Although built by William Denny at Dumbarton, fitting out of this ship was carried out at Troon by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., being towed there in early October 1953.
The pioneering Clyde car and passenger ferry, this vessel was designed to be able to use existing piers for vehicular traffic without the need for expensive slipways or linkspans. A vehicle lift was fitted to raise or lower traffic to her garage deck regardless of the state of the tide. As built she also had twin derricks aft for cargo but these were removed in 1959 as they were obsolete. As built her car capacity was 26, this increased to 34 when the cargo hatch was plated over.
She was sold to David MacBrayne in 1969, then returned to the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. and chartered back to MacBrayne to operate their Islay service from mid
January 1970.
This photo was taken in May 1977 on the Clyde and she is dressed overall to commemmorate HM Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee.