IT'S 1575, Queen Elizabeth I is on the throne and the fastest way to get from Hythe to the burgeoning city of Southampton is by ferry. Wind the clock forward half a millennia or so and Queen Elizabeth II wears the crown, and Hythe ferry is still shuttling passengers across Southampton Water. GARETH LEWIS went to spend a day messing about in boats to find about more about this historic Hampshire institution...

STANDING at the wheel of Hythe ferryboat Great Expectations, steering towards the panorama that is Southampton docks, life seems pretty straightforward.

Head for the buoy marked Knock, then the one curiously called Gymp and on to Town Quay, where I hand over to captain Sath Naiboo for the technical turning into the pontoon bit. I wanted to do it, but the 60-odd passengers on-board might have had something to say about that.

The throbbing engines counter the insane rush to dry land and Great Expectations comes to a halt with a gentle bump against the quayside.

But it isn't always like that. As any crew member will tell you, every trip is different.

Earlier in the day, Southampton Water was wreathed in smoky fog, forcing the crew to rely on years of hard-won experience to get their passengers safely across.

A small green dot on the radar emerges from the dense fog as a towering grey wall - one of the many container ships that place this stretch of water among the busiest in the world.

It dwarfs Great Expectations, cutting across our route with piles of containers tottering high, almost out of sight, above our heads.

Another fast moving dot on the radar turns out to be the Red Jet, powering past us from the Isle of Wight. Steering calmly through this bewildering aquatic equivalent of Piccadilly Circus, the ferry harks back to a simpler time.

One or other of the two ferries which work the 12-minute route does this journey every half-hour, all day every day and they've been doing it for as long as anyone can remember.

It has been there for as long as Hythe itself, in one form or another.

Hythe, or Hithe as it once was, means landing place in Anglo Saxon and so the ancient "hard" there is the reason for the picturesque settlement's existence today.

A gritty community of fishermen and farmers, Hythe has always had its ferrymen, or wherrymen as they were known for centuries.

Mentioned in Saxton's famous 1575 map of Hampshire as Hitheferrye, the ferry has actually been there for several hundred years longer than that.

Back then, muscly oarsmen would row paying passengers across Southampton Water, a journey well capable of taking an hour or more.

Current captain Sath, 44, balks at the thought of making the crossing without his beloved diesel engines.

"I couldn't imagine rowing across there," he said, adding: "In my defence though, they did do it in pairs."

Nevertheless, he is typical of the bustling club of people who run the route. All of them feel the weight of history nestling on their shoulders, their place in a tradition of wherrymen.

Sath said: "I feel honoured. I am just one in a long line and there will be plenty more afterwards."

All the people there are committed to ensuring the ferry's survival, even the crewmen who work on the engines, help repair the 700-yard pier and maintain the train.

There's a sense they want to hand it on to future generations.

It's the kind of quirky organisation it's easy to grow to love.

Locals, especially children and grandparents, often take the crossing just for the fun of it, and it's not unheard of for people to want their ashes scattered from the stern - a practice fraught with pitfalls.

"We just say please try to be aware of the wind conditions," grins company secretary and ferry enthusiast Sarah Marsden.

A basic, wade out to the boat type of set-up, was finally replaced by the Victorians, who set about building the mighty, but rickety, pier we know today.

People from across the county invested in the project in the 1870s, getting shares in return.

Many bought ten shares for about £100, coincidentally now about the amount needed to sponsor one inscribed plank in the pier's ongoing restoration scheme.

The pier was soon followed by the pier railway in 1922, which like so much about this quaint institution has a history all of its own.

A dark past in the Avonmouth Mustard Gas Factory has been transformed and it now features in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest continuously operating pier train in the world.

The funny little loco, which was once used by George VI - his seat is still marked today, has been battered by the elements, but is set for a long future as its driver painstakingly restores bits in the short breaks between shuttling passengers up the pier.

There are more passengers than ever making the 700-yard trip along the pier these days.

The recent Redbridge roadworks snarl-up saw hundreds of drivers ditching the car in favour of this scenic alternative to the start of the day.

Passenger numbers have doubled from the pre-roadworks average of 1,000 a day.

When Norwich came to play Saints in the FA Cup, the ferry put on a football special and saw a modern record of 3,000 clamber on-board during the day.

The trick now for White Horse, the company which runs the ferry, is to hang on to some of these new passengers and ensure the ferry's survival for the future.

Now the cones have been removed from the A35 and the traffic is flowing once more, all those who love the ferry will be hoping she's not alone.