The "Highland Seabird" at Moville, Captain John Leesmoffat leaning on rail

HIGHLAND SEABIRD
THE STORY OF WESTERN FERRIES'
CATAMARAN
In April 1976 Western Ferries announced that it was going to carry out trials on The Clyde with
a Norwegian Westermoen catamaran, the 'Westerman' catamarans, designed by Toralf
Westermoen, were essentially a development of the successful 120-foot long, 30 knot, Storm
Class Patrol Boats, designed by Lieutenant-Commander (later Captain) Harald Henriksen and
built by the Westermoen shipyard for The Norwegian Navy in the 1960's, Westermoen simply
taking the Storm-class hull, dividing it in the middle and separating the sections to form a
wide catamaran suited for passenger transport.

The Westermoen shipyard based in Mandal, had been established in 1961 and began building
hydrofoils under licence from the Italian Supramar company, their first hydrofoils, the
"Westfoil", with a top speed of 38 knots, finished in 1962, was delivered to The Bahamas and
after that, a number of small and large, PT20 and PT50, hydrofoils were built for passenger
services in western Norway and Greece.

Towards the end of the 1960's, the yard built The World's then largest hydrofoil, the 250-
passenger "Expressen", but, she never achieving her projected design speed of 38 knots, the
contract was annulled and Werstermoen turned their attention to high speed catamarans.

Though the first generation Westamaran catamarans, taking to the water in 1973, were not
as quick as the competing hydrofoils of the time, their capacity was larger, their maintenance
easier and, as far as passengers were concerned, their ride more comfortable than that of the
hydrofoils.

The second generation, with symmetrical hulls, matched the hydrofoils in speed and could
reach between 35 and 40 knots and the advantage of these catamarans lay in their better
operating reliability in heavy seas and in the fact that, unlike hydrofoils and hovercraft,
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already existing piers and terminals needed no alterations to allow them to berth, as in the
case of both hydrofoils and hovercraft.

Just as in the case of George Mill's steam powered catamaran, the "Alliance", which had
entered service on The Clyde in 1857, the Westamarans had asymmetrical hulls, where the
insides of the welded aluminium hulls were essentially flat and formed a tunnel between the
hulls that was near rectangular in shape.

Westamarans came in two configurations, the 26 metre long W86, fitted to seat between 142
and 165 passengers and the 29 metre W95, emerging in late 1975, fitted to accomodate
between 180 and 195 passengers, both classes offering a cruising speed of between 27 and
30 knots.

The 202 gross ton "Highland Seabird", a Westamaran W86, 89-feet long and 29 feet in beam
and powered by twin Mercedes 1100 hp MTU diesels, had a comfortable full-width carpeted
lounge seating 160, with access to the open deck aft and her standard equipment included
VHF and radio telephones, two radars, echo-sounders, gyro-compass and this equipment
supplemented when she was granted a Class IIA passenger certificate for short international
voyages, to Portrush and Moville.

Chartered for a five-month proving period and initially based at Rothesay, the "Highland
Seabird" operated to Dunoon, Helensburgh and Greenock (Customhouse Quay) and then
operated from Glasgow's Broomielaw at week-ends, her Sunday runs taking her to Tarbert, in
Loch Fyne, via The Kyles of Bute and then returning, on occasion, via The Garroch Head on
Bute cruise, these 'up-river' excursions quickly abandoned because of the potential danger to
the ship from floating timber, from the shipyards, in the upper part of the river.

Before entering regular service, the "Highland Seabird" had broken the Glasgow - Dunoon rail
and steamer connection record time of 49 minutes, set up by the "Duchess of Fife" over 50
years earlier and established a new record time of 42 minutes 38 seconds for the run, this
promising that, by connecting with trains at Greenock Central, journeys from Dunoon and
Rothesay to Glasgow could be completed in one and one-and-a-half hours respectively.

