SS Sussex was a cross-Channel passenger ferry, built in 1896 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). After the LBSCR came to a co-operation agreement with the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'État Français, she transferred to their fleet under a French flag. Sussex became the focus of an international incident when she was severely damaged by a torpedo from a German U-boat in 1916 and at least 50 passengers died. After the war she was repaired and sold to Greece in 1919, being renamed Aghia Sophia. Following a fire in 1921, the ship was scrapped.
PS Ryde is a paddle steamer that was commissioned and run by Southern Railway as a passenger ferry between mainland England and the Isle of Wight from 1937 to 1969, with an interlude during the Second World War where she served as a minesweeper and then an anti-aircraft ship, seeing action at D-Day. After many years abandoned on moorings at Island Harbour Marina on the River Medina, she was purchased by the PS Ryde Trust in late 2018, with the intention of raising money for her restoration. That project was abandoned in January 2019.
TSMV Shanklin was a passenger ferry that operated between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight between 1951 and 1980. Renamed Prince Ivanhoe she went on to become a pleasure cruiser in the Bristol Channel but in 1981 sank off the Welsh coast on her first season.
There are currently three different ferry companies that operate vessels carrying passengers and, on certain routes, vehicles across the Solent, the stretch of sea that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England. These are Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel.
Dakota was a steamship built by the Eastern Shipbuilding Company of Groton, Connecticut for the Great Northern Steamship Company owned by railroad magnate James J. Hill to enhance and promote trade between the United States and Japan.
Brittany was a 631 GRT passenger ferry built in 1910 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. In 1912 she was sold to the London and South Western Railway, passing to the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923. She was renamed Aldershot in 1933. In 1937 she was sold to an Italian owner and renamed Hercules. On 24 November 1941, she was torpedoed and sunk by HMS Triumph.
Duchess of Norfolk was a 381 GRT paddle steamer built in 1911 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and London and South Western Railway, who operated a joint service to the Isle of Wight. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use as minesweeper HMS Duchess of Norfolk during the First World War, returning to her owners after the war ended. She passed to the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923.
TS King Edward was an excursion steamer built at Dumbarton for service down the River Clyde to the Firth of Clyde and associated sea lochs on the west coast of Scotland, as far as Campbeltown. The first commercial vessel to be driven by steam turbines, King Edward was remarkably successful for a prototype, serving as a Clyde steamer for half a century from 1901 until 1951, interrupted only by service in the two world wars. The success of the vessel quickly led to the adoption of turbine propulsion for all manner of merchant vessels, from channel ferries and coastal steamers to transatlantic liners.
TSS Duke of Clarence was a passenger vessel operated jointly by the London and North Western Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) from 1892 between Fleetwood and northern Irish ports. In 1906 the LYR bought her outright and transferred her to their summer service from Hull to Zeebrugge, returning to the Irish Sea in winter. During the First World War Duke of Clarence served as an armed boarding steamer. She resumed passenger service in 1920, passing through changes of ownership in the reorganisations of Britain's railway companies in the 1920s, until she was scrapped in 1930.
TF Carrier was a train ferry introduced by the Edinburgh & Northern Railway, later incorporated into the North British Railway, to cross the River Tay as part of its route between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
SS (RMS) Empress Queen was a steel paddle steamer, the last of its type ordered by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She was chartered by the Admiralty in 1915 and used for trooping duties until she ran aground off Bembridge, Isle of Wight, England in 1916 and was abandoned.
This article describes the shipping services of the London and South Western Railway and the vessels employed.
PS Victoria was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1881.
PS Duchess of Connaught was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1884.
PS Duchess of Albany was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1889.
PS Princess Margaret was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1893.
PS Duchess of Richmond was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1910.
PS Duchess of Kent was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1897.
PS Duchess of Fife was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1899.
Rahmi Kaptan was a ship that was built in 1873 as Honfleur by Aitken & Mansel, Glasgow for the London and South Western Railway. She was sold to Greece in 1911 and renamed Chrysallis then Chrysalis. She was sold to the French Navy in 1917 and served as the patrol vessel Fauvette, later Fauvette I. In 1924, she was sold to Turkey and renamed Ihsanie. She operated for a number of Turkish owners under the names Aidin, Aydin, Cihat, Demirhisar and Rahmi Kaptan, serving until c.2005.
