Launched in 1963, the MV Fingal served for decades as a vital workhorse of the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB), tending to Scotland?s remote lighthouses and maritime navigation aids. Today, she enjoys a very different life?moored in the Port of Leith, Edinburgh, as one of the UK’s most distinctive floating hotels. Her remarkable transformation from utility vessel to five-star destination is a unique chapter in Britain?s maritime heritage.
Built to Serve the Lights
The MV Fingal was the last ship built by Blythswood Shipbuilding in Glasgow, completed in December 1963. Commissioned by the Northern Lighthouse Board, she was specifically designed for servicing Scotland?s far-flung lighthouses, transporting supplies, maintenance crews, and occasionally rotating lighthouse keepers.
At 239 feet in length with a beam of just over 40 feet, she was a compact but powerful vessel, originally powered by twin British Polar diesel engines. Her hull was built to withstand the harshest conditions of the Atlantic and North Sea, and in later years she was fitted with a helicopter deck to extend her operational reach. Fingal worked primarily from the port of Oban for much of her early life, covering the rugged west coast and Hebridean stations.
In the mid-1990s, she was reassigned to Stromness in Orkney, where she focused on serving lighthouses in the Northern Isles and along Scotland?s eastern coast. She continued in active service until the year 2000, when she was finally retired following the introduction of her replacement, NLV Pole Star.
A Life After Service
After decommissioning, the Fingal was sold to Tamahine Investments and renamed Windsor Castle. For over a decade she lay moored in the River Fal in Cornwall, her engines maintained in working order but her future uncertain. That changed in 2014, when she was acquired by the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust?the organisation behind the preservation of Britannia, Queen Elizabeth II?s former royal yacht.
Fingal was towed back to Scotland and returned to her original name. What followed was an extraordinary two-year transformation. Stripped back to her bare hull, she was refitted from the inside out as a luxury floating hotel, while carefully preserving the spirit of her maritime past.
A New Chapter in Leith
In January 2019, MV Fingal reopened not as a workboat, but as a five-star hotel berthed beside the Royal Yacht Britannia in Leith. Her 23 guest cabins were named after Scottish lighthouses and decorated in elegant nautical style, featuring rich wood panelling, art deco furnishings, and maritime details.
The ship?s restaurant, the Lighthouse Bar & Grill, quickly gained acclaim for its food and atmosphere, and in the years since its opening, Fingal has won numerous hospitality awards. In 2023, she was named AA Hotel of the Year for Scotland, cementing her place as one of the most unusual and luxurious places to stay in the UK.
The ship even made a brief foray into public art: in 2016, before her restoration was complete, Fingal was painted in a striking dazzle camouflage pattern as part of commemorations for the Battle of Jutland centenary, paying tribute to World War I naval history.
