Jump to content




DUNARA CASTLE c. 1930


DUNARA CASTLE c. 1930

This pencil (and forefinger!) sketch shows the veteran steamship 'Dunara Castle', built in 1875 by Blackwood and Gordon, Port Glasgow, and owned initially by Martin Orme and William Lang.  The 'Dunara', depicted here in calmer weather than in another picture in this gallery, became part of the fleet of McCallum and Orme in 1929, and flew the MacBrayne flag briefly in 1947-48, before being scrapped in 1948, after 73 years of service to the Hebrides.  This sketch is based on photographs in old brochures, and represents her as she was about 1930.  The 'Dunara' was the first ship to provide a 'regular' passenger-cargo service to St Kilda in the summer of 1877, and in the summer of 1930 she was the last commercial vessel to sail out of St Kilda - just before HMS 'Harebell' evacuated the remaining population of the island.