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Firth of Clyde, Scotland
David Hutcheson & Co, later  David MacBrayne Ltd
David Hutcheson had been an employee of the Kidd shipping agents in Glasgow  and moved to J&G Burns when the company closed and the latter took over its business. Thirty years later, having been manager of Burns' west highland services, he became owner of  this part of the Burns business when they sold out in 1851.  

David MacBrayne was one of three partners in David Hutcheson's company and was the owner's nephew. He eventually took exclusive control in 1879 after the retirement of David Hutcheson in 1876 and Alexander Hutcheson in 1878. MacBrayne died in 1907, aged 92, having worked up until the previous year, by which time the operation had become David MacBrayne Ltd. It was reconstructed in 1928 as David MacBrayne (1928) Ltd, owned jointly by Coast Lines Ltd and the LMS railway. As David MacBrayne Ltd from 1934, 50 percent remained with the private Coast Lines Ltd until it was purchased by the Scottish Transport Group in 1969 and on January 1, 1973 was merged with STG's other subsisiary, the Caledonian Steam Packet Company to form Caledonian - MacBrayne.

Although MacBrayne's territory was the Western Isles with Oban as base, a regular service was run from Glasgow (later Gourock) to Tarbert and Ardrishaig on Loch Fyne for delivering mail and passengers for onward connections to the Western Isles. Marketed since the 19th century as the "Royal Route" with reference to an earlier visit to the area by Queen Victoria, MacBraynes ran two well-known, well-loved and long-lived paddle steamers (Iona and Columba) on the Clyde until they were replaced by turbine steamer Saint Columba, the former Clyde excursion steamer Queen Alexandra, taken over from Williamson. The service was latterly in the hands of the diesel-electric vessel Lochfyne and ceased at the end of the 1969 season


Regular Summer Vessels
PS Iona
PS Columba

Turbine Steamer :  Saint Columba


Winter and Main Relief Vessels
PS Mountaineer
 
Turbine Steamer :  King George V


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Firth of Clyde
Clyde Steamers of the 1930s
Hutcheson / MacBrayne - Western Isles Services
Clyde Turbine Steamers
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