“Grenadier is familiar to thousands of tourists who in years gone by have had the pleasure of enjoying from her decks the beauties of the famous run from Iona.”
From The Glasgow Herald, 7 September 1927
There is a certain magic about a figurehead... The ships have gone, but these wooden angels remain to tell their tales to those who care to listen
Grenadier was, without doubt, a pretty ship being a saloon steamer with clipper bow, bowsprit, two funnels and one mast.
At one time the carving of figureheads was a matter of vital importance, and Jack Tar [a seaman in the Royal or merchant navies] had a violent objection to sailing with any vessel whose figurehead he happened to disapprove of. This feeling has to a great extent died out … but still artistic tastes prompt shipbuilders to a due observance of elegance in the appearance of their vessels
What kind of figurehead would you choose to carve?
On went the Grenadier, with the cliffs and mountains of Mull on one hand, and many small and rocky islands on the other. At length the steamer ran very close to one of these, which is called Erraid, and which is pointed out as the island on which David in Stevenson's "Kidnapped" was lost.
