Ship’s visit brings waves of nostalgia
Minister boards revamped ‘Fingal’
Rev Morrison outside ‘Fingal’
The Very Rev Dr Angus Morrison, minister of Orwell and Portmoak Parish Church, visited his late father Captain Norman Morrison’s former ship for the first time in 40 years.
The ship, which has since been turned into a £5 million luxury 23-cabin hotel, brought back fond memories for the 65-year-old minister, who said the nostalgia trip was a real “shock to the system”.
Dr Morrison’s father Captain Norman Morrison served on the 239-foot long ‘Fingal’ ship in the 1970s, when the ship’s primary role was ferrying lighthouse keepers, essential supplies and maintenance staff to lighthouses along the west and north coasts of Scotland.
Built in Glasgow in 1964, ‘Fingal’ was based in Oban where the Morrison family lived.
As a young man, Angus had regularly visited his father’s ship.
In 1994 the ship was then moved to Stromness in Orkney, before being sold to a private company in 2000.
The ship was renamed ‘MV Windsor Castle’ and taken to the River Fal in Cornwall until it was bought by the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust in 2014, when it returned to being called ‘Fingal,’ a name paying homage to a third century king.
It is now permanently docked in Alexandra Dock in the Port of Leith logbooks
in Edinburgh.
Dr Morrison, who served as moderator of the General Assembly in 2015/16, said his father would have been delighted with how the ship now looks.
He said: “Walking along the dock, it gave me a thrill instantly to recognise the unmistakable lines of a ship I had long known and loved.
“The sense of excitement I felt as we went on board was exactly the same as I had experienced every time I boarded her years ago when she played her full part in ensuring the safety of mariners around our coasts.
“On board, however, the experience was something of a shock to the system.
“Practical functionality had given way to a level of comfort and luxury its past crews could never have imagined. Captain Norman Morrison with his son Derek aboard ‘Fingal’ Rev Morrison and Fiona Strauss look through the ship’s
“Much creative and careful thought has gone into the ship’s inner transformation.
Dr Morrison, whose family comes from Harris in the Outer Hebrides, said touring the ship brought back many fond memories for him.
He continued: “The officers and the crew were always very kind to me.
“Dad would explain to me all the latest technology on the bridge and the engineers would take time to show me round the engine room.
“I was quite fascinated by it all and I loved the great big steering wheel on the bridge.
“I loved dad’s cabin with round porthole, desk, chair, settee and bunk.
“It was all so compact and shipshape and I used to enjoy reading for long periods in his cabin and occasionally did some studying at the desk.”
Norman Morrison worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for 36 years and became an expert in manoeuvring ships in treacherous waters.
He served in the Royal Navy during World War II and was awarded a MBE for his services to shipping around the Scottish and Isle of Man coasts.
Captain Morrison died in Oban in 2009 at the age of 87.
Since then, the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust has gone to great lengths to maintain the original features of the ship, including having a number of photographs and logbooks on display.
The Kinross-shire minister, accompanied by his wife Marion, pored over the logbooks during his visit and said he even recognised some of the names in them.
He said: “I am very pleased that ‘Fingal’ was not sent to the breakers’ yard and the designers have created something new and of real beauty.
“They have also, in exciting and surprising ways, maintained a sense of continuity with the ship that had been.
“My dad would have been delighted.”
He continued: “There was a feeling of deep pleasure that the ship’s future has been secured and that it will continue to fulfil a valuable, if different, function in the years to come.’’
The sense of excitement I felt as I went on board was exactly the same as years ago