In October 1976, The Highlands and Islands Development Board chartered the "Highland
Seabird" to carry out a West Highland 'port viability' excursion from Greenock, to Brodick,
Campbeltown, Port Askaig, Colonsay, Oban, Fort William, Tobermory, Tarbert (Harris) and
Portree, short excursions being given from each port to explore public reactions and the
conclusion was then drawn that such a service would be largely uneconomic because of the
likely overhead expenses involved.

Had it not been for the Western Ferries' summer trials, it had been Westerman's intention to
sell the craft to French owners for the Cartaret - Channel Islands run in the 1977 season but,
that deal had fallen through and, having carried some 60,000 passengers during their trialling
of routes, Western Ferries were given the option of retaining the "Highland Seabird" for the
1977 season and it was arranged with The Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB)
that she would be then based at Oban and re-establish the Fort William, Tobermory and Iona
routes that had lapsed following the withdrawal of MacBrayne's "King George V" at the end of
the 1974 season.

Additionally, the "Highland Seabird" was scheduled to call at Crinan, it having had no regular
passenger calls since the withdrawal of MacBrayne's from Crinan and The Crinan Canal at the
end of the 1920's.

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As a consequence of their success that summer and their securing of a winter charter, from
October 1977 to May 1978, to convey workers to Howard Doris' yard at Loch Kishorn, where
an oil platform was then under construction, Western Ferries purchased the "Highland
Seabird" outright in October 1977 and based her at Strome Ferry for the winter.

As in 1977, the "Highland Seabird" was again on the Oban station in 1978, connections to
Iona and Staffa also being introduced through calls at Craignure, passengers able to cross Mull
by coach and then, weather permitting, connect with Staffa Marine's launches to land on
Staffa.

Too that season, the "Highland Seabird" began operating Saturday and Sunday return
excursions to Portrush and Moville, the service inaugurated on June 3, 1978 and, on arrival at
Moville's Carrickarory Pier, the official launching lunch being given in Moville's Keaveney's
Hotel with Lady Wilson, whose family had interests in the company, also present.

Excursion returns for the three hour long crossings were set at £23 and, with coach
connexions by Highland Omnibuses from Inverness and Fort William to Oban and from Portrush
via Coleraine to Belfast and onwards by rail to Dublin and connections from Oban to Cairnryan
for the Townsend-Thoresen ferry sailings to Larne and vice versa, the summer service should
have proved success but for the sometimes severe weather conditions that year and not even
the promise of 'duty free' alcohol, available on the section between Portrush and Moville,
could improve passenger numbers that year.

To close the season, the "Highland Seabird" gave a public excursion from Campbeltown to Ayr
on September 18, 1978.
In 1979, when the Irish services were restricted to Sundays only and indeed not performed at
all in the 1980 season, the new jetty at Iona allowed the "Highland Seabird" to call there
directly at certain states of the tide and so avoid the necessity of being tendered to by the
MacBrayne's red 'flit' boats or the small 'Island-class' Iona car ferry "Morvern".

In the spring of 1981, the "Highland Seabird" was chartered to Sealink for trials on the
Portsmouth to Ryde passenger ferry service, following which Western Ferries operated a few
cruises in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Wight before returning her to Scotland, where she
was laid up on the slip at Old Kilpatrick, near Glasgow and then at Renfrew.

In July 1981, The Secretary of State for Scotland proposed that the subsidy for CalMac’s
Gourock - Dunoon service be withdrawn and Western Ferries be given a capital grant so that
they could buy another car-ferry to cope with the extra vehicle traffic, a subsidy too would be
offered to the company to operate a Gourock - Dunoon passenger service with the "Highland
Seabird", then lying idle.

