MV Southsea
Steel twin screw motor vessel built in 1948 at Wm. Denny & Bros., Dumbarton, Scotland (Yard No 1411) As a TM Ferry/General Cargo vessel.
Technical Data
- Length: 61.04 m (overall) 55.35 m (between perpendiculars)
Breadth: 14.53 m
Depth: 3.20 m
Draught: 2.134 m
Tonnage: 986 gross/531 net/182 deadweight
Engines: 2 Oil SA 8-cylinder 8-MG-32 Sulzer diesels
Power: 1398 kW/1900 bHP
Speed: 14 knots
Capacity: 1,131 passengers (Summer) 1112 (Winter)
Call Sign: MQCB
IMO Number: 5335838
Official Number: 182720
Port of Registry: Portsmouth/UK 🇬🇧
Sister-Ship: Brading (1412), Shanklin (1452).
History
1948: Ordered by The British Transport Commission (Southern Region).
“Ordered by the Southern Railway and the three were intended to be dual purpose ferry/ excursion ships. As ferries they were to have Class IV certificates for 1,331 pax and as excursion ships 1,135 pax on a Class III. Denny’s plans (I’ll send you a copy) showed far more windows as befits an excursion ship. However, on nationalisation BR obviously ran down the long excursions (eg Round the Island) and so she was never used in a Class III capacity. Worth stating that she was the first ship launched for BR. Until 1st June 1951 the Portsmouth – Ryde route was two class and so the SOUTHSEA & BRADING became one class ships at which time minor alterations were made to her interior – removal of partitions etc. The SHANKLIN (1951) entered service as a one class ship. There were early vibration problems with the SOUTHSEA and extra engine insulation had to be fitted. First Master was Captain CW Gibson.”. John Hendy
March 11th 1948: Launched at an original cost of £180,709 by Lady Elliot, wife of Sir John Elliot, the Chief Regional Officer for the Southern Region.
Nigel Thornton Collection
September 14th 1948: Sea trials on the Skelmorlie measured mile in the Firth of Clyde. Attained an average speed of 15.182 knots.
September 19th 1948: Delivered to British Transport Commission (Southern Region).
© Ken Smith
September 22nd 1948: Left Dumbarton for Southampton.
September 25th 1948: Arrived at Southampton and carried out further trials in the Solent.
October 29th 1948: Shown to the press.
November 1st 1948: Entered service between Portsmouth – Ryde.
June 15th 1953: With BRADING took Admiralty staff and their guests to the Coronation Review.
1967: Received major overhaul with an extra passenger deck, as a continuation of the bridge deck, and improved seating and catering facilities. The extra decks fitted to the trio were called Spar Decks – they each had seats for 170 passengers. The refit also involved the two lounges on the Main Deck. The bar/ cafeteria was moved from the after lounge into the forward one and in order to create extra space for the modified catering arrangements, plus 100 seats, a section of the cargo hold was reclaimed while the hold-space openings were plated in. Emerged with “stove pipes” projecting from the funnel tops, but during the 1967-8 overhaul the funnel was built up to conceal these pipes, resulting in deeper black tops.
John Hendy (Left) Nigel Thornton Collection (Right)
1973: Major refit at Immingham costing this cost £100,000. Steelwork was grit blasted and accommodation modified throughout. The amidships section of the Promenade Deck was plated over to allow the 1966-built mechanical gangways to rest on it. Their introduction had allowed turn rounds of 15 minutes She was the last of the trio to be treated.
May 1974: Arrived back at Portsmouth.
Nigel Thornton Collection
© Tony Garner (Portsmouth, 06/07/1975)
January 1st 1979: Transferred to Sealink UK Ltd., London.
January 21st 1980: Collided with Portsmouth Harbour pier and put out of action.
© Brian Fisher (Portsmouth, May 1983)
© John Hendy (Both)
July 1984: Sealink U.K. was sold to Sea Containers Ltd, Bermuda for just £66 million. The company then operated under the company name of Sealink British Ferries U.K.
© A G Jones (Southsea, 10/09/1984)
© Simonwp (June 1985)(Left) © Brian Fisher (Portsmouth, December 1985)(Right)
© Brian Fisher (Portsmouth, March 1986)
1986 (summer): Replaced by the second of two catamaran ferries. Became reserve vessel plus excursions, then laid-up at the moorings off Portsmouth Harbour Station.
