Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 19, 2011

Caledonian MacBrayne (usually shortened to Cal Mac; Caledonian Mac a' Bhriuthainn in Scottish Gaelic) is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west coast. It is publicly owned and controlled by the Scottish Government.

MacBrayne's, initially known as David Hutcheson & Co., began in 1851 as a private steamship operator when G. and J. Burns, operators of the largest of the Clyde fleets, decided to concentrate on coastal and transatlantic services and handed control of their river and Highland steamers to a new company in which Hutcheson, their manager of these services, became senior partner. Their main route went from Glasgow down the Firth of Clyde through the Crinan Canal to Oban and Fort William, and on through the Caledonian Canal to Inverness.

With the retirement of the founders of David Hutcheson & Co in the 1870s, their partner (and nephew of Messrs. Burns) David MacBrayne gained full ownership, and changed the company's name accordingly. It remained in the hands of the MacBrayne family until 1928 when, unable to carry on, it was acquired jointly by the LMS Railway and Coast Lines. Its ships featured red funnels with a black top.