MV Loch Seaforth (1947)
Loch Seaforth at Mallaig in 1971.
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | MV Loch Seaforth |
| Namesake: | Loch Seaforth, sea loch between Lewis and Harris |
| Operator: | David MacBrayne Ltd |
| Port of registry: | Glasgow, United Kingdom |
| Route: | Stornoway mail boat |
| Builder: | William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton |
| Yard number: | 1404 |
| Launched: | 19 May, 1947 |
| In service: | 6 December 1947 |
| Out of service: | 1973 |
| Identification: | Official Number |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 1,126 GT |
| Length: | 69.90 m (229 ft 4 in) |
| Beam: | 11 m (36 ft 1 in) |
| Draught: | 3.40 m (11 ft 2 in) |
| Installed power: | 2 x 6-cylinder Sulzer Bros Ltd Winterthur two-stroke diesel engines, 1,800 bhp at 235 rpm |
| Propulsion: | twin 3-blade propellers |
| Speed: | 15 knots |
| Capacity: | passengers |
MV Loch Seaforth was the Stornoway mailboat operated by David MacBrayne Ltd, from 1947 until 1972. Running aground and sinking in 1973, she blocked the Tiree pier, until removed for scrapping.
Built in 1947, Loch Seaforth was the delayed second of two mailboats ordered in 1938; the first, MV Lochiel had entered service in 1939. Larger and faster than her predecessors, she rapidly became a success at Stornoway.
Loch Seaforth remained the biggest MacBrayne ship until the 1964 car ferries. She is the only MacBrayne vessel to have been written off whilst on passenger service.
She developed a reputation with the press for mishap, with groundings in Kyle, Mallaig and off Longay. The second of those, in 1966, left her high and dry for two days. On 22 March 1973, she ran aground on Cleit Rock in the Sound of Gunna. All passengers were safely taken off and she was towed to Gott Bay, Tiree. A bulkhead gave way when she was pumped out and she sank completely, blocking Tiree's only pier until 11 May, when the former Stornoway mail boat was lifted onto the beach. She was re-floated and towed to Troon for scrapping.
On 8 April 2013, Caledonian Maritime Assets announced that the new £42 million replacement ferry for the Stornoway to Ullapool crossing, ordered in June 2012, had been named Loch Seaforth, the name of which won a competition run by CMAL, and thus reviving the name of the MacBrayne's mail steamer. She was constructed at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in Germany, with building starting in September 2013. Loch Seaforth (II) was launched on 21 March 2014, before being delivered to Scotland in November that year. She replaced the former vessel on the route, the Isle of Lewis of 1995, in February 2015.
Loch Seaforth had a short single funnel. All her cargo space was forward and the foremast incorporated two derricks. She had space for sixteen cars. The "MacBrayne Highlander", a "quasi-figurehead" on her bows, appeared in company publicity for many years. In 1949 Loch Seaforth became the first member of the MacBrayne fleet to be fitted with radar.
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