The Orcadian Features - Captain David Pottinger

Captain David Pottinger
(From The Orcadian dated September 26, 2002)

Captain David Pottinger who is thought to have transported more than 1,000,000 passengers across the Pentland Firth during his time as master of the St Ola. He served on all seven of the Northern Saints with P&O's predecessors, the North of Scotland Shipping Company after joining the fleet in November 1958. Captain Pottinger retired in 1993. (www.orkneyphotographic.co.uk)

Captain David Pottinger from Kirkwall is the most senior of the retired P&O masters and during his 37 years of service on the North Boats he has worked on all seven of the Northern Saints vessels – St Clair, St Clement, St Magnus, St Ninian, St Ola, St Rognvald, and St Sunniva.

He joined the North of Scotland Shipping Company in November 1958 as second mate on the St Magnus, having spent ten years beforehand in the merchant navy. He was appointed as a master in 1965, serving on the St Clement out of Leith, which still called at St Margaret’s Hope periodically.

He served as master of the St Ola at the time of the changeover to ro-ro in 1974. She was the first purpose-built ro-ro ferry for the Pentland Firth route. Captain Pottinger was master of her until she was sold in 1992 and served for nine months on the current St Ola, until his retirement in February 1993.

He recalls that the advent of ro-ro on the Pentland Firth route proved popular with the travelling public from the outset, in particular tourists.

Captain Pottinger said: “Traffic built up from day one, so much so, that the boats proved to be too small for demand at peak times, and they are too small yet. I don’t think anyone envisaged that lorries would drive up to Caithness from the likes of the Midlands, and they did – even in the first year of the ro-ro service. John Mackie from Tankerness was one of the first hauliers to use the ro-ro service. He would come across two or three times a week. ”

Captain Pottinger said that in all his trips with P&O he had never really been concerned by the weather, because the ships were all so able. In particular, the first ro-ro St Ola, which he pointed out had been purpose-built for conditions in the Pentland Firth, although he did remember one anxious occasion during the first winter with the St Ola when he had crossed from Stromness and was attempting to berth at Scrabster.

“The linkspan at Scrabster had broken down, so we were waiting in Thurso Bay for it to be repaired. The day deteriorated rapidly and while we were moored in the bay we lost one of the anchors. There was a lot of swell and we were waiting for the tide to turn when we lost our other anchor. So, we had no other option but to head for a port and decided to go back to Stromness. We went up the Flow and called past Flotta where we got the loan of a spare anchor and got it fitted. I never realised how important anchors were to a vessel, until that day.”

Captain Pottinger described the North of Scotland Shipping Company as having a kind of family feel to it.

“You knew everybody, and everybody knew you. When P&O took over, you became part of their system – a smaller part of a bigger organisation.”

He emphasised that the biggest change in working patterns occurred after the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry tragedy.

Captain Pottinger explained: “New regulations came in about safety measures and ship stability. It is a paper exercise every time you sail nowadays, with check lists and written authorisations. Sponsons were fitted to the side of the St Ola and a new ballast tank was installed at the top of the ship which gave her a more violent roll in heavy sea.”

This prompted local dialect entertainer Harvey Johnston to pen the song The Roly Poly Ola.

As the St Ola’s master, Captain Pottinger took no personal offence at the ditty.

“I thought it was just a bit of fun. People criticised the service the whole time anyway. You just learned to accept it with good grace. Then the company bought the former Finnish ferry Eckeroe, the present St Ola. She could carry more passengers in greater comfort, with better catering facilities and better facilities for freight.”

Looking ahead to the arrival of NorthLink on the Northern Isles routes, Captain Pottinger also regretted the loss of the Saints’ names for the new ferries.

“The St Ola is just part of Stromness, as the St Clair is part of Lerwick. It is a new company, so I can understand why they wanted to pick different names, but I suspect people will still think of the Pentland Firth ferry as the St Ola.”