TSMV Southsea - A final look around.
Step onboard for a final look around the TSMV Southsea while she was laid up at Northman Bridge Southampton on the 3rd October 2003.
Built for the Southern Railway by William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton in 1948 for the Portsmouth to Ryde passenger ferry route, she was in regular service until 1988.
She had two sister vessels-TSMV Brading (1948) and later TSMV Shanklin (1951).
Shanklin was later renamed TSMV Prince Ivanhoe which had a short career as a consort to the PS Waverley and sadly foundered after hitting an uncharted wreck in Port Eynon Bay South Wales in 1981.
During her active years the Southsea left the South Coast area only once when the PS Waverley was withdrawn from service in August 1987 due to boiler trouble.
As a result the Southsea was chartered by Waverley Excursions Limited to cover the September timetable of Clyde sailings. This was the first and last time she returned back to the area where she was built.
Since her withdrawal from active service in 1988 she has had several owners and has been laid up in Falmouth, Newhaven, Bristol, Portsmouth, and finally Southampton.
Several unsuccessful preservation attempts had been made since 1988 but all sadly failed to give the ship further service under preservation.
Southsea was towed from Southampton to Esbjerg in Denmark on the 13th March 2005 where she was broken up at the Smedegaarden ship breaking yard in the following few months.
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Many thanks for posting this. I commuted daily on her and her sisters for many years. They were lovely boats and I've got very fond memories of them and the trips back and forth. The journey was just long enough for a cuppa in the morning and a pint coming home.
excellent video not ruined by pointless music, the sounds are as much a part of the experience as the sights
@CaledonianSpirit
5 жыл бұрын
Thanks- glad you liked the video.
Very sad ! I used to travel over to Ryde from Portsmouth every year on holiday as a child and have fond memories of traveling on all three deny ships Southsea , Brading and the Shanklin . The new ferries have no character to them . So sad that the Southsea could not be saved from the breakers .
A great video of her, thanks for posting this. Some parts of her still survive. I have two sets of her 'Southsea' name letters, including the 'Portsmouth' from her stern, her ship's whistle from the starboard side of her funnel, one of the swan neck lamp posts from her spar deck, and the 'Sulzer' engine manufacturer and power output plates from both her main engines (as seen on the engine control stations in the video).
So much interesting stuff like this has been lost forever. Remember this ferry from going to the Island in the 70's, pity she ended up like this.
Worked on these ships in the 1980's first job after leaving school great times, met so many characters friends for life some of them, the ships run by BR which meant we got free train travel followed Pompey all over the country on the three minutes to seven train off the town station, sad to see the old girl in that state RIP the diesels.
Very sad. My last memory of her is a special day trip she made to greet HMS Warrior on her entry into Portsmouth Dockyard.
As an ex Merchant Navy Electrical Officer, I fount it very interesting,
Very sad. I travelled to the Island for my holidays as a youth every year, I remember once it was either the Southsea or the Brading that I went below decks on as a ten year old and saw Bill Pertwee (ARP Warden Hodges) from Dad's Army having a pint at the bar with one of Mainwarings home guard Private Sponge ( Colin Bean), both now passed over sadly. Happy days.
Was far from being scrap!
At her best in picture.
It was the Shanklin not the Bembridge, before anyone correct's me.
my dad work on that