Ferrying people over the waves

In those days the main port opposite the Island was Portchester, and the population of the whole Island could be numbered almost in hundreds.

Over the centuries the harbour at Portchester silted up, until Henry VIII started to fortify the Solent and built a dockyard on Portsea Island.

Even at this time Ryde was only a small fishing hamlet of around 200 people.

Such ferries as existed were owned by the Lords of the Manor of Ashey - who decreed that two journeys a day be maintained and were quick to impose fines on ferrymen who failed to meet the standard.

Apart from the advent of steam, the biggest impact on the crossing to Ryde came from Queen Victoria's love of the garden isle - followed in her wake by chasing hordes of Victorian society - and the building of railways.

The railways all came to Portsmouth around the same time, and arrived by four main routes, making the Island the fashionable place to visit. However, the explosion of passenger numbers led to chaos, with three main ferry companies competing for the custom that poured off the trains.

To add to the confusion, vessels from as far away as Brighton and Weymouth also tried to muscle in on the trade.

Steam had made it possible for the first time to give a degree of regularity to the crossing, previously served for centuries by wind or oar.

With the Victorian craze for piers, Ryde suddenly became one of the busiest passenger routes around Britain. One of the earliest steamers on the route was the paddle steamer Britannia, but her presence was brief. After a month on the crossing, in 1817 she was sold because she was found to be too underpowered.

Ferry chaos still reigned until the formation of a joint railway committee to co-ordinate the setting up of ferry connections to the trains.

More paddle steamers were introduced, and one, the Earl Spencer ran for 20 years until 1855, when it was sold, only to be wrecked three years later.

The committee eventually took over the running of seven paddle steamers; the Prince Consort, Princess of Wales, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alice, Heather Belle, Albert Edward and Alexandra.

Over the years, one by one, they were replaced by more modern steamers - all aimed at exploiting the growing holiday trade with some radical designs.

In 1881, the paddle steamer Victoria was introduced - double-ended and with two funnels, while the next two, Duchess of Connaught and Duchess of Edinburgh, also had two funnels.

The trio were said to be "faster, have greater capacity, and unsurpassed comfort for their passengers, in the form of elegantly appointed saloons, two for first class and two for second, as well as two for third."

The next six steamers were introduced between 1889 and 1911. The practice of naming all their vessels after Duchesses - with the exception of the Princess Margaret - was kept up until 1924 when the Southern Railway took over.

By 1912, the fleet consisted of six modern steamers, giving 26 sailings a day to Ryde on weekdays, with 13 on Sundays. About half of these were direct from Portsmouth Harbour, six from Clarence Pier at Southsea, and the rest calling at both points.

The First World War played havoc with the route, with the loss of the Duchess of Richmond - sunk on active service - and numbers carried during the hostilities dropping dramatically from 850,000 in 1913 to less than half that total in 1917.

Another Duchess, the Duchess of Kent, which ran on the route for 36 years, was sold in 1933, renamed the Clacton Queen, sold again in 1937, and renamed the Jubilee Queen, before being broken up. She had once beached at Portsmouth with 400 passengers on board while on the Ryde route, after being rammed by a government ship.

By 1924, with the war long over, the railway companies nationally grouped into the big four. The Southern Railway had inherited the Portsmouth and the Lymington passages, catering for 1.25 million passengers each year.

Over the years, short-lived services to Bembridge and from Stokes Bay were also tried. The company introduced seven new steamers, and at the outbreak of the Second World War had the Shanklin, Portsdown, Merstone, Whippingham, Sandown, Southsea and Ryde paddle steamers.

By the late 1930s, Portsmouth had a really fast service of trains from London, and passengers expected an equally high-quality ferry service.

As new vessels were brought on to the routes, the old ships were either withdrawn, broken up or sold.

For instance, the Duchess of Norfolk was sold to Cosens of Weymouth, renamed Embassy, and put to work on the Swanage to Bournemouth run. She also served in the war as a minesweeper and anti-aircraft ship.

The Second World War changed the passenger fleet dramatically.

The Southsea, Sandown and Ryde were lost to the Royal Navy for work as minesweepers and anti-aircraft ships.

Of the remaining four, the Whippingham was held in reserve, but a relief vessel was needed from time to time, and the railway had to call on the PS Solent or Red Funnel's spare ship, the Princess Helena, which was built in 1883!

The war brought the railway fleet two casualties - the Southsea mined while on active service off the Tyne, and the Portsdown mined off Southsea while on regular passage.

The result was that there were only five steamers left to handle more and more holidaymakers who wanted to escape to the Island after six weary years of war.

The railway ordered two brand new modern vessels from Dennys of Dumbarton - the Brading and Southsea.

They were delivered in 1948, and served the Solent route for 40 years.

They brought a new look to the Solent route with their 46ft beam and 195ft length.

A third sister, the Shanklin, was added in 1951.

The trio operated the route with the old paddle steamer Ryde, which in 1969 was sold to private interests.

After a season on the Thames it was used at first as a floating hotel, and later a nightclub called the Ryde Queen on the River Medina, where it was destroyed by fire.

The Shanklin was sold off to the Waverley Steam Navigation Company for their services on the Clyde and Bristol Channel, and renamed Prince Ivanhoe.

She hit rocks at Port Eynon on the Gower coast in 1981 and was wrecked after running aground as passengers were rescued by a flotilla of boats.

The Southsea and Brading operated until 1986, when Sealink - bought by American businessman James Sherwood from the government in 1984 - decided to introduce a whole new breed of craft on the route, catamarans.

Sealink, which in 1980 had taken over the International Shipping Division of British Rail, had been hamstrung over investment, but under Sherwood two catamarans, costing £1.8m each were ordered.

Called Our Lady Pamela and Our Lady Patricia, they had a capacity of 400 passengers - a third of that of the Southsea and Brading - but cut the time on the route by more than half to 15 minutes.

Many people, however, lamented the passing of the old ferries, despite their longer crossing. For on board they could enjoy a drink at the bar and relaxation in the refreshment area.

The Southsea was revamped as a Solent cruise ship, but after one poor season she was mothballed and moved to Falmouth in Cornwall.

In 1990, Wightlink emerged as the new operator on the route, after Sherwood sold off virtually all the rest of Sealink - and in the past two years the ever-changing face of Ryde to Portsmouth ferries has continued with the arrival of new FastCat ferries to supplement the now 15-year-old first catamarans which operate from the mainland.