ROUTE TIMELINE:

DO THE CROSSING!

1856 - 1868: Royal Mail
1882 - 1890: St Olaf
1890 - 1892: Express, St Nicholas, John O’ Groat, Queen (II)
1892 - 1951: St Ola(I)
1951 - 1975: St Ola (II)
1975 - 1992: St Ola (III)
1992 - 2002: St Ola (IV)
2002: Hebridean Isles
2002 - Present: Hamnavoe

 TERMINAL FACILITIES:

 Route History:

Links to Orkney from the Scottish mainland are set in recent history by the many years of effort by the “North Company” whose origin can be traced back to 1790 with the establishment of the Leith and Clyde Shipping Company, which became the North of Scotland and Orkney and Shetland Shipping Company by 1875.  The first regular steamer service was probably provided by small sailing vessels actually operating a Leith Clyde service prior to the completion of the Caledonian Canal.  During this lengthy journey the vessel would have called at various locations en route (which would have included Orkney) and was probably less frequent than weekly.   Ferry links between Caithness and Orkney have however thought to have been in existence for around 500 years. 

During the early to mid 1800’s there were several costal steamer services linking Wick and Kirkwall with various ports south, including Inverness and Newhaven.  These links were carried out initially by the Velocity and Sovereign.  These services were expanded to include Lerwick and have continued with variation ever since, e.g. it is not dissimilar to the Aberdeen-Kirkwall-Lerwick operation currently carried out by NorthLink.   

The first known regular service across the Pentland Firth started in 1856 between Scrabster and Stromness by a Stromness shipbuilder by the name of John Stanger.  In 1874 the Highland Railway had reached Thurso with John Stanger obtaining the Royal Mail contract in 1877.  The Royal Mail seen the route as a logical extension to the main North line, with John placing the small paddle steamer Royal Mail on the route to fulfil this purpose.   

In 1880 Scapa Pier (2 miles from Kirkwall on the Southern side) was opened and became the main terminal for Orkney.  Stromness was therefore relegated to a twice weekly call. In 1882 the North Company took over the (apparently not profitable) Pentland Firth route building the steamer St Olaf for this purpose.  St Olaf had a short career (mainly due to reports that she was extremely underpowered) and lasted only until 1890.  At around this time The North Company also reinstated Stromness as the main Orkney port with calls at Scapa continuing to a lesser degree to uplift mail. 

Between 1890 and 1892 various external vessels to the North Company operated the Pentland Firth service: Express (by George Robertson), John O’ Groat (by McCallum and Company) and the Argyll (by Argyll Steamship Company).  The North Company vessel Queen (II) also undertook spells of duty.  In 1892 the North Company placed the very first St Ola (the name St Ola being the Orkney variation of St Olaf) on the route which was the initiation of a proud name that was to serve the Pentland Firth for 122 years.

The initial St Ola lasted on the route until1951 fulfilling an amazing 59 year career on the Pentland Firth route.  This extraordinary length of service is probably more impressive when considering the vessel successfully operated (and survived) both World Wars.  She was finally replaced by St Ola (II) which was built at the Alexander Hall & Co shipyard in Aberdeen.  St Ola (II) was purpose built for the Scrabster-Stromness service and could carry 30 cars using her derrick to embark and disembark vehicles into her main hold, that was designed for conventional cargo handling in all honesty.   

St Ola (II) in full dress.

St Ola (II) lasted on the route until 1975 and her 24 year reign was a period where the level of car ownership had significantly increased.  This would play an important part of the design of her successor.  St Ola (III) was another purpose built vessel completed at the Hall Russell Shipyard, Aberdeen in 1974, and was the first Ro-Ro vessel to be introduced into the North Isles and had a capacity to carry 98 cars.  Apart from the obvious improvement in car capacity, the new Ro-Ro design also allowed cars and larger commercial vehicles to be loaded quickly without the need of a crane or derrick.   Her entry into service was however postponed (until January 1975) due to delays in the construction of the pier at Scrabster.   Major civil engineering works were required at both ports, which included the installation of linkspans to allow loading/unloading of this entire new bread of vessel.  Between 1974 and 1975 the St Ola (II) remained in service and was renamed St Ola II to allow her successor take the St Ola name.

St Ola (III) in the Pentland Firth.