A public enquiry ensued and the proposals rejected, serious hardship, inconvenience and
difficulty being expected if the Dunoon passengers had to rely on the "Highland Seabird", it
being acknowledged that, the weather conditions, particularly in winter, would quickly lead to
the suspension of the service if it were left to a 90-foot catamaran which was never designed
to cope with the big seas which all too often threatened even ordinary car-ferry services and
the "Highland Seabird" was now put up for sale and, eventually, in March 1985, sold to
Emeraude Lines, based in St Malo and they renaming her "Trident 2", their 1973-built "Belle
de Dinard" being only the second built of the W86 class and having operated in Norway, as
the "Karmsund" till acquired by Emeraude Lines in 1976, to operate, usually from March to to
November, between St. Malo, Granville and Carteret to St.Helier and Gorey in Jersey and to
Guernsey and Sark.

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The following year, Emeraude Lines adopted the name 'Trident Lines' as a marketing name for
their St. Malo-based catamaran operations, their original "Belle de Dinard" being renamed
"Trident 1" and their third, larger M95 catamaran, completed by Westerman as the "Venture
84" ahead of any orders but bought new by Emeraude Lines in April 1983 and named simply
"Trident", then renamed "Trident 3" and, just before the start of the 1990 season, "Trident 2",
the "Highland Seabird", was sold off to another French operators and it is understood that
some time after that she was transferred to The West Indies.

Towards the end of the 1980's, the Westerman yard changed it's name to Westamarin and the
yard's downfall came about when they built a 'High Speed Sea Service' HSS 900 catamaran,
the "Stena Carisma", for the Stena Line in 1997, they later raising a compensation claim
against the yard after discovering corrosion in the ship's aluminium alloy hull and,
Westamarin's going bankrupt shortly afterwards, the yard closing near the end of the 1990's.

DOUBLE TAKE

Former Western Ferries' Campbeltown-registered catamaran

"Highland Seabird" at St. Nazaire

Of some coincidence, when Emeraude Lines' delivery crew set off from The Clyde for France,
their immediate destination was not St. Malo but St. Nazaire where, in March 1942, HMS
"Campbeltown", formerly the USS "Buchanan", had destroyed the gates of the only dry dock
on The Atlantic seaboard big enough to accommodate the "Tirpitz".
One can only wonder at the local reaction there on the catamaran's arrival for, emblazoned
across her stern was "HIGHLAND SEABIRD - CAMPBELTOWN', Emeraude Lines still to change
her name and her original port of registry !

The Raid on St Nazaire - March 28, 1942

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In early 1942 Britain's very survival was threatened by the success of German U-Boat raids on
shipping in the Atlantic. their mighty battleship Tirpitz posed even a greater threat. Operation
Chariot a sea-borne commando attack was launched on the huge "Normandie” dock in the
heavily defended St Naziare harbour. Destruction of the dock would deprive the Germans of
the only repair site on the Atlantic coast big enough for the 50,000 ton Tirpitz. Accompanied
by 18 small craft of Coastal Forces. HMS “Campbeltown” boldly steamed up the Loire estuary
under intense German fire and struck the caisson of the dry dock at 0134 hrs.

The Commandos rapidly disembarked from the bows and set about destroying the dock
installations - Of the 622 who set out from Falmouth 169 died, 200 became prisoners and
only 242 returned home. Five Victoria Crosses, four DSO's, seventeen DSC's and eleven MC's
were awarded in the daring and brilliantly successful raid.

The value of attacking St Nazaire rested in a number of features. The main target was the
‘Forme Ecluse Louis Joubert’, an enormous lock and dry dock capable of holding the largest
Kriegsmarine warships and the only dock of that size on the Atlantic coast. The British feared
that the “Tirpitz” would be transferred to St Nazaire. The dock had been built from 1924-28 to
accommodate the liner “Normandie” and is sometimes referred to as the Normandie Dock. It
was 1148 feet (350 m) long and 164 ft (50 m) wide, connecting at one end into the Peahouet
basin and entering the estuary at the other. The locks of the dock were caisson-and-camber
style, each 167 feet (51 m) long and 35 feet (11 m) thick constructed of hollow steel sections.

