JUPITER was the first of a pair of large car ferries finally ordered by the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. Ltd, under the aegis of the new Scottish Transport Group, from Lamont's yard in 1972. They were the first ferries to be built for the CSP's Clyde empire since the STG's 1969 formation and in fact JUPITER was the last new-build for which the CSP signed a contract; Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd, of course, emerged at New Year 1973. Though she appeared in CalMac colours from the start, Alistair Deayton records that the lions on her funnels are second-hand (they originally adorned the MAID OF SKELMORLIE) and for many years after her launch the JUPITER boasted a metal CSP pennant on her jack staff forward.

Awaiting launch from Lamonts

Leaving Dunoon in original condition

In fact the CSP had been considering the building of two new Clyde car ferries for quite a number of years and a 1969 bid to revive an order for two hoist-loading ferries was sensibly shot down in flames – the Scottish Transport Group dedicated itself to creating a fleet of drive-through endloaders, operating efficiently off tide-adjustable linkspans.

The fraught politics of Argyll, however, forced an unhappy compromise. The Company wanted to upgrade the Gourock-Dunoon service to full drive-through operation – conscious from 1971 of Western Ferries breathing down their necks, and threatening a privately run “Clyde Cross” ferry of their own from Renfrewshire to Cowal. Dunoon Town Council, however, were loathe to construct the necessary causeway and a linkspan of stern-loading alignment. Caley masters, too, were worried about berthing in heavy beam-on wind and seas with such an arrangement – unless it were complimented by a long and very expensive breakwater.

Reluctantly, the CSP and STG negotiated for a halfway-house option; the linkspan could be built into the existing pier (or at least alongside it) at right angles to the “berthing face”, and ferries could then load and unload by side-ramp. “The practicality of this method was carefully researched using models and mock-ups,” records John Whittle in Speed Bonny Boat (Saltire Communications, 1990) “and, once proved, the idea was put to Dunoon Town Council.” But Western Ferries had their own proposal; a short linkspan ramp inside Dunoon Pier – which no CSP vessel could have served and which would grant the private enterprise a monopoly of vehicle traffic. “Dunoon Town Council heard from both parties and was evenly divided in its views. The CSP proposal was, however, to win the day on the casting vote of the Provost and the new Dunoon terminal was completed with financial assistance from CSP and brought into service in April 1972.” It was inaugurated by the GLEN SANNOX – which had already acquired a stern-ramp and now had her side-ramps especially modified for this Dunoon novelty – and in May 1972 she was joined by the spectacularly butchered MAID OF CUMBRAE, now a 15-car ferry and able to serve as her “pup.”

Pulling away from Gourock

In some important ways, as Ian McCrorie records, the third JUPITER was a “revolutionary vessel”. The new Clyde car ferry had twin funnels, an entirely open vehicle deck at the stern with space for 40-odd cars, and all her passenger accommodation fitted forward on three decks. She had twin funnels, linked by tetrapod mainmasts; a mighty stern-ramp; and two equally impressive side-ramps – but no hoist. The accommodation on both sisters was of a high order – certainly superior to that of the first-generation “ABC” car ferries of two decades before. “On the main deck level forward,” recorded G E Langmuir, “are a lounge, ticket-office and toilets, while on the deck above is another lounge with self-service cafeteria. JUPITER and her sisters (if one counts the Ailsa-built SATURN of 1977) were also the last CalMac ships to be constructed with wooden passenger decking, and this caulked teak planking is now unique to them.

But the most important feature of the new ferry was her propulsion. Instead of conventional screw-propellers and rudders, JUPITER's powerful Mirrlees-Blackstone diesels drove two fore-and-aft Voith-Schneider units. (For a full description of this technology, see KEPPEL.) They had already proved their worth on the new Kyleakin ferries and made JUPITER astonishingly manoeuvrable. Varying the pitch of these units – whose blades hang vertically from a spinning drum and remind you of nothing as much as a blender – controlled the amount of thrust and therefore the speed; they were coupled to “continuously rated” engines, running at a constant rpm. Even better, adjusting the pitch granted thrust in any desired direction, through a full 360 degrees. On her trials, the new JUPITER gaily showed her abilities – achieving 15 ½ knots ahead, thirteen knots astern and a rather touching three knots sideways. She could even spin in her own length.

