‘Isle of Lewis at Thirty’ – Mark Nicolson


Mark Nicolson’s opening shot of Isle of Lewis at speed

Some know Mark as ‘That man from Lewis’. Steamer nutters know him better as ‘That Isle of Lewis Man’, for in case you didn’t know – Mark is the MV Isle of Lewis’s biggest fan. At the first CRSC meeting of the 2025-26 session he did his best to convince the sizeable audience that his favourite is the best ship in the CalMac fleet – and he may have succeeded, as Stuart Craig found out.

Mark is also well-kent for the quality of his photography, and much of it was in evidence during his thoroughly enjoyable and informative presentation. His starter was a very brief resume of past Stornoway ferries, before heading straight into the main course.

Photos of MV Isle of Lewis at Port Glasgow before and after launch by Princess Alexandra in 1995 were a much admired feature of Mark Nicolson’s talk

Isle of Lewis took over from the much-loved, but snail-paced, Suilven on the Ullapool/Stornoway service in July 1995, having been built and launched at Ferguson’s of Port Glasgow. She had been handed over to CalMac five weeks ahead of schedule – imagine that!  The new ferry took three return sailings daily, which gave a vastly improved service to Lewis.

Mark filled us in with various random facts. Here are a selection:

  • At over 18m wide she needed to have her bow and stern ramps offset, which meant she wasn’t able to fit in at most of the network piers.
  • Her flared bow led to banging noises when heading into even a moderate swell.
  • She had 66 red seats on the main deck and 96 on the upper deck.
  • She could go astern almost as fast as Suilven could go forwards.”
  • In heavy seas she tends to wiggle rather than pitch ‘n roll.

Mark’s love of the ship commenced immediately, as soon as he set eyes on the onboard Playroom – he was very young at the time, of course. His photographs showed us the ship from every angle, at every port she has been to, and included every nook and cranny within her, including the broom cupboard. Past skippers, and even Isambard Kingdom Brunel, got a mention. His delivery was very clear and engaging.  

Stern ramp alignment was one of the issues raised by Mark in his appraisal of MV Isle of Lewis

He generously credited each photo that was not his own to the photographer and, amazingly, could give the date that each was taken without referring to his notes. In fact, his notes lay largely untouched during the presentation – who needs notes when you know every detail of the design and history of your favourite vessel.

Apart from a much improved service, a nautical milestone (if there is such a thing) was passed when Sunday services out of Lewis started in July 2001. Mark appeared to be in favour of these.

But times move on, and like many ferries the demands of increasing traffic outgrew the size of the ship, and so in February 2015 Loch Seaforth replaced Isle of Lewis, and the latter cascaded down to become the Oban/Castlebay ship. In this role she has been equally successful. She has rarely operated on any other CalMac route, apart from taking traffic from Craignure and Uig. So what of her future? With the appearance of the four new ‘Turkish’ ferries her CalMac days (or just her days) are probably numbered. So enjoy her while you can – she is a fine ship to sail on, I know – because I’m a fan too, but don’t tell Mark!

MV Suilven departing Stornoway for the last time – one of Mark’s favourite photos of her

Club President Gavin Stewart congratulates Mark after his talk

When you start the video, please click the box on the lower lefthand side to get the full screen version.

Thanks to David Cherry for video production.

CRSC is an association of friendly enthusiasts united by the quest to ‘meet together, sail together and talk together’, mainly on the west of Scotland — but many members hail from further afield, as this report demonstrates. If you join us, you’ll receive copies of our much-prized west coast shipping Review and annual magazine, as well as access to a huge library of archive photos in the ‘Members Only’ section of this website. We gather for meetings and cruises throughout the year. To join us, click here.

Published on 29 October 2025