MV Hebridean Princess
MV Hebridean Princess in the Manchester Ship Canal at Runcorn
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| History | |
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| United Kingdom | |
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| Namesake: | 6th-century saint and RMS Columba |
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| Yard number: | 912 |
| Launched: | 12 March 1964 by Lady Craigton |
| In service: | 30 July 1964 |
| Homeport: | Oban |
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| Status: | In service |
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| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 2,112 GT |
| Length: | 72 m (236 ft) |
| Beam: | 14 m (46 ft) |
| Draught: | 3 m (10 ft) |
| Installed power: | 2 x 2 SCSA each 8 cyls. 10 ½” - 13 ½ “ |
| Propulsion: | Bow-thrust propellor fwd |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
MV Hebridean Princess is a cruise ship operated by Hebridean Island Cruises. She started life as the MacBrayne car ferry and Royal Mail Ship, initially RMS then MV Columba, based in Oban for the first 25 years of her life, carrying up to 600 passengers, and 50 cars, between the Scottish islands.
RMS Columba was the last of three car ferries built in 1964 by Hall, Russell & Company, Aberdeen for the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Secretary of State for Scotland ordered a trio of near-identical car ferries for the Western Isles. They were chartered to David MacBrayne Ltd and were all equipped to serve as floating nuclear shelters, in the event of national emergency. This included vertical sliding watertight doors that could seal off the car deck, immediately aft of the hoist.Columba was the last of the three to enter service.
Columba took up the Isle of Mull service, replacing the elderly ships MV Lochearn and MV Lochmor. She continued on this route for nine years. Columba's interiors, and those of her sisters MV Hebrides and MV Clansman, were designed by a young Scottish designer, John McNeece, who was to go on to design the interiors of numerous cruise ships over the next 40 years. In 1968, additional buoyant seating was added on the after deck, boosting her passenger complement from 600 to 870.
Cars were loaded via a forward hydraulic hoist. Below the car deck were sleeping berths for 51.
She was the first vessel to make Sunday sailings, which started in 1972 and were combined with short cruises. There was some opposition to the innovation. 1972 was her last year on the Mull station. That winter, Columba relieved at Stornoway and then took up MV Clansman's roster at Mallaig. Night sailings to Lochboisdale and Castlebay only lasted one year and in 1974 Columba only had the light Mallaig – Armadale, Skye roster. On the withdrawal of the veteran King George V, Columba was restored to Oban, serving Coll and Tiree, Colonsay, Iona, Lochaline and Tobermory. In winter Columba became the regular relief at Uig and, until 1979, of MV Iona on the Outer Isles run.
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