TSS King George V – 'King of Oban Bay' - CRSC : Clyde River Steamer Club

A classic view of MacBrayne’s magnificent summer butterfly, King George V in Oban Bay

For those of us old enough to have sailed on her, the turbine steamer King George V will always hold a special place in our affections. 2026 marks the centenary of her entry into service and, for its first meeting of the year, the Club celebrated the ship with a double handed presentation from Iain Quinn and Eric Schofield. Graeme Hogg was in the audience.

King George V was a revolutionary ship for her time in two main ways. She offered a considerable advance in passenger comfort over her turbine predecessors, by having the central portion of her promenade deck enclosed from the elements. This in turn enabled the dining saloon to be moved to the main deck, offering diners a view of the passing scene. Mechanically, she also broke new ground in having a high pressure geared turbine configuration, in an attempt to match the convenience and economy of diesel engines, while retaining the quietness and smoothness of the turbine. Like the revolutionary ships of today, she suffered a delay in her delivery. In her case it was a few months rather than a few years and was due to the General Strike. As a result, she was not delivered until September 1926 and took little part in that year’s sailings.

Clearly showing her enclosed promenade deck, a feature new to the Clyde and first seen on King George V

She was built as a Clyde steamer for Turbine Steamers Limited and the first years of her existence were spent sailing mainly to Inveraray and Campbeltown, but at the end of the 1935 season, she was acquired by David MacBrayne Limited and embarked on a new career of almost forty years cruising from Oban, principally to Staffa and Iona and to Fort William.

Iain Quinn’s remit was to review her almost fifty years of active service. Unfortunately, technical gremlins played a part, as issues with the projection equipment delayed the start of Iain’s talk. He tried to make up for lost time and ended up going into less detail than he would have liked. King George V’s revolutionary propulsion system was not a success and her career with Turbine Steamers suffered to some extent as a consequence. She was reboilered after only three years, and again in 1934.

On the second occasion, the high pressure turbines were removed and she became a more conventional ship. At the same time she was given less spindly funnels and her appearance was improved as a result. Iain gave an illustrated review of this period without going into enormous detail.

King George V arrived in Oban in 1936 looking as we all remember her with her striking red funnels. She was a major advance on any previous ship offering cruises from Oban and was an immediate and sustained success. She was not heavily used as her season was typically from June to September and she spent her winter months tucked up in harbour, usually in Greenock. Although built as a Clyde steamer, she always felt different from her counterparts on the Clyde. She was not luxuriously appointed but whether it was because of this, her slightly greater age or the fact that she was a MacBrayne ship is hard to pin down.

Iain skipped over her war service. She started the war as a troop transport and made six trips to Dunkirk as part of the evacuations, for which her captain, chief engineer and bosun were all decorated. Thereafter, she returned to the Clyde and, for the rest of the war, carried troops to or from the troopships moored at the Tail of the Bank.

John McNulty’s working model of King George V

After a year on the Tarbert and Ardrishaig mail run in 1946, King George V returned to West Highland waters and cruised very successfully every summer until 1974. Her final two seasons, during which she acquired the CalMac lions on her funnels previously carried by Duchess of Hamilton, suffered from poorer loadings than previously owing to poor weather and persuaded CalMac to withdraw her from service, although the ship still seemed to be in fine fettle. Her existence thereafter and ultimate demise in a fire in Cardiff is a sad tale and, thankfully, Iain preferred to concentrate on her service career. His talk was illustrated with a series of excellent photographs from throughout her career and Iain, being Iain, couldn’t resist bringing shots of a certain paddle steamer into proceedings. He was keen to repeat his thanks to John McNulty for being able to utilise his wonderful models of King George V, particularly during fundraising efforts for Waverley’s boiler appeal. Photographs of both his models featured and they are remarkably lifelike, whether on a trailer or on the water.

Eric Schofield’s first photograph of King George V, taken in June 1965

Eric Schofield’s part in proceedings focussed on his excellent photographic exploits over the years. He got to know the ship over the last ten years of her operating life and captured her many times over this period. He started with her winter hibernations, which were his introduction to the ship. She spent most winters in Greenock, whether in the East India Harbour or the Albert Harbour, before it was infilled. He showed her year by year, either in isolation or with other ships of the time either laid up or undergoing winter refit. Latterly, she spent some winters in Glasgow’s Queens Dock, but he was to capture her there too. The focus then moved to Oban and her two berths, overnight at the Railway Pier and then across to the North Pier for her cruises. We visited Iona and saw her from the shore and from the tenders as they shuttled passengers back and forth. She would also grace Fort William, the pier being right beside the railway station before it was moved for the new road along the shore. We saw some shots from a memorable charter King George V had to the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1970. She visited many places for the first, and only time and we saw her at Kyle of Lochalsh and Mellon Charles Pier at Aultbea, courtesy of photographs taken by the late Jim Aikman Smith. Poor weather meant she failed ever to reach the Outer Hebrides, when the planned visit to Tarbert, Harris had to be cancelled.

On charter to CRSC, King George V awaits departure from Gourock on 14 May 1970

The next section covered the period 1970-74 when King George V revisited the haunts of her youth, and some new places on the Clyde in early season activities.

Much of this was a result of Club charters, beginning with an evening cruise to Lochranza in 1970 and followed by one to Tighnabruaich in 1971. That year, Queen Mary II was being refitted as the last Clyde cruising turbine and was late in entering service. As a result, King George V took on her early season schedule of charters, including a Club charter from Ayr to places like Kilcreggan and Blairmore, which almost never saw a turbine steamer, far less a West Highland one. Eric was there to record these unique occasions. The Club ensured she returned to Inveraray in 1973.

He rounded up proceedings by returning to Oban to leave us with his favourite shot of her speeding into the bay from Craignure in 1974. This was her overnight berth that year as the new linkspan was being constructed at her traditional overnight haunt. His final shot dubbed the ship ‘King of Oban Bay’, which seemed a suitable title for this report.

Iain Quinn (left) and Eric Schofield (right) with Vice President James Fisher

It was a fine way to start the year in nostalgic fashion and our thanks go to both gentlemen for their presentations, and to Vice President James Fisher, who presided over proceedings after our President, Gavin Stewart, was called away at the last minute on business.

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 28 January 2026