Some of my best days were working in there. Were we more of family than colleagues and even the busy days didn’t seem like work. One day Dad, Gordon Allen, asked me to work on the bar on the boat as the guy who usually worked there was off. (I was by then 18). After that day on the boat I was hooked. I loved everything about it, the sounds, the smells, even the customers seemed better…more cheerful.

Luckily when I asked to be transferred to the boat they were happy moving me on to the bar. I worked there for 2-3 years with no complaints though I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to work as a deckhand rather than a barmaid. My stubbornness wangled me the duty of throwing the ropes as we came into the piers. I noticed I enjoyed that more than working in the bar so I asked once again to be moved into a different role. It took longer this time but eventually I was changed to a deckhand. I threw ropes and watched passengers and would take my turn at steering. After a while I felt a familiar restlessness and staff members mentioned I could go for my Skippers ticket. I must admit I was reluctant… I was 22 and was worried that I couldn’t handle the responsibility that came with being a Captain. Though with encouragement from my colleagues and a reality check from my family I decided I would try for my ‘ticket’.

After more training and studying the day came when I sat my test, a foggy day but luckily very calm. I sailed to Stronachlachar and tied up without a hitch and past my test right there. All that hard work had paid off and I celebrated that night before realizing that the hard work was just beginning.

I wasn’t naive, I knew there would be a lot involved in becoming a Skipper but I wasn’t completely prepared for the amount of responsibility that comes with it all. As I have been told many times “The Skippers decision is final,” and while that sounds great, it also means that it is up to the Captain to decide what is safe what is not, how to know exactly what do to in any emergency, to make sure the staff are competent and how to sail the boat in all weathers. I am willing to take on that responsibility but I do know it will be a long time before I am able to take it all on alone. I am lucky to work with the people I do, they are helpful, hard working and fun. I know I wouldn’t have got this far without them or have felt confident enough to do so. Sir Walter Scott is lucky to have such a team.

We all have a few good stories working on the Steamship: – one happened just last year when a member of staff took a header off the pier and into the water while trying to catch the ropes. I was standing on the deck ready to pull in the canting wire when I saw the involuntary dive  as he slipped and splashed into the water face first. I watched, mouth agape. Luckily the water was calm and we had plenty of time to radio a few people to race down and get him out. I would love to say I was shouting orders and throwing life rings but if I am going to be completely honest I was too busy choking back laughter. ‘Some Skipper I will make!’ I thought.

Another memory I have happened VERY recently, just a couple of weeks ago in fact…(this was written in 2011)

It was deceptively calm at Trossachs pier that day, even the shakiest of Captains would have found it fine weather for an hour sail. The cruise started of like any other, safety announcement and a light hearted joke about having a 10 minimum drink limit for the bar. It began to change pretty quickly once we got past Ellen’s Isle however. A strong Southerly wind threw against the port side of the ship. Still apart from worrying that the flag could rip from the mast, we were confident.

We ploughed on with the cruise, alerting customers to points of interest as normal. The wind pick up speed and changed direction when we were in the middle of the loch near the three farms. Forget about white horses more like a white stampede racing from an easterly direction and slammed the bow. In the bridge it was (I’ll admit) entertaining, an exciting change from the usual trek through the calm water.

It all became just a little too exciting for me, however, when we began to turn. The wind battered the starboard side with a force I have never experienced before on Loch Katrine. Water was thrown up and splashed onto the front cabin windows. Impressed gasps could be heard from the front cabin as the passengers held on to their Rob Roy Specials. Once the Sir Walter Scott was facing the South shore the waves picked the ship up in its swell and we began rocking right to left. Before I could grab hold of something I was thrown across the bridge straight into Gordon (my dad, not a dashing young eligible male, worse luck) and then back onto the seat in the corner.

Dad laughed and told me to take a seat. He didn’t need to tell me twice I was down with my eyes shut before he even finished his sentence.

As we were rolling Tam lept over the bar just in time to avoid a bottle of Three Barrels crashing down on him. He quickly regained his composure and recited a little poetry from Sir Walter Scott.  (can you remember which peom?)

Once the turn was made we found it much easier on the way back to the pier. We crabbed our way to the south side of the loch and sailed steadily against the howling winds and back down the channel. The difference was night and day, staff from the shore frowned in confusion when they spotted our flushed faces. The water had little more than a ripple as we tied up and spoke to the passengers as they disembarked.

Surprisingly I was met with grins and laughter as they chimed “It was certainly an experience”. Who knew that Lochs and Glens senior group was so hardy!

Working at Loch Katrine, on Sir Walter Scott is more than a job to me now. It is a way of life but more than that, it has given me a career. Everyone at Trossachs Pier is working hard to make this place a five star attraction, and are willing to put the in the effort to achieve this.

One day I hope to travel and hopefully use my ticket to sail on other ships but I will always want to return to Loch Katrine, where my heart is – It will always be my home.

Last winter Debbie went to New Zealand to work on the steamship there and is gaining a lot from her experiences.

Why am I involved? I have an interest in steam ships. As a boy I wanted to go to sea in the engine room, but my father dissuaded me. He had been the skipper of a Norwegian tanker during the war and the memory of engine room staff in torpedoed ships was too fresh in his mind. I was born in Dunoon and brought up in Bute and frequently as a child commuted between the two on the ‘steamers’; Marchioness of Lorne, Waverley, the Duchesses, Queen Mary 11, Jeannie Deans, Saint Columba and others. Where are these ships now? All long since been scrapped having first been sold overseas or sent to the Thames to be a restaurant. We only have 2 passenger ships still in steam (not counting Vic32) here in Scotland and we must do all possible to ensure these remnants of our once wonderful past are kept for the generations to come. They are floating, working museums. As long as they are kept working, they should be safe from the fate of their sisters.

.In the summers of 2006 to 2008 I was invited to Norway, with my launch Silkie, to veteran ship festivals in Stavanger. There is great enthusiasm in Norway, and many other European countries for this taste of their past. Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark still have active fleets of veteran ships (and not all steam) See Riskafjord II, built in 1864, Børøsund celebrating her 100th Birthday and still with the original engine and boiler, Oster, Stord and many others. http://www.nordsteam2008.no/hvem.html Quite a sight to see them lined up at the quay taking the scene back to the 1920s.

Scotland was a world leader in using steam to power ships large and small. The Sir Walter Scott was the forerunner of the Clyde flyers King Edward, the duchesses Hamilton and Montrose and the Queen Mary 11. The Waverley is the last of the long line of paddlers that plied British waters.

I sometimes wonder if part of our disrespect for our country is that the past is, in many cases, destroyed or placed in museums with insufficient funds to keep the artefacts in good repair. The glaring example is the ‘City of Adelaide’. We need to go to San Francisco to see a well maintained square rigged clyde built ship, the ‘Balclutha’. Or to the ‘Cutty Sark’ in London. We are not encouraged to have pride in our past. We don’t fly our national flag at home.

You are helping in a small way by your efforts on the Sir Walter Scott. At the end of October The operations are closing down for the winter. Only a small staff is being kept on for marketing and maintenance. The practical help that was freely given last winter will be welcome again.

The ‘friends’ are due to hold their AGM soon. Please let me know by e-mail ‘easter@matriix.com’ If you wish to attend or if you are happy to authorise the chair to use a proxy. A statement of the accounts will be sent to you soon and you can change your mind after that. Roger Martin has been overwhelmed by his retirement job, fixing Aston Martins, so we are looking for a new secretary. Any volunteers?

Gudmund Friis Jørgensen
Chairman