page_title: MV Clansman (1964)
section_title: Service
hierarchical_section_title: MV Clansman (1964) / Service
caption_attribution_description: English: MV Clansman; view from astern
context_page_description: MV Clansman was the second of a trio of hoist-loading car ferries built for David MacBrayne Ltd in 1964 and operated on the Mallaig to Armadale, Skye route for ten years. Converted to ro-ro operation, she operated on the Stornoway, Isle of Mull and Arran services. Underpowered and troubled by mechanical breakdowns, she was taken out of service after just 20 years.
context_section_description: Clansman entered service on the Mallaig to Armadale, Skye crossing, replacing the former Outer Isles mail steamer Lochmor, which had been displaced by the arrival of MV Hebrides. Her primary function was as a relief vessel and she was considerably under-employed on the summer Skye crossing. From June 1967, she added Minch crossings to her summer roster, initially to Lochboisdale, and from 1971 to Castlebay.
  In 1969, Clansman become the first MacBrayne vessel to circumnavigate Britain when she sailed to London for a ten-day "Highland Fling" extravaganza thrown by the Highlands and Islands Development Board. For five months in early 1970 she had a yellow funnel while on charter to the CSP, operating between Gourock and Dunoon, awaiting the new MV Iona. 1971 saw varied service, with a temporary service from Oban to Port Askaig and Colonsay, and relief on the Inner Isles Mail.
  Following her 1972/73 rebuild at the Ailsa yard in Troon, Clansman took over the new Ullapool to Stornoway car ferry service, inaugurated earlier in 1973 by MV Iona. The service was disrupted when Iona suffered an engine failure in June 1973 and Clansman was rushed to the Minch while work continued on board and soon broke down herself. Eventually, the service settled down, but Clansman was both vulnerable to serious weather and too slow and by 1974 was replaced by the new MV Suilven. Clansman spent several seasons on the Isle of Mull crossing, before moving to Arran. Clansman continued to deputise on the Ullapool to Stornoway service throughout the 1970s and early 1980s while Suilven went for overhaul.
  Withdrawn from service following a serious mechanical breakdown in March 1984, Clansman was sold to Torbay Seaways for a new service to the Channel Islands. The inability to construct a linkspan, led to her sister, MV Hebrides running the service. Clansman was sold to Maltese owners for Red Sea service. Her last entry in Lloyd's Register was in 1994-95.
caption: 1979 at Brodick, Arran.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.6.6", "Image DateTime": "2013:08:10 23:33:22", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.6.8", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "296", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5273", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered"}