Caledonian MacBrayne's new vessel for the Wemyss Bay-Rothesay service, MV Bute, will be launched in Gdansk, Poland on Wednesday, February 9.

The launch will take place at 1400 local time, 1300 UK time.

Part of the traditional part of the launching ceremony will be the placing of a Scottish one pound coin under the keel of the new vessel as she is slipped into the water at the Northern yard of the Remontowa Group which has been building the new ship.

MV Bute will hit the water sideways and the builders are arranging to cover the event live with a web cam.

CalMac Chairman Dr Mills said: "The yard has promised a spectacular launch and while MV Bute will still not be in her full company colours, the event promises to be spectacular. It will also involve a Scottish contingent from Gdansk and the yard is keen that they show the event as widely as possible to let the people of Wemyss Bay and Rothesay in particular see something of
what they are about to enjoy."

If you wish to watch the launch live via the webcam, the technical arrangements are as follows:

http://www.remontowa.com.pl/HTML/calmac/calmac.htm

Please note that the yard has advised that "because of low bandwidth of cellular connection the broadcast won't be fluent".