It seems hard to imagine that the Messrs David MacBrayne Ltd., so well known for maintaining veteran steamboats over the years, were early pioneers in the application of oil propulsion in the early 1900s. Their first acquisition was the Win in 1907, renamed the Comet and used initially in the Ballachulish to Kinlochleven service while the aluminium smelter was being built there. Win had been built in 1905 by Messrs Robertson of London and was just 43 tons. She was powered by two 4-cylinder paraffin engines supplied by Messrs Gardner of Manchester, each driving one of her twin screws. Her later career on the Clyde is recorded in a previous article. The second steamer was the Scout, built for the company at Troon by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., in 1907. At 100 tons, she was powered by two 4-cylinder paraffin engines by Messrs Griffin of Bath each driving one of her twin screws. The motors were designed to accept fuel from the Scottish oil shale industry that was exploiting “Paraffin” Young’s discoveries. Scout was also placed on the Kinlochleven service and her greater capacity and improved passenger accommodation was appreciated. Unfortunately, she was destroyed by fire in August 1913 after an engine malfunction.

It is with the third and most successful vessel, Lochinvar, that this article is mainly concerned. She was launched by Messrs Scott & Sons, Bowling, on April 16, 1908, and was 145 feet long by 24 feet in the beam with a depth of 7½ feet. In her original configuration, the three Gardner motors, each driving one of the three screws, exhausted into a single tall funnel much like that of the Scout.

“Messrs David MacBrayne are evidently determined to exploit the oil motor for all it is worth. A year ago last April the Ailsa Company launched for them the 100-ton steamer Scout, which has been fitted with oil motors by the Griffin Engineering Co., Bath. The vessel is not yet on service, and nothing has been made public as to the success of the machinery. Without waiting for the full trials of this boat, however, the firm are now fitting with Gardner oil motors the 200-ton vessel Lochinvar, launched for them recently by Messrs Scott & Sons, Bowling. The Lochinvar will have 18-cylinder paraffin engines driving triple screws, while the Scout has 11-cylinder engines driving twin screws, and intended to use Scottish crude shale oil. There is, therefore, sufficient differences between the vessels to make comparison extremely interesting—after they are both on service.”—Greenock Telegraph, June 12, 1908

An early view of Lochinvar at Oban

Lochinvar was placed on the year-round Oban, Sound of Mull to Tobermory mail service and replaced the paddle steamer Carabinier. She was fitted with a crane amidships and was a popular and reliable member of the fleet.

Carabinier at Salen Pier, Mull

There was a great deal of interest from the shipping community regarding the economics of the new motor ships the Messrs MacBrayne had put into service.

“Messrs. MacBrayne are remarkably reticent regarding the performances of their oil motor vessels Scout and Lochinvar, and they can hardly grumble if the public are inclined to suspect that they are not quite so successful as the firm expected. As a matter of fact, however, I understand that the boats are very satisfactory indeed. The twin-screw motors on the Scout and the triple-screw motors on the Lochinvar work very well, and are as efficient in most ways as the steam engines are on the firm’s vessels of similar size. There is no saving in cost of fuel, as one ton of oil does the work of and costs about as much as six tons of coal. There is, however, a great saving in supplying the fuel to the vessels. Oil is much easier to transport to the West Highland piers, and this alone counts for very much in such a service as Messrs. MacBrayne conduct. Then it can be stowed away so well on board that the space required in other ships for coal bunkers is almost all saved. I have spoken to a Clyde engineer who did a few runs on one of the boats, and he was loud in their praise.”—Lloyd’s List, December 24, 1908

Once the boats had been in service for a while, the interest continued.

“Any make of engine fitted.—Passenger motor vessels.—The MacBrayne experiments. (from a correspondent) It is not so strange as it may seem that the most important service of motor vessels in this country is so little known. I refer, of course, to the three David MacBrayne boats which are working so regularly and successfully in the Western Highlands. The mere fact that three such vessels are in service is of itself instructive, but far more instructive is the fact that the vessels were not ordered simultaneously, but successively. And some of the advantages which they have shown themselves to possess, and which I feel sure were not anticipated, show new merits of the marine oil engine in its application to passenger vessels.

