Orkney Image Library

Shae wis some ship,aye braakan doon, bit great intertainment, wae aye gead roond tae Lyness on a sunday efternoon jist tae see whit wid happen wae the loading. She carried three cars one at each side o the howld and ane on the hatch cover and some times if ther wiz a peedie ane they wid pit hid doon along the side deck.
Ither John Gray or John Hourie wid be skipper "Owld Hourie" was best intertainment aye shoutan and bawlan and he wore "dungery jacket ower his simmitt" a massive man in every way, he aye took a bit o medicine wae him for a condition that he had!!.
The Watchfull and the Hoy Head were funded I think by what we know today as the Scottish Office although they were owned by Bremner & Co

We always went a run as well. Scrambling at Melsetter was always a busy day and I mind the time a woman who is no longer alive and fae the mainland was in need to spend a penny after a right fill o' drink, went in to a portacabin on the pier that's end was open for all to see and when she came back oot her skirt wis all hooked up at the back in her knickers and then she lay over the bonnet of their car in poor shape waiting to board the Watchful. It's a true saying "When the drinks in the wits oot"
One of the many memorable happenings in the days of the Watchful and Hoy Head.

used to work on her in the summer