SS Sir Walter Scott
The SS Sir Walter Scott is a small white painted steamship that has provided cruises and a ferry service on Loch Katrine in the scenic Trossachs of Scotland for over a century, and is the only surviving screw steamer in regular passenger service in Scotland.
In 1859 Loch Katrine became Glasgow's main water supply, connected by aqueducts and tunnels to the city more than 30 miles (50 km) away through a hilly landscape. The Trossachs became very popular in the Victorian era, and there were early steamship services on the loch. The Loch is surrounded by wooded mountains, and has romantic historical connections including the birthplace of the outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor. Queen Victoria had a holiday house built overlooking the loch.
The Sir Walter Scott is named after the writer Walter Scott, who set his 1810 poem Lady of the Lake, and his novel Rob Roy of 1818 around Loch Katrine. She has sailed on the loch since 1900. The steamer was built by Denny Bros Ltd, fabricated at Dumbarton on the River Clyde, transported in pieces by barge up Loch Lomond and overland by horse-drawn cart to Stronachlachar pier on Loch Katrine where she was rebuilt and launched.[1] The original cost was £4269, which included a delivery charge of £2028.[2]
The vessel weighs 115 tons, is 110 ft (34 m) long and 19 ft (6 m) wide. She is driven by the original 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine and has two locomotive-type boilers which until the end of 2007 were fired by solid fuel fed into the firebox by a stoker. At a time when most steamers changed to oil-fired boilers, the Sir Walter Scott kept using solid fuel to meet the requirement of ensuring that Glasgow's water supply is not polluted, changing from coal to coke to reduce air pollution. In a refit at the end of the 2007 season the boilers were altered to run on bio-fuel. During this refit, the superstructure was rebuilt and a forward deck cabin was added[3]. The vessel has a crew of five.[1]
All ships in the UK must record a measured mile for sea-worthiness. This ship was built in Denny's ship-yard in Dumbarton and measured its mile in the Firth of Clyde with all normally riveted joints made with bolts. It was then transported by sea, then disassembled and carried on by horse-cart to Loch Katrine where it was re-assembled using rivets.
Sir Walter Scott sails from Trossachs pier (at the east end of the loch, 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberfoyle) and runs a ferry service 8 miles (13 km) west along the loch to Stronachlachar pier, in the morning and afternoon in Spring and Summer, taking walkers and cyclists who return by land, then takes those getting on at the pier and those doing the round trip back to Trosachs pier. In the afternoon she also does one or more shorter scenic cruises. In the winter the vessel is taken up on a slipway for maintenance work, then from November 2008 to April 2009 is to offer a morning sailing to Stronachlachar and two shorter scenic cruises in the afternoon.[4]
