She is named after the writer Walter Scott, who set his 1810 poem Lady of the Lake, and his 1818 novel Rob Roy around Loch Katrine.

In 1859 Loch Katrine became Glasgow's main water supply, connected by aqueducts and tunnels to the city more than 30 miles (50 kilometres) away through a hilly landscape.

The Loch is surrounded by wooded mountains, and has romantic historical connections including the birthplace of the outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor.

William Denny and Brothers built Sir Walter Scott as a "knock-down" ship; that is, the steamer was assembled with bolts and nuts at Denny's shipyard at Dumbarton on the River Leven in 1899, launched and undertook performance trials in the Firth of Clyde, including recording her speed on the measured mile.

She is powered by the original three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine made by Matthew Paul & Company, Dumbarton, and has two locomotive-type boilers which until the end of 2007 were fired by solid fuel fed into the firebox by a stoker.