Maid of Skelmorlie was the third of a quartet of passenger vessels ordered in 1951 to modernise the Clyde fleet, the second to be built by A & J Inglis of Pointhouse.

MV Maid of Skelmorlie had a forward observation lounge and an aft tearoom, both with large windows.

She often did Wemyss Bay – Innellan runs and, on Mondays and Fridays took late afternoon sailing from Craigendoran to Rothesay.

Maid of Skelmorlie spent more and more time laid up and was finally withdrawn at the end of the 1972 season and never wore the CalMac colours.

She was converted to a stern-loading car ferry, and renamed the Ala. She had considerable success operating in the Bay of Naples, maintaining the Sorrento to Capri route for almost twenty years from early 1976.