HMS Unicorn, SS Sir Walter Scott and PS Waverley are still showing up younger vessels – Scotsman comment

Will the delayed and over-budget Glen Sannox achieve the longevity of some of Scotland’s oldest and much-loved ships?

HMS Unicorn – which at the grand old age of 199 is the oldest ship still afloat in Scotland and the world’s third oldest – has just received £1.1 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund for “necessary and urgent work” to ensure its preservation. This comes not long after the SS Sir Walter Scott, launched in 1900, was refurbished at a cost of £750,000 to enable the steamship to return to active duty on Loch Katrine.

Meanwhile, the Waverley – a relative youngster, given it entered service in 1946 – still appears to be in fine fettle, despite being the world’s last sea-going paddle steamer, sailing “doon the watter” to Rothesay and other destinations along Scotland’s west coast.

Islanders whose lives have been much interrupted by delays and cancellations to ferry services, with work ongoing on the much-delayed and over-budget Glen Sannox and its sister ship, hull 802, could be forgiven for thinking they don’t make them like they used to. Will the Glen Sannox be afloat two centuries from now? It’s probably more likely to be still in its drydock.