© Ken Larwood (Portsmouth, May 1986)(Left) Nigel Thornton Collection (Right)
August 9th 1986: Became the relief vessel when the PAMELA entered service.
August 1987: To be chartered to Waverley S. N. Co. to complete the season for their WAVERLEY. In the event the charter didn’t materialise because it had been arranged by local management. Sealink HQ at Eversholt House quashed it once they realised what was going on.
March 1987: Announced on press voyage of ST CECILIA that she was to be retained as an excursion ship with Saturday morning ferry duties.
September 6th 1987: Broke down with boiler failure and after repair, she continued as an excursion vessel, sometimes acting as relief.
1987 (end of summer): Brief charter to Waverley S. N. Co. after their paddler had broken down.
Nigel Thornton Collection
September 3rd 1987: Departed Portsmouth for the Clyde.
September 29th 1987: Returned from Glasgow.
October 1st 1987: Arrived back in Portsmouth.
1988: Cruises within the Solent area.
September 15th 1988: Two seasons of poor weather saw the ship withdrawn after 40 years of service
June 13th 1989: Left Portsmouth for the Fal.
June 1989: Lay up in the River Fal.
Nigel Thornton Collection (Fal, June 1990)
1991: Sea Containers considered investing £1 million in the ship – to be made into a function centre in Manchester for 9 months each year. The other three months she’d be providing for functions in the Solent area and with a passenger certificate for 300. This came to nothing although plans were drawn up for her modifications.
May 5th 1992: Towed by tug MEECHING to Newhaven for static lay-up.
© Andreas Wörteler (Newhaven, June 1994)
May 7th 1992: Arrived at Newhaven. During her stay her condition deteriorated and so Sea Containers had her painted on the starboard side only so that she looked smart when viewed from the West Quay!
January 31st 1997: Sold to Brasspatch Ltd., Lymington.
May 6th 1997: Again towed by MEECHING to Husband’s Shipyard, Marchwood. She was then laid-up.
October 1997: Slipped at Husband’s yard.
November 23rd 1997: Arrived at Avonmouth Ship repairers Ltd., Bristol for renovation. Although some work was done on her during 1997, the project ran into serious difficulties in 1998 as serious technical problems were found with the vessel. There were also major problems with the funding and difficulties over ownership.
1998: Her owners, Brasspatch Ltd, went into voluntary liquidation.
February 9th 1998: Receivers appointed followed by her purchase, for a reported £1,000, by Mr. Russ NcLean.
July 28th 1998: To Barnard Marcus for auction in London being eventually sold for £15,700 to a Mr Surinder Gill, London businessman.
August 1998: Re-floated in the dry-dock.
October 3rd 1998: Left dry-dock in Bristol and moved to a berth adjacent to Hotwells Road.
February 10th 1999: Left Bristol under tow of tug MCS LENIE bound for Newport.
1999 (early autumn): The vessel was arrested for non-payment of harbour dues at Newport.
2001: Registered to Avon River Historic Vessel and Navigation Trust.
February 17th 2001: Left Newport, under tow of the tug KINGSTON, bound for Plymouth.
© Wil Weijsters
March 7th 2001: Left Plymouth.
March 8th 2001: Anchored over-night in St Helen’s Roads.
March 9th 2001: Arrived in Portsmouth where she was moored on buoys in the upper harbour and was subject to vandalism.
January 21st 2005: Moved to Ocean Quay on the River Itchen. The berth was paid up for two weeks but she sat on mud at low tide and may have struck an underwater object when placed at this location on 19th January. One interested party recently offered £1 for the ship, another has offered the scrap value but the owner is said to have been in discussion with an Indian Scrap Dealer for a price of £32,000.
March 13th 2005: Sailed from the River Itchen under tow, “bound for Shoreham”. However the next morning she was observed in the Dover Straits at 07.30.
2005: Sold to Smedegaarden, Esbjerg, Denmark for scrapping. Towed by the tug VITUS which was positioning back to Denmark and had offered a low rate for the tow.
© Erwin Willemse
March 15th 2005: Arrived in Esbjerg for scrapping.