As well as the dock the harbour included a new submarine basin built by the Organisation Todt
with six enormous pens. It connected to the sea via two entrances both fitted with lock
systems, one opening east near the Normandie Dock and one opening south into the new
(1907) ‘avant-port’.

The German defences at St Nazaire were considered the second toughest in western France
after Brest - Both sides of the estuary approach were fortified and were manned by the 280
Naval Artillery Battalion (commanded by Edo Dieckmann) and the 22 Naval Flak Battalion
(commanded by C. C. Mecke). Fortified guns on the northern shore included four 150 mm
howitzers, four 170 mm guns and four 75 mm guns at Chémoulin, south-west of St Nazaire;

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four 88 mm guns and ten 20 mm or 40 mm guns at Villès Martin closer to St Nazaire; further
away at La Baule were four 105 mm guns and two railway 240 mm guns. Across the estuary
from St Nazaire were four 75 mm guns at St Gilda, another four at Le Pointeau and ten or so
20 mm guns at Mindin. In the immediate harbour area were around 30 single 20 mm guns,
two quad 20 mm guns, around 15 40 mm guns and a flakship, the “Sperrbrecher 137”, just
off the new port. Heavy anti-aircraft defences were also situated within the town, radar
stations were operating at Le Croisic and at St Marc and all the German positions also had
searchlights. Around 1,000 troops manned these defences and there were a further 5,000 or
so military personnel in the town. Excluding submarines the naval power in the town was
limited to ten minesweepers, four small hafenschutzboote and four torpedo-boats.

The British Plan

The Combined Operations scheme relied very heavily on surprise. A flotilla of shallow-draft
boats would speed up the estuary while the German defences were distracted by an air-raid.
An explosive ship would be rammed into the exposed caisson of the Normandie Dock and
Commando raiding parties would disembark from that ship and others to attack and destroy
24 different targets, the force would then be withdrawn by sea from the edge of the harbour,
the 'Old Mole' and some hours later the explosive ship would detonate.

The initial force was planned at one destroyer as the explosive ship and eight motor launches.
The final force was the destroyer, sixteen launches, one motor gunboat and one torpedo-boat
- The destroyer was HMS Campbeltown, an obsolete craft. She was previously the Buchanan
of the US Navy, transferred to Britain on September 2, 1940, as part of the Destroyers for
Bases Agreement and renamed as the ‘Town’ class.

The Campbeltown was roughly refigured to resemble a Möwe class destroyer, but all the main
guns and excess weight was removed to reduce her draught to the minimum possible, her
armament was a single 12-pounder (5.4 kg) and eight 20 mm Oerlikons - The explosive was
placed just behind the forward main gun position, it consisted of 24 Mark VII depth charges
enclosed in steel tanks and concrete.

The ship was to ram the caisson and then be scuttled to prevent her removal before she could
explode. The Campbeltown was commanded by Lieutenant-commander S. H. Beattie and the
crew was reduced to just 75.

The motor launches were B-class Fairmile craft, 112 feet (34 m) long and 19.5 feet (5.9 m) in
beam. They were powered by two 650 hp (480 kW) petrol engines. Built of mahogany they
had very little armour and were extremely vulnerable to fire and to damage to the tricky
hydraulic steering system. They were armed with 20 mm Oerlikon for air defence, four WW I
vintage Lewis guns.

The motor gunboat, “MGB 314”, was added to act as a headquarters ship for the naval
command. Also a Fairmile craft she was a C-class, very slightly smaller but powered by three
850 hp (630 kW) engines each driving a screw and capable of almost 30 knots (56 km/h). She
was armed with one automatic 2-pounder (907 g) forwards, one semi-automatic 2-pounder
(907 g) amidships and two .50-cal (~12.7 mm) machineguns. She was also fitted with an
indifferent radar system and a useful echo sounder.