“On a demonstration to the Press,” John Whittle notes with undoubted glee, “ Captain Hutcheson, Master of the JUPITER, took great delight in stopping alongside a competing Western Ferries vessel which was proceeding in the opposite direction – and, putting the controls astern, he rapidly left the Western Ferries vessel wallowing far behind! The real advantage of these units lay, however, in the speed of berthing and undocking. Arriving at Gourock, for example, the conventional ship reduced speed approaching the pier, made a sweeping turn, landed just ahead of the linkspan then worked her way back to the berth. The “Streakers”, as JUPITER and JUNO became known, attacked this differently. They would make a direct approach to the berth at a constant speed, slackening off at the last moment, then spin round to slip neatly back into the berth with the propellers set to gently nudge them in to the pier. The time-saving which this provided enabled each ship to operate a return trip every hour, giving a thirty-minute service between them. To complement the new ships, a new passenger waiting room and covered walkway from the railway station were constructed at Gourock and were, no doubt, very welcome on those rainy days which happen from time to time on the Clyde!”

More welcome, perhaps, than a split infinitive; the efficiency of the new vessels has in recent years been equally complemented by handy powered gangways at both Gourock and Dunoon and (an easily overlooked point) the highly impressive verve of pierhands and crew. It is fair to note that at least one CalMac skipper has subsequently (and, of course, off the record) observed that the JUPITER and her very similar consorts have a fundamental flaw in design; with both Voith-Schenider units on the midline (most diagonally, as on double-ended craft) there is a slight but real degree of “cavitation”, with vacuums in the water created by the forward thruster rather compromising the performance of the aft unit. In extreme cases, the shock of hitting such underwater voids can literally blow chunks out of a propellor, and this highly experienced Clyde master told me in March 1992 that as far as he was concerned these Upper Clyde ferries were a “failed design”.

Yet the new JUPITER and JUNO proved rather popular for the Cowal service; the undoubted awkwardness in discharging longer vehicles at Dunoon being offset by their equally undoubted passenger comfort – better than the 1954 car ferries and certainly better than the glorified bus-shelter commuters might enjoy on Western Ferries. Time for berthing was reduced to negligible proportions and JUPITER's fast turnrounds enabled her to keep a tight schedule through her first seven years of service. They also quickly won her (and JUNO, and their younger sister, the Ailsa-built SATURN of 1977) an affectionate nickname, “the Streakers”. It referred, of course, to their turn of speed – though streakers of the nude variety were much in the news in 1974.

Lying at the wires

Arriving at Dunoon

JUPITER enjoyed other duties as well as the main ferry passage to Cowal. For many years she and her sister ferried Admiralty workers from Gourock to Kilcreggan, for the RNAD base at Coulport on Loch Long, and on very wintry occasions JUPITER or JUNO would sail directly to Coulport when the road from Kilcreggan was blocked by snow.

From September 1974 the sisters also made regular runs, twice or thrice weekly, from Gourock to Rothesay, bearing natural gas tankers, which could not readily be accommodated on their older hoist-loading consorts – no passengers, of course, could be carried on such runs. They were relieved of this chore from May 1978 once the SATURN had settled down on the newly converted Wemyss Bay-Rothesay passage – though then, as occasion demanded, they had of course to relieve her, or provided added capacity for Bute at peak holiday seasons. JUPITER also assisted on occasion with CalMac's Ardyne contract in the mid70s, ferry workers to the McAlpine oil platform yard from Wemyss Bay.

The “Streakers” were, in these early years, usually relieved by MAID OF CUMBRAE, and the ARRAN; with their demise, from 1979 the usual Upper Clyde relief vessel was the (modified) PIONEER, another 1974 build for the Company.

