This page will contain the first hand account of the writer and some details of efforts to bring back the Campbeltown-Ballycastle ferry following the all-too-brief 3 years of summer sailings by Sea Containers. The writer was serving as a harbourmaster at the Argyll side of the North Chanel at the time.
Efforts to restart this ferry service were (and still are) crucial to the economies of Argyll and Antrim campaign on either side of the North Channel.
MV Sound of Islay: Commissioned By Friend, Mentor & Fellow Company Director John Rose
This ship inaugurated the car ferry service between Argyll & Antrim in 1970 & ran until 1973. In 1988 John Rose & Russ McLean commenced efforts to restart the route (more on this later).
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It is testament that in the days before the “easy petition” via internet and social media, back when EVERY signature had to be obtained by speaking to a person, the good people of Campbeltown and Argyll mustered 3,323 people to sign a petition supporting CalMac.
Click Here To View Ferry Petition SUPPORTING CalMac
| Petition PE188 | |
| Petition calling for the Scottish Parliament to enable Caledonian MacBrayne the state owned Scottish Ferry company to take over the Campbeltown to Ballycastle route which is critically important to the fragile economies of Argyll and Antrim.
Petitioner: Mr Russ McLean |
Click Here To View Covering Letter To Scottish Parliament SUPPORTING CalMac
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The full account of what happened in relation to restarting the Argyll-Antrim ferry service; to our campaign supporting CalMac to run this route will be uploaded here, onto this page soon.
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For now, it may be of interest to learn that the wee MV Lochmor was purchased by our company as a “warm-up” vessel, in order to get the Campbeltown-Ballycastle ferry route restarted.
MV Lochmor – Photo Copyright Russ McLean
MV Pioneer – Photo Copyright Bob Jak
MV Claymore: Orkney Route – Photo Copyright Russ McLean
MV Claymore: Argyll & Antrim Route – Photo Copyright Russ McLean
MV Saturn – Photo Copyright Russ McLean
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