MacBraynes maintained one service on the Firth of Clyde - the "Ardrishaig mail" route from Gourock, bringing mail, and in the summer months, tourists to the Loch Fyne port on what became kown in the later 19th century as the "Royal Route" to the isles after a visit by Queen Victoria. After a short ferry ride along the Crinan Canal, passengers saw open water at Crinan and continued their journey by a MacBrayne's streamer, such as PS Chevalier (seen left approching Crinan in a post card view kindly supplied by Jim Gibb).

MacBraynes continued to operate the Ardrishaig service until shortly after the company was nationalised as part of the Scottish Transport Group in 1969. The service was transferred to the STG's new Clyde subsidiary the Caledonian Steam Packet Company but was withdrawn shortly afterwards.

See Hutcheson / MacBrayne - Clyde

Whilst MacBraynes maintained services to the Western isles from several mainland ports, Oban was the centre of operations, especially for residual cruising services.

Turbine Steamer King George V joined the MacBrayne fleet in 1935 following the dissolution of the Turbine Steamers Ltd Company and spent much of her later years based at Oban (seen left in a post card from the early 1960s) serving Tobermory on the Isle of Mull and offering cruises to the Isle of Iona and to view Fingal's cave on the Isle of Staffa.