At around the arrival time of the St Ola (III), the dawn of a new era was also sighted in the north with the P&O group eventually taking control of the links to the Northern Isles.  This was not a straight forward transition! In 1961 The North Company became a subsidiary of Coat Lines Ltd, which itself, was absorbed into the P&O group by 1971.  St Ola (III) lasted until 1992 when she was proving to be too small and slow for a route that witnessed ever increasing levels of passengers and vehicles. 

On the 31^st of October 2002 the St Ola (IV) sailed from Stromness Harbour for the last time which signified not only the end for the St Ola (IV) on the Pentland Firth, but also P&O. Captain Willie MacKay addressed the two thousand onlookers around the Stromness via the ship’s public tannoy system (which could be heard throughout the harbour) while the vessel slipped away.  Captain MacKay gave a heartfelt thank you from the two crews of the St Ola (IV) to the people of Stromness, Scrabster and Thurso for the way in which they had supported the ship over the years. He wished them all well for the future.  His farewell message drew cheers from the spectators lining the harbour, and as, the Stromness Pipe Band struck up Auld Lang Syne. As St Ola (IV) edged away from the linkspan, she gave three long blasts on her horn, which prompted frantic waving from those on the piers and on board the ship.  A collection of local vessels escorted her from Stromness Harbour while the sound of horns from cars and vessels could be heard all along shore.

St Ola (IV) at Stromness.

With a familiar ring to the story, the Hamnavoe was unable to enter service for several months due to delayed construction work at the new Scrabster pier.  During this period the Caledonian MacBrayne vessel Hebridean Isles was drafted to cover in what was an unpopular move by NorthLink.  The Hebridean Isles did her best on the Pentland Firth route, but was always going to be smaller (only 68 cars), slower, and more susceptible to poor weather than St Ola (IV).  Mounting public pressure on NorthLink (and in turn Scrabster Harbour Trust and the Scottish Executive) resulted in an interim solution been reached where the linkspan at the exiting Scrabster pier was modified to allow the Hamnavoe to berth.  This allowed the new and very impressive Finnish built Hamnavoe to leave her lay up berth in Leith and take up the Scrabster-Stromness route.

The new Hamnavoe at Scrabster.

When the Hamnavoe entered service in April 2003 many were surprised to learn that she had a lower car carrying capacity than the St Ola (IV) even although she is around double the gross tonnage of her predecessor.  This is due to the fact she was designed and built without half decks which were a feature of both St Ola (III) and (IV).  The official car capacity of the vessel is 98 cars which, is the same as the official figure for 1974 built St Ola (III).  The Hamnavoe does however have a greater commercial lane capacity and corresponding deadweight capability, which has become an important part of the route. The vessel also holds the sad honour of breaking the 122 year name tradition that upset a large population in the north for understandable reasons. Therefore, the introduction of NorthLink Ferries marked the end of an era in more ways than one on the Pentland Firth, and the Northern Isles as a whole for that matter.

The Pentland Firth route has also seen numerous additional and relief tonnage serve during gap periods.  In the early years there were copious arrangements of vessels to serve which is difficult to report to any degree of accuracy.  The main vessels to provide cover are however mentioned within the initial sections of this historical review.  In the P&O years all the freight ships (Rof Beaver, St Magnus (VI), and St Rognvald(IV)) had operated the crossing.  On one occasion St Rognvald (IV) operated the Pentland Firth crossing for 1 day carrying vehicles only, while the passengers were shipped across the Pentland Firth via the short sea passenger crossing between Burwick and John O’Groats on board Pentland Venture.
  

St Magnus at Scrabster.

St Magnus (VI), the Orkney Islands Shipping Company vessel Orcadia, and the Caledonian MacBrayne vessel the Clansman (IV) (converted to ro-ro by this stage) had spells covering the route between late 1982 and early 1983 while St Ola (III) was out of service due to a major engine room fire, which occurred when she was returning from refit.  The Clansman (IV) was also a regular stand in (during the winter refit schedule) for St Ola (III) between the years of 1975 to 1983.

After the St Sunniva (III) entered the Aberdeen-Stromness-Lerwick service in 1987, she became the regular stand in for St Ola (III) & (IV) during the winter refit schedule.  St Sunniva (III) was actually a very satisfactory replacement on the Pentland Firth due to her increased speed and capacity of around 220 cars. The Faroese vessel Smyril was also a regular stand in for St Ola (III) and (IV) which highlights a strange twist for St Ola (IV). Her first appointment after leaving the Pentland Firth was relieving the Smyril on Faroese inter island duties (for Strandfaraskip Landsins) where she sailed retaining her North Isles name St Ola.  The Smyril was an easy choice for many years for P&O as the Faroese state owned vessel was a good size for the route (around the same size and capacity as St Ola (IV)) and was easily obtainable as she carried out the now discontinued Scrabster-Thorshavn route, for which P&O were the UK shipping agents.

