Cross Channel and Short Sea Ferries: An Illustrated History

摘要

If you travel along the North Wales coast by train, as I have recently done, you can see, at the small port of Mostyn, a beached and derelict ship. She is, or was, the Duke of Lancaster, the last survivor in the British Isles of the ships described in this book. They arose, as the author explains, from the relationship between the geographical position of these islands and the development of steam propulsion in ships. As soon as it became possible, this gave rise to fast passenger services across the English and Irish Channels and the North Sea; a precedent soon followed in other suitably situated parts of the world. Before long, such services were usually scheduled to connect with railways at each destination. The coal-eating paddle engines of the nineteenth century were succeeded in the twentieth century by even faster turbines, and eventually by the more economical diesels, until, about 50 years ago, that whole class of ship was rendered obsolete by the need for the car ferry. It was only at that period that the word "ferry" became the predominant descriptor for what had previously been a "steamer" or earlier, a "packet". A few such vessels still survive precariously as cruise ships.