MV Argyle

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Career (UK)
MV Argyle off Gourock on 4 May 2007
Name:	MV Argyle
Operator:	Caledonian MacBrayne
Port of Registry:	Glasgow, United Kingdom
Builder:	Remontowa Group in Gdańsk, Poland
Launched:	12 September 2006
Christened:	4 May 2007 at Rothesay by Mrs Tish Timms, wife of CalMac Chairman Peter Timms
Maiden voyage:	16 May 2007
Status:	in service
Notes:	£9,000,000 (cost)
General characteristics
Tonnage:	approx 2612 tonnes^[1]
Length:	72 m^[2]
Beam:	15.3 m
Draft:	5 m
Speed:	14 knots
Capacity:	450 passengers, 60 cars

MV Argyle is a ferry operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, on the route between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay. She is the seventh Clyde ship to have the name Argyle.

1 History
2 Layout
3 Service
4 Footnotes

[edit] History

Until 2007, there had not been an Argyle on the Clyde for over a hundred years, but the present vessel is the seventh of the name. The first was a paddle steamer built only two years after the pioneer steamship PS Comet appeared on the river in 1812. The second was commissioned in 1815; the third and fourth had connections with Loch Fyne, while the fifth was a cargo steamer sailing to the Outer Hebrides.^[3]

In the mid nineteenth century the spelling of the county changed to Argyll. The old spelling, however, is appropriate as the ship’s most prominent ancestor was a paddle steamer built in 1866 and sold by her original owner within a month to the Wemyss Bay Steam Boat Company. She was the successor to their PS Bute and remained on the Wemyss Bay route for almost quarter of a century.

Built in Poland, she was launched on 12 September 2006.^[2] Following delivery, the fitting out process took into account design modifications based on lessons learned from MV Bute. She was formally named at Rothesay Bay on 4 May 2007 before joining the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet later in the month.

[edit] Layout

MV Argyle has a semi-open car deck with a clearance height of 5.1m. Like the MV Coruisk before her, she has bow and stern access and in addition has a vehicle ramp aft on the starboard side. This allows operation from older piers without provision for full roll-on/roll-off operation.

Passenger accommodation is located on two levels, the first housing forward and aft lounges with a kiosk area and toilets between, while the second level is open deck space from the twin funnels to just forward of the bridge. The bridge sits on its own perch above the open deck.

Superficially there is very little to differentiate Argyle from Bute. Argyle has a second lift from the car deck and the passenger lounge is a little larger than on her sister.^[4]

[edit] Service

MV Argyle operates the route between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, joining her sister ship MV Bute which was already serving on the route. Being more manoeuvrable than the new vessels, the streakers MV Juno and MV Saturn returned to provide the service during work to build a new end-loading linkspan at Rothesay pier in 2007.^[4]