After 1980, life grew a little more exciting for JUPITER. She was briefly threatened with lying in reserve at Greenock all summer of 1981, the idea being that GLEN SANNOX (which, unlike JUPITER at that time, had a passenger certificate for Arran) could serve as secondary Gourock-Dunoon ferry and be available for the odd Arran dash as required, not to mention her much-reduced cruising programme. In the event a chapter of accidents forced GLEN SANNOX to spend much of that summer in the Hebrides and JUPITER sailed as usual.

Of course no such ferry could be found, even by charter – at the height of the storm the lovely Denny-built PRINCE IVANHOE, formerly the Solent ferry SHANKLIN of 1951 and just converted the previous winter for Clyde and coastal cruising as consort to WAVERLEY, was wrecked and written off before the end of the summer. (CalMac had in fact begun talks with her directors about chartering PRINCE IVANHOE off season, at least for Arran weekend duties) Nevertheless, CalMac were awarded that foot-passenger subsidy – initially only around £250,000 a year, and on condition that they did not advertise anything more intensive than an hourly service between Gourock and Dunoon. The two 1974 streakers could no longer toil full-time.

It wasn't a barrel of laughs for Western Ferries either, who had every right to be deeply upset – they had expressly bought the ex-Humber paddle ferry FARRINGFORD to be converted for their Cowal fleet, on the basis of George Younger's blithe promises – but it was almost the end of the JUPITER. She probably owed her survival as a CalMac ferry to to a twist of Providence – the increasing decrepitude of the 1964 CLANSMAN, summer ferry at Arran since 1976, and the very limited capacity of the winter vessel at Arran, CALEDONIA.

If back-up she had to be, JUPITER might as well be a wide-ranging and adaptable back-up. 1982, then, saw the eldest “streaker” fitted with radio-telephone and and additional fire-fighting equipment, and thus qualified for a Class V certificate for 694 passengers and making the exposed crossing to Arran as required. That summer saw GLEN SANNOX unexpectedly laid up for much of the season while JUPITER, midweek, interchanged with JUNO on the Dunoon and Kilcreggan roster and, come the weekends, gave extra runs not only to Rothesay, from Wemyss Bay, but indeed to Arran – from both Wemyss Bay and Ardrossan.

The fright in 1981 was fast succeeded by alarm in February 1983 and a Report by the Monopolies & Mergers Commission, ordered by the Government with, no doubt, an eye on possible CalMac privatisation. To apparent surprise the Report was for the most part very supportive of the Company's endeavours and operation, but made various controversial recommendations, not least of which was that either JUPITER or JUNO be disposed of – the RNAD income being insufficient to justify their joint existence – and that CalMac's subsidy for Cowal ferry services be abolished entirely. The Admiralty contract was shortly afterwards renegotiated, and some Monopolies & Merger Commission ideas were implemented – such as the sale of the LARGS (ex KYLEAKIN of 1960) at year's end – but JUPITER and her sister survived, as did their Gourock-Dunoon passenger subsidy, with some wee tweaks.

Leaving Ardrossan for Brodick

Heading over to Wemyss Bay

Cowal Games Weekend at the end of August 2005 saw the three sisters at Dunoon to keep up with demand. JUPITER was then taken out of service at the end of the games weekend and sailed for Rosneath in the Gareloch where she was laid up for the winter. There was an opportunity for her to go back into service within days as JUNO required some time off for repairs, but it was felt that BUTE would have to manage on her own and the island's service was reduced to one sailing every 90 minutes - 50% of the normal frequency.

JUPITER is now found permanently on the Gourock - Dunoon crossing and has outlived her younger sister JUNO, which was withdrawn in April 2007. She is now the oldest member of the fleet and dedicates all of her time to the route for which she was built and is no longer required on the Rothesay crossing a few miles south.

Back on the Dunoon run once more