidies which 1, kept the service provision viable and 2, made the the service affordable to the islanders and tourists. This applies across the fleet with some destinations barely washing their face financially.

The much abused phrase ‘ lifeline service ‘ applies to the provision provided by the Scottish Government, because without those subsidies that life line service for a lot of islanders wouldn’t exist.

It was 1957 that the Arran crossing became a modern car ferry service, upon the introduction of the now much-missed Glen Sannox. Initially Arran was served in the summer from Ardrossan and in winter from the more sheltered pier at Fairlie a few miles up the Ayrshire coast. Hoist loading was the order of the day for the first 13 years of car ferry operation, as neither terminal had a linkspan.

The Glen sannox was a fast vessel, achieving around 18 knots when she entered service. Because of this and her substantial passenger complement (1100) she became a popular ferry with islanders and tourists over the years. However, over the years she did encounter one main problem; her hoist – or rather the limitations it imposed. Being hydraulically operated it became slower moving and at low tides especially this led to substantial delays, often for tourists returning to the mainland at the end of a weekend.

It was in 1969 that a replacement vessel of drive through capabilities was purchased. The new ferry was formerly known as the Stena Baltica and after some months undergoing safety modifications, she took over the Ardrossan – Brodick crossing at the end of May 1970 as the Caledonia, reviving a name that had only been taken out of use the previous season.

Equipped with a visor, bow and stern ramps, the Caledonia could complete the crossing in just under an hour and required much less in the way of turnround time compared to her predecessor. She did have one fairly major drawback in that her vehicle capacity was only for about 40 cars and 650 passengers during the summer (less than 150 in winter). Before too long it was clear that another solution was required.

​From the summer of 1976, Arran was served by the converted ferry Clansman which could carry significantly more cars than the smaller Caledonia, although the latter would resume the route during the winter seasons until that of 1983/84. The Clansman remained on the Clyde’s longest crossing until the end of 1983 when a new, purpose-built ships was launched for impending entry into service.
The Isle of Arran maintained the main Arran crossing for nine years and set a new level of passenger comfort when she entered service – something which was repeatedly improved upon with subsequent launches.

Isle of Arran, like her two recent predecessors, used her bow visor and ramp at Ardrossan (or Gourock in inclement weather) and her stern at Brodick to load up to 76 cars on each sailling. But even with this level of capacity for cars, traffic levels still continued to increase and the Isle of Arran fell victim to her own success and so in 1993 she was cast aside in favour of the brand new Caledonian Isles – by far the grandest ship to serve Arran in terms of facilities on board, but not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye!

The new arrival incorporated an intermediate level car deck to increase her capacity to 110 and her passenger accommodation was suitable for almost 1000 – only 100 short of the old Glen Sannox complement. In the first few seasons, the giant new ferry would be relieved by either her predecessor or the general relief vessel Iona.

After ten years on the crossing, the Caledonian Isles had, like all her predecessors, seen traffic levels rise during her employment there. In 2004 there was growing speculation that interests in Kintyre were eyeing up the Arran route with a view to running a rival ferry service, utilising former fleet member Claymore. This may or may not have led CalMac to announce that they would be running a two-ship service to Arran during the summer months in 2005. Their plan involved upgrading the Saturn, newly released from the Upper Clyde by the arrival of Bute, to Class III standard and deploying her as second ferry, based in Brodick. The deployment was officially a trial at first, but perhaps inevitably Saturn found herself returning in the summer months thereafter.

The two-ship situation has continued every summer since and following Finlaggan’s introduction at Islay in 2011, the Brodick based second vessel role fell to Isle of Arran. In addition to serving Arran she also began a further trial service and this saw her sailing three times a week from Ardrossan to Campbeltown, returning the following morning and calling in at Brodick on her inward Saturday