MV Pioneer was the last large fleet member normally deployed on main
routes to be used as the Small Isles relief ship for her tiny counterpart
the Lochmor. Her trademark shallow draught made her the ideal
replacement for the route as she still had to rely on flit boats at most
islands like the Lochmor. She did this via a side door cut into her side
ramps where goods were unloaded straight onto the deck of the waiting flit
boat. The Islanders had never been served as well in terms of size of ship
and facilities available to them on the often exposed crossing to the Small
Isles but she wasn't to last on the station for too long. On the 11.01.03
she made her last emotional sailing to the Small Isles which, like all of
the routes she ever served on in her history she would be missed as a
visitor. No more would she be heard before seen, as was often the case with
her powerful Mirlees Blackstone engines, on the Small Isles Station - her
Crew left a tribute and memorial to her time spent there to be remembered
for years to come...
Her final call at Canna Pier
Her Flit Boat Laig Bay, now also redundant
alongside for the last time at Eigg...
Some of Pioneer's crew ashore at Canna...
...The fruits of their labour on the cliff face
At 1500 she arrived back at Mallaig and found her new successor, the Loch
Nevis waiting at the Pier ready to take over the service on Monday. As the
light failed in the evening, a last view of Pioneer at the linkspan at
Mallaig could be had. The next day she headed for Oban, then JWD, and an
uncertain future. Another chapter in West Coast history and Pioneers life
closed forever...
SoC
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