St Sunniva (far) with St Ola in Stromness.

NorthLink regularly charter the Caledonian MacBrayne vessel Herbridean Isles during overhaul periods.  The freight vessel Hascosay was also placed on the route to relieve the Hamnavoe for a two week spell, which was another occasion when NorthLink upset the islanders.  The Hamnavoe had to attend dry dock for urgent structural repairs to her prop shaft support structure, with NorthLink taking the obvious last ditch decision to deploy the Hascosay (on a vehicle carrying capacity only) to the Pentland Firth.  In another familiar ring, passengers were shipped across the Pentland Firth via the short sea crossing between Burwick and John O’Groats on board Pentland Venture.

The history of the Pentland Firth ferry link has been relatively stable affair apart from the early years when there was the natural struggle to get any form of consistency.  However, the last decade had seen various speculation and doubt regarding the service and in particular who would have the right to run it. In April 2004 the future of the route was again put in doubt as it was announced NorthLink Ferries were operating around double their agreed subsidy.  The Scottish Executive abandoned additional payouts to NorthLink and have put the North Isles contract back out to tender.  NorthLink believe there is several main factors for their financial situation: additional freight competition on Aberdeen-Lerwick route, loss of revenue caused by the delay at Scrabster Pier which incurred the addition of the Hebridean Isles charter, erroneous figures (that they believe were provided to them) from which the winning tender was drawn, and, competition on the Pentland Firth by (ironically) two former Caledonian MacBrayne vessels: the Pentalina B (Ex Iona (VII)) and Claymore (III) sailing under the flag of Pentland Ferries.

Several companies returned a conformation of interest to run the Northern Isles service.  The companies that willingly released their interest included: NorthLink Ferries, Caledonian MacBrayne, Smyril Line, Streamline Shipping Group, and Pentland Ferries.  A spokesman from P&O Ferries (Terry Cairns, the former and last ever P&O Scottish Ferries Managing Director) confirmed that P&O would not complete an application for the tender although initially requesting a copy of the documents. In July 2005 the Scottish Executive invited three companies to tender for the contract. Two new companies (V Ships UK Ltd, Irish Continental Ferries plc) emerged along with Caledonian MacBrayne, however current operators NorthLink were not to be invited to tender, probably due to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s last minute withdraw from their involvement in NorthLink Ferries.

Hebridean Isles and Hamnavoe at Stromness.

This decision prompted statements from both Caledonian MacBrayne and NorthLink that only added to the confusion of the whole tendering process and the status of NorthLink within the Caledonian MacBrayne structure.  NorthLink stated that after the Royal Bank of Scotland pulled out, its involvement in the tendering process would be as a company wholly owned by Caledonian MacBrayne.  A Caledonian MacBrayne spokesman stated, if successful, Caledonian MacBrayne would proceed as the sole shareholder of the new operating company, which would continue under its own management and infrastructure, adding that the likely name would continue as NorthLink.  Since the three companies were appointed as invited parties, Irish Ferries later announced that they no longer had an interest in tendering for the contract due to financial concerns.  The deadline for completed tenders was December 1^st 2005.

The Hoy hills with the Old Man from the Hebridean Isles

The final decision was delayed several times before Caledonian MacBrayne were eventually named as the preferred bidder On March 9^th 2006. Among the improvements to the service announced were reduced freight rates and the inclusion of livestock in the contract. However, shortly after the contract announcement it was reported on March 22^nd that NorthLink recorded a further £696,000, pre tax loss despite all previous additional subsidies. This prompted many parties interested in the service to express the view that the priority would first be to return the company to some form of financial stability. The eventual handover to Caledonian MacBrayne (operating the service as NorthLink Ferries Limited, or NorthLink "2" for short!) was on July 06^th 2006, and lived up to the promise of been a seamless transfer with the NorthLink brand and ships operating as before the handover.

Since the hectic events since NorthLink “1” took control over P&O Scottish Ferries in 2002, it now looks the immediate future of the Pentland Firth service is settled. It is however clear that there will be several variations and alterations that will create additional historical events of note as Caledonian MacBrayne assert their full control on the company. Therefore, more interesting times ahead?

Text By: Mark Wemyss, Photos by Mark Wemyss, NorthLink & Simplon Cards