AFTER it was decommissioned and left to rot, the Maid of the Loch became an easy target for hordes of plundering opportunists.
The iconic paddle steamship, laid up at Lomond Shores, had its assets well and truly stripped clean – with items of significant natural heritage going missing.
Yet, despite the unsavoury chapter in its history, there is renewed hope that the famous ship could be restored to its former glory, complete with many of its original fittings.
The Loch Lomond Steamship Company, which in 1996 took responsibility for restoring the Maid, has issued an amnesty appeal to try and help find some of her missing parts.
The call comes as the charity makes its final crowdfunding push to complete the restoration.
John Beveridge, the group's chair, said: "We hope this appeal will capture people's hearts and imaginations, and that those who may have pieces of the ship will consider returning them.
"After a local appeal a few years ago, the ship's bell was returned to us anonymously. It was in good condition and had clearly been kept by someone who wanted to protect this important piece of the Maid's heritage. Recently the ship's wheel was also returned to us anonymously."
Mr Beveridge added: "We are so grateful to the kind people who preserved and returned the bell and the wheel - such important parts of the ship's heritage.
"They will be vital to our current efforts to restore the ship and we hope this example will inspire others to take a look at their collections and consider returning any items they find from the Maid.
"We have a generous pledge of £3.8million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and we are currently working to raise the match funding for this.
"So the Maid has a genuine, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right now to sail again, and we hope this might inspire people to help us to restore the ship both by donating and helping us to recover lost pieces of the ship."
Three weeks ago the Loch Lomond Steamship Company launched a crowdfunding campaign with a target to raise £125,000 in just six weeks, to buy and install the special steam boiler that will power the engine and thus restore the "Heart" of Maid of the Loch.
For more information, including how to help with the fundraising efforts, visit maidoftheloch.org
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel