[photo : Jon Jolliffe]
A new era dawns for the formerly railway-owned passenger ferry service linking Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head stations. For the first time since the withdrawal of paddle steamers and latterly diesel ferries in 1986, a fresh-air crossing will be available from mid-September.
The ferry service was launched as a joint operation by the LBSCR and LSWR railway companies in 1880. With the extension of railways from Portsmouth and Southsea to the Harbour station, and from St Johns beneath Ryde town and out into the Solent along England's second longest pier, a convenient service for passengers from London and elsewhere to the major Island towns was at last possible.
Five Victorian paddle steamers were acquired by the Southern Railway in 1923, with further steamers added between the wars (including Ryde, still extant as a wreck in the Medina). In the late 1940s three diesel vessels were ordered from Dennys' yard on the Clyde. These stalwarts, Shanklin, Brading and Southsea provided the year-round service helped out in the summer peaks by paddlers kept in reserve. Shanklin was sold to the PSPS in 1980 and saw service in 1981 as a cruise ship, renamed Prince Ivanhoe, until she hit rocks off the South Wales coast and was written off. She was replaced in 1985 by Balmoral, at one time also an IoW ferry! The other two continued in service through to 1986, and Southsea was also chartered by the PSPS in 1987 to cover for boiler repairs to Waverley.
The sale of Sealink (BR Ferry Services) to Sea Containers saw the replacement of conventional ferries on this route by Fastcats from Tasmania and Singapore. The scheduled crossing time came down from 30 to 15 minutes. One effect of this was that all passengers were required to travel inside the saloons and the experience of salt spray was lost unless you travelled with a car.
September 2009 should see the entry into service of a new generation of vessel. Wight Ryder I and II have been delivered to Portsmouth from the Philippines. Although somewhat slower (and more fuel efficient) than their predecessors they are designed for faster loading and unloading at the piers, with open deck seating for 40 passengers as well as an enclosed saloon for 260.