One of the early car ferries, the Norris Castle, arrives at the Royal Pier pontoon. The cars disembarked using the side doors.
WIGHT LIVINGBEHIND the news of Red Funnel’s Christmas 'present’ to the Island is an awful lot of history.
The company stepped in after Wightlink pulled out of providing ferries on Christmas Day.
It is the first time in many years Red Funnel has run ferries on the big day.
It decided to do so as part of the company’s 150th anniversary.
As a result, not only will people be able to see their loved ones but there will be a special brunch menu served on board, with free mince pies and mulled wine for adults and a free Christmas present for every child.
That comes as the ferry company seeks more photographs in a competition for old pictures connected to either Red Funnel or reflecting life on the Island before 1960.
In fact, Red Funnel is packed to the gunwales with archive material — so much so it has its own archivist who has played a leading role in dredging out the material shown on the walls of the Southampton vehicle terminal and for the celebratory book Red Funnel 150.
As a company, if you operate almost 14,000 car ferry and 23,000 Red Jet passenger sailings each year, carrying more than 3.5 million passengers on its six-strong fleet, it would be surprising if fresh stories and photographs were not added to the legion that went before.
Hazel Nicholson is there to ensure everything is in its place — the thousands of old photographs, tickets, text, advertising material and pictures of the galaxy of stars commuting both to their homes and to their places of work at the IW Festival and Bestival.
Hazel has been much in demand in this anniversary year and has loved sifting through her favourite days of glamour and glory, fox furs and elegant dresses and black and white photographs, which add to the atmosphere.
The company for which she has worked for 46 years began life as The Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited in 1861, when scheduled year-round packet services operated between Southampton, Cowes, Ryde, Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour.
In those glorious, halcyon days of the coastal cruise, they were operated around the Island from the outset, stopping at resorts, including Yarmouth, Totland and Alum Bay.
Where no piers existed, landings were made using the ships’ boats or via the services of local boatmen. It was the beginning of a boom time.
By the 1900s, growing interest in travel gave the company a new source of income and it began extending its day trips to foot passengers along the South Coast and across the English Channel to Cherbourg.
Departing at 7.15am and calling at Southsea, Sandown and Shanklin, ships arrived in France by late morning, typically departing for England at 4.15pm. By special agreement with the French government, British excursion passengers were allowed to go ashore with landing cards rather than passports.
By 1927, the company’s paddle steamers had an open foredeck, a main deck saloon aft for first-class passengers, a fore cabin on the lower deck for officers’ accommodation and a bar for second-class travellers.
There was also a dining room on the lower deck where silver service waiters chinked the finest china and placed the best cutlery at table. A band playing the latest dance and orchestral music often accompanied the excursion trips and deckchairs were available for passengers at 2d for each single journey.
In 1931, the company introduced its first motor ship with a diesel engine and gradually paddle steamers were phased out. Diesel was not only cheaper than coal and quicker to fire up but was also much cleaner — much to the relief of the company’s team of cleaners and painters.
In 1935, the company was re-branded Red Funnel when the general manager was given the job of updating the service with a new look and the distinctive red funnel is retained to this day
Services continued during the Second World War despite the risk of bombing, during which the company workshop took a direct hit during an air raid. Several of the company’s ships played a part in the Dunkirk rescue mission of British servicemen from the beaches.
From the late 1950s, foreign travel took its toll on the British holiday market and excursion sailings decreased year-on-year until they were phased out completely at the end of the 1968 season.
It was the growing affordability of the family car which led to Red Funnel introducing its first purpose-built car ferry in 1959 and the Island won its place on the map as a popular place for touring holidays.
Commuting between the Island and the mainland was made easier in 1969. The introduction of the high-speed hydrofoil, which used to hoist itself up onto its legs, cut journey times to just 25 minutes in the process.
Today, that service is run by three Red Jet catamarans and the car ferries Red Eagle, Osprey and Falcon — 4,000-tonne ships beyond the wildest of wild dreams of the company’s founders.
• Red Funnel 150, a book by transport enthusiast Keith Adams, celebrates 150 years of Red Funnel history with information about the company’s past and more than 275 photos from the extensive archive. It costs £24.95 and is available from Red Funnel’s offices in Southampton and Cowes, on board ferries and from bookshops.
• Details of the photograph competition are at www.redfunnel.co.uk/corporate-information/history/150-anniversary-competition/
Reporter: richardw@iwcpmail.co.uk