The torpedo-boat, “MTB 74”, was a special craft, a Vosper motor-boat. She was modified to
carry special 2200 lb (1,000 kg) delay charges in her torpedo tubes, other than that she had
five Hotchkiss machineguns. With five engines generating over 3,500 hp (2.6 MW) she was
capable of almost 45 knots (83 km/h) but consumed so much fuel that she would have to be
towed most of the way to the target - She and all the other motor boats were painted a

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special shade of purple dubbed 'Plymouth’ or ‘Mountbatten Pink’, the naval camouflage paint
pigment developed in the autumn of 1940 by Lord Mountbatten and the paint designed to
make the ships less conspicuous to searchlights - The entire group of 611 men, under
Commander R. E. D. Ryder, was escorted most of the way to the target by two Hunt-class
destroyers, HMS Atherstone and HMS Tynedale.

The Commando force, led by Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. Newman, was divided into three groups
and split, with two groups on the motor launches and one on the Campbeltown. The
Commando groups were further sub-divided into demolition squads and protection squads.
The demolition squads carried 60 to 90 lb (30 to 40 kg) of demolition equipment each, mainly
explosives and cordex but also 'tar babies', sledgehammers and axes. With the demolition
men carrying so much kit they were only armed with pistols, the protection squads with
Thompson SMGs grenades and Brens to defend them while they worked.

Though initially planned to given the operation bomber support from 35 Whitleys and 25
Wellingtons, this force was greatly reduced before the operation due to the needs of Bomber
Command and its effectiveness was furthered reduced on Churchill’s orders to absolutely
minimise French casualties.

The Journey

The ships left Falmouth on March 26, aiming to be ramming the Campbeltown into the caisson
at 01.30 on the 28th. Initially the flotilla sailed south-west and then south, adopting the
arrow-head formation of an anti-submarine sweep. Apart from a brief clash with a U-boat on
the 27th the ships proceeded unseen, turning eastwards on the morning of the 27th and
finally north-east in the early evening. One motor launch suffered a mechanical failure and
returned to England alone.

As they approached St Naizaire the ships moved into a simple formation, two lines of motor
launches with the Campbeltown in-between and the MGB leading the way. Rather than taking
the main channel the ships cut across the shallows to the west, the Campbeltown narrowly
avoiding grounding.

The Attack

The diversionary bombing was desultory and did little except to alert the German forces that
something odd was happening. Despite this the British ships got very close to the harbour
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without being fired upon. The force was first noticed at 01.15 but the first searchlights did not
go on until 01.22 when the force was little more than 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) from the
harbour. The British used a German morse call sign and gained almost five more minutes, it
was not until 01.28 with less than a mile to the harbour that the German guns opened fire.
The Campbeltown drew the most fire but despite taking a number of casualties struck the
southern caisson at around 20 knots (37 km/h) at 01.34, jamming herself deep into the
structure and crumpling almost 40 feet (12 m) of her hull. The delay action fuses had been set
shortly before the ship came under fire. The seven Commando teams then disembarked and
made for their targets, successfully destroying much of the equipment associated with the
Normandie Dock and also damaging the northern caisson. As these Commando groups
withdrew and headed for the pier to embark they finally became aware of how the remainder
of the force was fairing.

The seventeen smaller vessels, although receiving less fire, were much more vulnerable. In
the four minutes around the ramming by the Campbeltown eight of the launches were
destroyed in the channel. A few hits were often sufficient to set the motor launches ablaze
and when the crew and Commandos had to abandon themselves to the water or Carley rafts.
Many drowned or, more horribly, were caught in the burning fuel that spread across the
water. Most of the eight craft destroyed suffered greater than 80% fatalities, even on the
surviving craft barely a single man escaped injury. In the dark and dazzled by the searchlights
several boats overshot the harbour entrance and had to turn back through heavy fire to try
and land their Commandos. MTB 74 survived, fired her special torpedoes into the lock at the
Old entrance and made it back out to sea after taking on around half the crew of the
Campbeltown. Only a few Commando teams on the launches made it ashore, none
successfully at the 'Old Mole' where they were hoping to re-embark and escape. The intact
motor launches took on what survivors they could find or rescue from the water, made smoke
and retreated, leaving just over a hundred Commandos on the docks. MGB 314 survived and
was the last vessel to leave, her decks covered in wounded men rescued from the waters, the
two Able Seamen Savage and Smith distinguishing themselves until their deaths as they
manned the exposed automatic 2-pounder (907 g).

