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Ryde in 1969 : Her final Season
Words and photos by kind courtesy of Derek Gawn
PS Ryde laying alongside the coal barge in Portsmouth Harbour, having very recently arrived from her winter lay-up at Newhaven, and looking rather fine and dandy, ready for her final season in service (1969).
She arrived from Newhaven on 10 May 1969 and operated a couple of runs on the Portsmouth route for the next two days, covering MV Shanklin for a few hours each day to be able tender a Swedish Lloyd vessel. Ryde ran alongside MV Brading. Presumably MV Southsea was unavailable for some reason. So this shot must have been taken around 10 to 12 May 1969.
This is a transfer from a colour slide that I took from an outward-bound ferry to Ryde in either late April or early May of that year. The reversed BR logo on the port side of the funnel looked rather 'wrong' to my eyes; placed that way so that the upper and centre diagonal bars gave the impression of going in the forward direction of the ship. Incidentally, that is MV Shanklin - later the ill-fated Prince Ivanhoe - laying behind the Ryde, on the other side of the barge (she could always be identified from her two sisters as she had her lifeboats mounted in a slightly higher position - there were other visual differences but that was the most obvious
By the last years of her operational life it had become fairly unusual for PS Ryde to be used on the regular hourly timetabled Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head service, except as a summer Saturday relief (her regular seasonal route by this time was the leisurely Clarence Pier and South Parade Pier to Ryde, which mostly carried day trippers to the Island). There were occasions though when she would still get pressed into taking over the mainstay service, and the day of the NATO Spithead Fleet Review (16 May 1969) was without doubt the most prominent of her last year in service, as she stayed on the route from early morning until 10pm, running alongside MV Brading. This was to allow MV Southsea & MV Shanklin to run cruises in connection with the fleet review. I took this shot prior to Ryde leaving Ryde with her 10.30am sailing to Portsmouth. She is seen at Berth 3 - the regular Portsmouth ferry berth - she normally used Berth 1 or 2 when she was running her Southsea Piers service. My notes record that between 2.30pm and 5pm, during the time that the Queen was actually reviewing the assembled fleet from the Royal Yacht, the ferry service was having to take a lengthy detour via Horse Sand Fort. This meant that by late afternoon the Ryde and Brading were both running some fifty minutes late, so, by dropping back a further ten minutes, they simply swopped turns on the hourly service for the remainder of the evening. As an aside, in this view you can see a luggage trolley being craned into the cargo hold, as was normal on the Portsmouth route.
This was taken by me on the afternoon of 16 May 1969 from MV Shanklin (later the Prince Ivanhoe), on which I was enjoying a cruise to view the NATO Spithead Fleet Review of that day. During the period that the Queen was actually reviewing the fleet from the Royal Yacht the Portsmouth/Ryde ferry service - which was in the hands of PS Ryde & MV Brading (MV Southsea was also on cruising duties) - had to take a lengthy detour out nearly as far as Horse Sand Fort (seen here). I recall that the Ryde was putting in a gallant attempt to keep to anything like the timetable. This was of course her last season in service. The north-east coast of the Isle of Wight appears in the background here.
A bow on shot that I took of Captain Yelland - the ship's regular master at the time, and a friend of my late father - bringing PS Ryde into Berth 2 at Ryde Pier Head. This appears to be in a sequence that includes the NATO Spithead Fleet Review, which - if correct - would date it to mid-May 1969. Knowing how Waverley now traditionally makes pier approaches, the angle of this approach perhaps looks a little harsh, but I am sure that Captain Yelland would have it well tried and tested. The box like structure on the right is the crane for loading luggage trolleys on to the ferries; both Berth 2 and 3 were so equipped.
 I took this one as we neared Southampton's Royal Pier at 12.35pm on the 8 June 1969 CCA charter of the Ryde. For Ryde to call at Southampton was incredibly rare, and we enjoyed about 50 minutes ashore there on a lovely sunny day. Red Funnel's 'Norris Castle' is seen in her 'as built' condition, in what I recall was normally the off-service ship's berth (as an aside, Waverley used this berth for her 1978 & 1979 sailings, and Balmoral used it for her return to Southampton in 1986).  Anybody that knows the Royal Pier/Red Funnel Terminal area in Southampton today will know that this view would look completely different now (in fact the present-day terminal would be out of shot to the right), albeit the pier structure itself remains in totally derelict condition, the pavilion having been demolished years ago. My notes record that I boarded at Ryde at 11.10am, time ashore at Southampton was from 12.39 to 1.33pm, we picked up at Yarmouth at 3.20pm for a very short cruise to Totland Bay (by which time 819 passengers were aboard), returning there at 4.10pm, was back at Southampton at 6pm, and I disembarked at Ryde at 7.40pm (30 minutes later than planned as she was by then struggling, with steam pressure at one time dropping to 118psi, due to poor quality coal - obviously an issue even back then - so my notes say). My notes also record a strange coincidence - it was very rare for BR cross Solent ships to ever call at Royal Pier (not just PS Ryde) - but only the previous night MV Shanklin had called there twice whilst operating an all-night charter disco boat - I guess what today we would call a rave - for Southern Electricity Board staff.

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