West Highland Steamers

The Red Book, the twice-yearly newsletter, now the Journal of the West Highland Steamer Club, regularly contained a collection of ship photographs of both everyday and special events in the lives of the MacBrayne vessels which plied the waters of the west coast of Scotland, from charters of vessels like the pioneering 1920s turbine steamer King George V and delivery voyages through the Caledonian Canal to regular ferry voyages. These photographs would often be the work of Jim Aikman Smith or Hamish Stewart. These two gifted photographers produced many topical and beautiful images taken in locations such as Tarbet, Portree, Islay, Coll, Oban, Fort William and Glasgow, and a selection of their work is presented here, along with some images by other photographers, to show the essence of the world of Caledonian MacBrayne and to give a wonderful insight into the lives of their ships.