Back Out to Sea

The boats that made it back out to sea were heading for a point around 25 nautical miles
(46km) out from St Nazaire, where they would rendezvous with their destroyer escorts. As the
boats moved out into the wider part of the channel they came under fire from heavier guns,
although at longer range. Two boats were destroyed in the race down river, one of the motor
launches and MTB 74. Both vessels were carrying many wounded and most of the
Campbeltown crew and their losses accounted for over half of the entire naval casualties. A
final motor launch, carrying 28, was engaged at around 05.30 by the German torpedo-boat
Jaguar commanded by F. K. Paul. Eager to capture the British vessel, Jaguar did not use her
main armament and the two vessels exchanged heavy small arms fire. After almost a hour of
firing and manoeuvring, with twenty dead or seriously wounded, the British surrendered.
Sergeant T. F. Durrant, who had manned a Lewis gun during the clash, was later posthumously
awarded the Victoria Cross.

Four British vessels made the rendezvous with the destroyers, two were abandoned at that
point due to their condition and the others slightly later as the destroyers came under air-
attack. Three motor launches which missed the destroyers made it back to Falmouth under
their own power.

The Battle at The Docks

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The Commandos left behind were soon heavily pressed, Stosstruppen from Works and Flak
companies began to enter the dock area from around 02.00. Also, with the withdrawal of the
boats, the German 20 and 40 mm guns began to fire into the dock area. The British
regrouped amongst the warehouses and, declining to surrender, at around 03.00 took off on a
circuitous route to cross a bridge into the main town and then, hopefully, into the open
country.

Leaving a steady trail of dead and wounded the Commandos worked through the docks and
charged the bridge, breaking through onto the Place de la Vielle Ville, but with barely one in
four of the force uninjured. The Commando breakout coincided with the arrival of regular
soldiers and armoured vehicles from the 679 MI Brigade. The British were forced southwards
into the town and under increasing fire sought cover. The Germans surrounded the town,
posted road-blocks, stopped all traffic and conducted a house-to-house search. Almost all the
British were captured or killed by around 10.00. They were assembled at La Baule, numbering
roughly 200 and taken away to various POW camps, most to Stalag 133. Five British soldiers
avoided capture and made it all the way to Gibraltar. Of the British force 169 had been killed,
German casualties from the battle were 42 killed and 127 wounded. - As well as the VC for
Durrant a further four VCs were awarded, to Beattie, Newman, Ryder and Savage.

Later

The Campbeltown charges were timed to go off at around 09.00 at the very latest. A German
search had not uncovered the explosive and the appointed time passed and it was not until
10.35 that the Campbeltown exploded, destroying the caisson and killing about 250 German
soldiers and civilans in the vicinity. The reason for this delay in detonation has never and will
never be resolved.

The explosive charges dropped by MTB 74 at the lock gates did not detonate until the 30th, as
expected. This late explosion shook the German garrison and led to a night of panic with
German forces firing on French civilians and each other. Sixteen French civilans were killed
and around thirty wounded. Later 1,500 civilians were arrested and taken to the camp at
Savenay.

For depriving the Germans use of the dry-dock for the rest of the war, Commander Ryder was
awarded a Victoria Cross and a civic reception was held in Campbeltown in July 1944 - The
story of the raid is well told in the Trevor Howard film, "The Gift Horse".