“Curiosity will not be satisfied short of knowing the profits which these vessels earn, and how the profits compare with the earnings of steamers which run under similar conditions. On this point the directors of the MacBrayne firm are absolutely reticent. They have, in fact, set themselves against making public even the slightest details concerning these vessels. This does not, however, prevent one altogether from obtaining information, since it is open to anybody to take trips on either of the three vessels. It is on such evidence that I base the following appreciation of their advantages.

Comet on the Clyde (Robertson)

“Sound financial results.—The three boats are Comet, Scout, and Lochinvar, 65 feet, 100 feet. and 145 feet respectively, and with Gardner engines of 100-h.p., 200-h.p., and 300.h.p. Other details may be gathered from Lloyd’s Register or from the Mercantile Navy List. Inasmuch as the second boat was ordered after experience had been obtained of the first, and the third after experience of the second, it is a fair inference that so far as enterprise has led the MacBrayne firm it has had sound financial results. One cannot imagine that either the second or third boat would have been built if the preceding boat or boats had been unsatisfactory either in work or in earnings.

Scout at Ballachulish

“The conditions under which the three motor services are run are not unusual. Comet, the smallest boat, maintains communication between Ballachulish and Kinlochleven, two busy places at opposite ends of Loch Leven, and about six miles apart. Nearly all her traffic consists of passengers, and she runs in each direction several times each day throughout the year. Scout works in the same district, but makes only one round trip in the day, her route being from Fort William to places on the shores of Loch Linnhe, tapping the head of the coast railway to Oban, and calling at Ballachulish on her way to Kinlochleven. She gets small consignments, from 1 cwt. upwards, and carries, in addition to mails and passengers, any cattle or sheep that have to be sent across the water. Twice a week she makes two round trips, but of unequal duration. Throughout the winter, as throughout the summer, she runs regularly according to time-table, and during the two years she has been in service she has never missed a trip, although the steamer which previously did her work occasionally Iost a journey in the winter. These waters may appear sheltered, but terrific squalls rush down the passes between the hills without warning, and where not a minute previously the boat was running on an even keel she may lay over at 40 deg.

Scout on Loch Leven

“Tourist traffic.—In the summer time there is a large tourist traffic, but on an ordinary fine day in April I have seen no more than two passengers aboard. In fact, during the winter, passengers are scarce. The same applies to Lochinvar, which makes a round trip daily between Tobermory and Oban, through the sound of Mull. In each of these cases during eight hours’ running the boat makes a dozen or more calls, which may each last from five minutes to half an hour, according to the amount of cargo to be landed or to be shipped, and in addition there is a wait of about one hour by the time-table—which may be reduced to make up for lost time on the journey—at Oban or Kinlochleven, as the case may be.

“In these services there are very big stand-by losses for steamers. The use of the oil engines, however, abolishes such losses altogether, for when the boats are alongside the quay the engines are stopped and the consumption of fuel ceases. The saving effected in this manner must be very large, because it extends also to the commencement and finish of the day’s work. Instead of banking up the fires at night, and having to make them bright again in the morning, which consumes an amount of coal that adds up to a big total during the year, the fuel cocks are shut off at night, and not an ounce of oil is used until the ship gets under way next day. At each pier or quay a similar economy is effected, so that, whereas in a steamer one would have to keep the fires bright for, say, eight hours, and then bank them for the remaining 16, on the motor vessel there is no consumption of fuel during 19 hours out of the 24. This big difference is in itself sufficient to make it just as cheap to use paraffin at 5d. per gallon as to use coal at 15s. per ton, or whatever the price may be in these Highland districts.

“Depreciation.—A motor vessel can be launched more cheaply than a steamer, the engine installation costing less. Therefore a smaller proportion of the ship’s earnings are required to pay the interest on the initial outlay. The question of depreciation is a very contentious one. It may be wise to reckon, as some do, that 10 per cent. should be written off each year, but I cannot see the wisdom of it, for it is a fault of caution. The oil engines which are built for this work are in every way comparable to the stationary oil engines so largely used on land. And it is absurd to think that the useful life of such a type of engine is less than 20 years. In fact, with proper care and treatment all the engines that are built to-day should be working quite as well 50 years hence, just as many a good steam engine to-day is over 50 years old. These matters I mention here because I think they are not properly appreciated, and because they have an important bearing on any proposals for the building of boats similar to those now used by the MacBrayne firm.

