Trivia: Ferry routes running between points on the same shoreline

[AndrewE]

Haven't we lost sight of the original post?

ferry routes that link two locations on the same coastline or river bank even where a road or rail link is perfectly feasible.

Most of these suggestions now seem to be simply crossing a river (I don't remember seeing Sandbanks mentioned yet) but surely the point is that we are really looking for ferries which are - in effect - along a coast? Otherwise they are "just" ferries!

 

[AndrewE]

Short-distance public and private fast passenger boats on the canals were reasonably common in and around major cities like Manchester, I believe, before the railways put them out of business. But I don't think the canals were used much for long distance passenger transport - too slow, and for those that could afford it, the mail coaches on the turnpike roads would have been (relatively) quick.

See one of the Hornblower books for a brilliant description of a canal fly-boat journey (Hornblower and the Atropos) from somewhere like the Cotswolds (can't remember the details) towards London, including running "staunch" locks. Absolutely fascinating if you like canals.

 

[Steddenm]

One of Wightlink's captains was supposed to have been recruited and I think that they even got as far as some repainting of one of the cats. Frankly, it always struck me as a completely bonkers idea, but it seems to be periodically ‘revived’, although revived may just mean somebody getting their name in the paper by saying, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if…if someone else puts up the money”.

Here is one of the Severn Link ferries in their livery. (Image is from Wikipedia)

 

[daodao]

There is of course a long history of steamers crossing the Channel in the holiday season - the Campbell’s boats, referred to above, did it for years, with the Balmoral being the last of the line.

However, in modern conditions it was always difficult to see how a passenger-only service could be viable, particularly given the lack of onward connections on the Devon side, and the project duly foundered.

PS Waverley will provisionally be providing a limited "service" in the Bristol Channel from June 2 to June 18 this year (2023). It is geared to providing timetabled tourist trips rather than a proper ferry service. There would probably be some demand for similar trips later in the summer, but sadly there is no prospect of any suitable vessels being available any time soon. I have fond memories of day trips to Ilfracombe from Penarth and Porthcawl.

However, there would be minimal demand for a regular ferry service as there are really no economic or cultural ties between the 2 coastlines, which are after all in different countries. The extreme tidal range in the Bristol Channel has always made regular scheduled "ferry" operations difficult. Tidal ranges also make other ferry services limited, e.g. that from Fleetwood to Knott End does not operate at very low tide.

 

[hermit]

PS Waverley will provisionally be providing a limited "service" in the Bristol Channel from June 2 to June 18 this year (2023). It is geared to providing timetabled tourist trips rather than a proper ferry service. There would probably be some demand for similar trips later in the summer, but sadly there is no prospect of any suitable vessels being available any time soon. I have fond memories of day trips to Ilfracombe from Penarth and Porthcawl.

However, there would be minimal demand for a regular ferry service as there are really no economic or cultural ties between the 2 coastlines, which are after all in different countries. The extreme tidal range in the Bristol Channel has always made regular scheduled "ferry" operations difficult. Tidal ranges also make other ferry services limited, e.g. that from Fleetwood to Knott End does not operate at very low tide.

I was once told that the holiday crossings did result in some ‘cultural ties’ in that a lot of women in Ilfracombe ended up with Welsh husbands! But probably an urban myth.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Feb 2023 ==

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Here is one of the Severn Link ferries in their livery. (Image is from Wikipedia)

It looks as though the other one is in the background. I believe the refurbishment took place at the Hythe yard on Southampton Water, and this may be where the picture was taken.

For anyone interested, there are pictures on shipping sites of the vessels - renamed Sochi 1 and Sochi 2 - operating on the Black Sea. (I’m not clever enough to upload them). The Russians seem to have saved money by keeping the livery and only removing the SevernLink words.

The ferries appear to have stopped operating about 3 years ago.

They were never very satisfactory on the Solent - far inferior to the present cats.