At the end of the 1935 season, Messrs David Macbrayne & Co. Ltd, took possession of the two turbine steamers, Queen Alexandra and King George V that had belonged to Turbine Steamers Ltd. In May 1936, Queen Alexandra reappeared from the yard of Messrs J. Lamont & Co. Ltd. of Port Glasgow, sporting a mainmast, and a much elongated upper deck to accommodate a third red, black-topped funnel, drawing immediate positive comment as it reminded Clydesiders of the Cunard-White-Star liner Queen Mary that had been such an important image of the slow recovery of the shipbuilding industry on the river. Though the third funnel was a dummy, the new name selected for the vessel, Saint Columba, was also inspired as it cemented the link to the famous Columba, scrapped at the end of the 1935 season, that she was to replace.
Saint Columba 1936 (Robertson)
Saint Columba 1936 (Valentine)
Saint Columba 1936
Saint Columba 1936 (Adamson)
Saint Columba 1936 (Valentine)
Sailing from the Broomielaw at 7:10 a.m., like her predecessor, she conducted the summer service through the Kyles of Bute to Ardrishaig as part of the Royal Route swift steamer connection to the Western Isles and Highlands.
Saint Columba September 10, 1937
In 1937, she was converted to oil burning and that year, a series of postcards of her route was produced by James Valentine. The Ardrishaig postcards were reminiscent of a famous view dating from 1878 of Columba in her first season.
Saint Columba at Tarbert in 1937 (Valentine)
Saint Columba at Ardrishaig in 1937 (Valentine)
Columba at Ardrishaig in 1878 (Valentine)
Saint Columba at Ardrishaig in 1937 (Valentine)
Saint Columba from above Colintraive in 1937 (Valentine)
Saint Columba at Dunoon in 1937 (Valentine)
Other postcard makers also found Saint Columba photogenic.
Saint Columba off Tighnabruaich (Spencer)
Saint Columba in the Kyles of Bute (Spencer)
Saint Columba at Princes Pier on July 1, 1939
Saint Columba following King Edward upriver from Port Glasgow
During World War II, Saint Columba was laid up in East India Harbour as an accommodation ship. She returned to service in 1947 with Gourock rather than the Broomielaw as her base, and was a splash of colour in the Clyde steamer fleet in the early 1950s when black-topped buff funnels were the norm.
Saint Columba 1948 (Valentine)
Saint Columba 1948 (Valentine)
Saint Columba at Ardrishaig 1950 (Valentine)
Saint Columba Innellan around 1950 (Miller & Lang)
Saint Columba in Rothesay Bay in September 1952
Saint Columba 1957 at Dunoon
She was scrapped at Port Glasgow at the end of the 1958 season.
Saint Columba in her last season in the Kyles
CLD Duckworth and GE Langmuir, “Clyde River and Other Steamers” Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, 1990.