By Mike Smylie
I owned an Itchen Ferry once and have fond memories of her beached alongside the old Supermarine shed at Woolston, across the river from Southampton. Pal of Itchen she was called though she was no pal of the new bridge they were building at the time. We – me and my Pal that is – were the first ones to crash into one of the support pillars. This was mostly down to two facts: that the sails didn’t really fit the boat and the Stuart-Turner engine never started throughout my time with the boat. It was, though, a great learning experience on ‘why not to buy a boat’. I often wonder what happened to her.
Wonder was, in fact, a fine example of an Itchen Ferry. Built by the great Dan Hatcher in 1860, Wonder, SU120, has been lovingly restored and sails from Faversham. I remember seeing her a few years back during the Swale Barge Match. Daniel G Hatcher, known as King Dan to his contemporaries, was a very successful builder of yachts at his Belvedere yard between 1845 and 1880 and thus his working boats were equally renowned for their speed. Not that Wonder was necessarily his fastest, but speedy she was.
The roots (and name) of these craft came from the small fishing village of Itchen Ferry lying on the river Itchen in the eighteenth century. Small sprit-rigged clinker-boats worked off the beach, fishing out as far as the Isle of Wight. Their size grew as they trawled further away from their base. Consequently they adopted the gaff rig as many working fellows did. The boats were three-quarter decked with a small cuddy with two berths, a cupboard and coal stove to while away the hours when not fishing. Gaff-rigged with a long-boom over the stern and two headsails, some were as long as 30ft in length. Much of the catch was shrimps and oysters and they raced home to land.
In 1872, according to the fishing registers, there were 570 second-class boats working the Solent and another 61 in Poole where the boats were similar. The design was widespread around Southampton Water and the Solent– some being referred to as Hythe fishing cutters. Other well-known builders were Alfred Payne and Fay, both of Northam, and Lukes, whose yard was about the same spot as I kept Pal before he moved to Hamble. They were mostly worked by fishermen who crewed for the yacht-racing fraternity during the regatta season, and the fishermen too raced aboard their own craft.
Itchen Ferries have been survivors: Freda, CS110, Black Bess, CS32, Nellie, SU71, but see www.itchenferry.org for more as they adapted to engine power quite well and others lurk in way-out places. One day I’ll ask them if anyone knows whatever happened to my Pal of Itchen.
From Smylie’s Boats, CS No6 – March 2016