I recall a visit to a little museum in Moidart where the docent, an elderly gentleman, became rather heated when the subject of the steamer service on Loch Shiel was mentioned. The loss of the mail service and the vessel on the loch incited a rant, partly in English and partly in Gaelic indicating that even more than forty years on had left strong feelings. The service on Loch Shiel began in 1893 with Messrs MacBrayne’s Maud, an iron steam launch built in 1889 by Messrs Seath at Rutherglen. She proved to be too large for the traffic and when the estate changed hands, the new owner secured the mail contract and introduced a steamer of his own and Maud was withdrawn. After a rocky start, first with a small yacht, Lady of the Lake, and then in 1899 with the addition of another Seath built product, Clanranald, the service was introduced by Lord Howard. The first Clanranald drew too much...