MV Hebrides (1964)
Hebrides at Tarbert
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: |
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| Owner: |
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| Operator: | David MacBrayne Ltd |
| Port of registry: | Leith then Glasgow |
| Route: | Uig, Skye - Tarbert - Lochmaddy |
| Builder: | |
| Cost: | £2 million for the 3 sister ships |
| Yard number: | 910 |
| Launched: | 20 November 1963 |
| In service: | 15 April 1964 |
| Identification: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | hoist-loading vehicle ferry |
| Tonnage: | 2104 ton |
| Length: | 220 ft (67.1 m) |
| Beam: | 43 ft (13.1 m) |
| Depth: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Machinery: 2 x SCSA. each 8 cyls. 10½ x 13½” |
| Speed: | 14 knots |
| Capacity: | 600 passengers and 50 cars |
MV Hebrides was the first of a trio of hoist-loading car ferries built for David MacBrayne Ltd in 1964 and operated on the Uig, Skye to Tarbert and Lochmaddy route in Scotland for over twenty years. She is the only Calmac vessel to have crossed the Atlantic. In later years, as Illyria she sailed between Italy and Albania.
The Secretary of State for Scotland ordered a trio of near-identical car ferries for the Western Isles. Hall, Russell & Company of Aberdeen won the contract to build them, ahead of fifteen other British yards. The new ferries were initially 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.Hebrides, the first of the trio, was launched on 20 November 1963, entered service on 15 April 1964 and served Calmac until 14 November 1985.
After a lay up, she was sold to Torbay Seaways, owners of her sister ship, Clansman. From 24 May 1986, for a couple of years, as Devonian, she ran between Torquay and the Channel Islands. In 1990 she was laid up in Ipswich. From 1993, as Illyria she sailed between Italy and Albania, initially between Brindisi and Valona, then in 1994, for Illyria Lines, between Bari and Durrës and later between Brindisi and Durrës. She still carried the Calmac lion on her funnel.
Later, she became the first MacBrayne vessel ever to cross the Atlantic, and in 1998, she was sailing out of Kingstown in St Vincent and the Grenadines. On 11 October 1999, the ship caught fire in Eleusis Bay, Greece. To prevent her from sinking, she was taken to shallower water. By April 2004, it was reported that the ship had been laid up in a damaged condition for some years, her future in serious doubt. Sold for demolition to Huzur Gemi Sokum Ltd., Turkey, she arrived in Aliağa under tow on 31 July 2003. In September 2003, she was sold to Indian breakers.
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Wikipedia