“Nothing strikes one more, when stepping aboard either of these three verssels, than their unexampled cleanliness. The deck machinery is electrically driven, and the dirty donkey engine finds no place. From the oil engines one gets neither soot, cinders. nor ashes, a mixture of which is invariably distributed from the funnels of a steamer. The result is that the decks of these vessels are always as spotless as the deck of a racing yacht. Passengers undoubtedly appreciate this, not only because it is unpleasant to crush ashes under foot, but because it is unnecessary to keep changing one’s position in order to get to windward of the funnels. That the absence of the rattle and clatter of the donkey engine is also appreciated is undoubted. have seen passengers conversing in an ordinary tone aboard Lochinvar whilst she was loading at Oban. I believe they did not even know that she was taking in anything. The running of the electric gear is so silent—and a wire cable is used instead of a chain on the hoist—that with one’s back turned to it one can scarcely tell whether it is working or not.

“Auxiliary machinery.—In order to provide the current for the auxiliary machinery as well as for the lighting of the ship, each of the boats has a dynamo set in the engine-room, a small paraffin motor being used to provide the power. Advantage is also taken of this small engine to obtain compressed air for starting the main engines. When under way during the daytime the dynamo set is not used, but it is started up as soon as a quay or pier is approached. Not the slightest trouble is thus experienced in starting the main engines again immediately the engine-room telegraph rings.

“For handiness, the skippers aver that the motor vessels are excelled only by paddle boats. The reason is simple. Each engine has a reversing gear of robust construction, by means of which the motion of the propellers can be reversed instantaneously, whereas with the steam engine a certain amount of time is required to stop the engine and speed it up in the opposite direction. And, of course, Scout and Lochinvar are very handy because of their twin and triple screws respectively, the engine units of 100 h.p. being on separate shafts. It would not be at all convenient or desirable to have twin or triple screws in steamboats of similar size, whereas with the motors it is an advantage.

“Approved by passengers.—Standing on deck one cannot feel the slightest tremor, much less any throbbing from the engines, and one can scarcely hear them. This is because the reciprocating parts of the engine are, comparatively, so light. Another feature is that, except for the companion-way, the engine -room occupies no space whatever above the main deck, while, of course, the promenade deck is quite unbroken by any funnels. No heat ascends from the engines, and passengers unaccustomed to ships are never upset by hot draughts bearing the smell of hot oil from below.

“A great deal of prejudice still exists against the marine oil engine, and the skippers of these MacBrayne ships took some time to throw it off themselves, but even during the early stages of their conversion they had to admit the superior handiness, cleanliness, and comfort of their ships. If only those shipowners who are requiring new boats off a size in which oil engines could be installed were to spend their holidays in the Western Highlands, and take the opportunity of inspecting the MacBrayne ships, I feel sure there would soon be a considerably larger number of motor vessels in this country.”—Lloyd’s List, May 5, 1910

Lochinvar’s motors lasted until 1926 when they were replaced by a new set of four cylinder Gardner motors each fitted with their own exhaust.

Lochinvar after 1926 (Robertson)

Lochinvar with her new machinery

Lochinvar in Tobermory Bay between 1926 and 1928

In 1933, her appearance was again altered and she reappeared with a short funnel that carried the exhaust and a new electric crane.

Lochinvar leaving Salen in 1934 (Valentine)

In the hold of Lochinvar in the 1930s

After world war II, in 1949, Lochinvar had a major refit and was converted to a twin screw vessel fitted with twin 6 cylinder diesel motors by Messrs Davey, Paxman & Co., Ltd., of Colchester. She was also provided with a new enclosed bridge and updated accommodation. A brief spell on the Mallaig to Portree run in 1959 had her, rather unfairly, nicknamed “The Tub” by Dame Flora Macleod before she resumed the Tobermory service.

Lochinvar at Tobermory in the 1950s with her new wheelhouse

Lochinvar at Oban in the late 1950s

Lochinvar continued on the Tobermory mail run until 1961 when she was sold for excursion work on the Thames estuary and renamed Anzio II. In 1966 she was again sold to Cromarty Cruises of Inverness but foundered with all hands in a storm off the Lincolnshire coast on April 2, 1966, on her delivery voyage.