The Messrs. Burns, who prior to that date had controlled a large portion of the River Clyde and West Highland traffic, in 1851 decided to confine their energies to “deep sea” steamers, and accordingly sold off their smaller craft, and Messrs. Thomson and MacConnell parted with their steamers of the same type. These vessels were acquired, and the West Highland trade taken over, by Messrs. David Hutcheson & Co. (the company including Mr. David MacBrayne, the head of the present firm), whose address at that date was 14, Jamaica Street, Glasgow. Messrs. Hutcheson had, previous to the purchase of the steamers referred to, five steampackets named CYGNET, LAPWING, DUNTROON CASTLE, PIONEER and DOLPHIN, so that in 1851 they controlled a fleet of about a dozen steamers. These steamers maintained a bi-weekly service (in addition to other sailings) between Glasgow and Inverness, sailing from Glasgow every Monday and Thursday, a service which has been maintained uninterruptedly for upwards of half a century. The CYGNET and LAPWING were built with their paddle boxes flush with their hulls, to enable them to pass through the Crinan Canal. Two new steamers, the CHEVALIER and MOUNTAINEER, were added to the fleet in 1854. The following year (1855) the CLANSMAN was built for the firm. The same year the IONA (the first of the name) was built, and maintained her reputation as a “crack” Clyde steamer until 1863, when she was purchased by an agent of the Confederate States, to run the blockade during the American War. She, however, never crossed the Atlantic, being sunk, as the result of a collision, before she got clear of the upper firth. She was promptly replaced by IONA (second of the name), launched the same year, which, after running for one season only, was also sold to run the blockade, but is supposed to have been lost with all hands off Lundy Island. The second IONA differed from her predecessors in having a saloon on deck. Prior to her starting on her Atlantic voyage, this saloon was removed and placed on IONA the third. This steamer for many years bore the reputation of being the swiftest, as well as the most luxuriously appointed, steamer on the Firth of Clyde. The engines, which work with almost incredible smoothness, are of 1,625 horse-power, and are capable of propelling her at the rate of 18 knots per hour. In connection with this vessel, the writer remembers a very amusing incident. Many years ago he was travelling by steamer from Liverpool to Glasgow, and in conversation a fellow-passenger stated that he had in the early part of the same summer sailed in the famous IONA from Glasgow to Ardrishaig. “What do you think of the Kyles of Bute?” I asked. “The Kyles of Bute,” he replied; “I never saw them.” The subject was dropped, until a little later he again spoke of his trip to Ardrishaig. “And what do you think of the Kyles of Bute?” I again queried. “The Kyles of Bute; you asked me that before. I never saw them.”