Harwich for the Continent – The Rail Ferries

Presenter: Chris Turland

Meeting Held at Shenfield Parish Hall

Chris spent most of his life at sea, sailing all over the world, but a significant part was served on the Harwich ferries.  He has retained an interest as a local historian and is the current chair of trustees of the Ipswich Transport Museum, amongst other things.  He treated us to a history of the port of Harwich, the ships that plied between Harwich and the Continent, and the men who crewed and captained them over one and a half centuries, through war and peace-time.   His experience as a seaman on the train ferries enabled him to bring the subject to life and the historical data was illustrated with many an anecdote.  The ships involved and the men who manned them seemed to have had an eventful and colourful history exemplified by a certain Captain Fryat who upset the German Naval Command during WWI by sinking one of their U-boats and was thereafter a marked man; so much so that they sought him out, captured him on the high-seas and executed him.

 

There was much detail about ways of working and ship design, the latter leading to considerable discomfort for passengers during heavy weather.  It appears that such nautical matters are attractive to railway enthusiasts, so the talk was fascinating for our audience.  It was an interesting era and there were many developments, as ships evolved from vessels combining sail and steam propulsion, using paddles, to somewhat sleeker screw-propelled diesels, culminating in the much larger RoRo ferries.  Use was made by the Royal Navy during wartime of the ferries and we saw pictures of some in dazzle camouflage.  Chris is also an artist and he concluded his talk with slides of the posters used by the various railway companies for promotional purposes.  I think we all agreed that they were of great artistic value as well as being wonderfully nostalgic.