April 4th 2005: Scrapping commenced.
All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Brian Fisher, Tony Garner, A G Jones, Ken Larwood, Simonwp, Ken Smith, Wil Weijsters, Erwin Willemse and Andreas Wörteler for their assistance in producing this feature.
Sincere thanks to John Hendy.
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
Good afternoon Nigel. Thank you for researching and writing a first class article about MV Southsea. You are spot-on about our custodianship being the purchaser of MV Southsea at £1,000. Given the accuracy and magnificent set of photos in your article detailing the life of this beloved vessel, I think your work may become a go-to gold standard review of the ship’s history. If it is helpful, I can add some detail (and documentation for the ship). I’d seen the Brasspatch plc efforts via a nautical subscription to Sea Breezes magazine. Sent off a nominal £500 to their fundraiser. Next thing, the £500 was refunded and sadly, an Official Receiver was appointed. Nigel, you may know this… debt attaches to the physical ship and not so much to the Ltd., or PLC company (in the more normal way it does with shoreside companies). The owners at David Abels where the MV Southsea was moribund and stuck in their drydock had a WHOPPING BILL. The day I drove across from Felixstowe to David Abels, the team from the “Southsea Society” were already aboard the ship in the dry dock. I mentioned that if they were unable to rescue the MV Southsea, I buy the old ferry and would guarantee the vessel would NOT be scrapped. Furthermore I would (and did) make best efforts to buy a few more years whilst the “Southsea Society” got their financial ducks in a row. That is what happened. Though crucially, the WHOOPING BIG BILL (all for good quality work by David Abels) was a sticking point. Hence the “nominal” £1,000 that I paid for the ship. The poor old MV Southsea hull came with a debt way above £25,000 attached. That required attention. The incredibly patient and decent David Abels agreed to my suggestion we could extinguish the old bill if I paid for the new plating and hull work needed to get the ship to float AND crucially to vacate David Abels drydock so that the next ship could be brought in. It was a win-win. But also a VERY close run thing as 24 hours after I signed the NSF ship/purchase document, I got offered £5,000 cash from a local scrapyard dealer. Aye Right (a polite Glaswegian term for “go away) to the pushy scrap merchant. Returning to David Abels, we agreed (and paid David Abels) for the new hull plating work and the MV Southsea was free to be refloated and towed out of dry dock. Much effort was made to do a TS Queen Mary and give the ship breathing space for the preservation society to raise the restoration funds. Even local company Aardman Animations came down to see if they could use space aboard MV Southsea for a couple of years (if memory serves, they had had a fire at their studios and the builders were in). Alas, the efforts at finding a temporary home for MV Southsea did not work. So we thought laterally (with a “floating restaurant” no-scrapping caveat) and tried Barnard Marcus Auctions, where the ship sold and our interest ended. Sort of. Several years later, I was working as harbourmaster in Argyll and the harbour in Wales (I think) that had MV Southsea “stuck” in their port phoned me to see if I could buy the ship again? That was actually distressing as in spite of my job, I could not find anywhere to berth the ship. We did offer to buy an old, abandoned dry dock on the Clyde (but no luck there). So I had to call my harbourmaster compatriot back and decline his best efforts. BUT (and not many folk know this), the MV Southsea has a wonderful and very real legacy. She was a Denny built ship. That experience myself and my crew gained of the MV Southsea rescue (away from the scrap dealer), meant that the thoughtful Gordon Stewart from Paddle Steamer Info got in touch to see if we could rescue a different Denny built ship… the TS Queen Mary. Long story short, in December 2012, it was a privilege to write and deposit the Constitution for “Friends if TS Queen Mary” with the Scottish Charity Commissioner. One of my best friends, Iain Sim did the heavy lifting and now runs the charity. So although poor old MV Southsea did not make it as far as restoration, she did, undoubtedly, ensure that the TS Queen Mary WAS and IS being restored. Nigel, I hope this short narrative may help in your work to document the history of MV Southsea. Please feel free to contact me on 01241 852127 if you would like any further information. Lastly, a heartfelt thanks from this soul for your putting together such a well researched article… it certainly made my day. Best wishes, Russ. (Russ McLean, former owner of MV Southsea).