When the Woolwich Ferry saved me from a telling off .......... 132 years of crossing the River

You can never have enough pictures of the Woolwich Ferry, and so it proved again yesterday when I posted a picture of one of the old ferries.

1905

Now I say the old ferries, but the James Newman, John Burns and Ernest Bevan were the newcomers, going into service in 1963.

Before them there was the The Squire which started ferrying passengers and things in 1923, followed by the Will Crooks, and The John Benn seven years later.  

They replaced the Gordan, the Duncan and the Hutton, the first of which began chugging across the river in 1889.

And before that, the Royal Arsenal operated their own ferry service in 1810, followed by various commercial venture.

Nor I suspect was the Royal Arsenal the first, because given the need, there must have been  plenty of enterprising people who saw a potential money making enterprise.

2012

So with all those in mind, and in honour of the Ben Woollacot and the Dame Vera Lynn which are the two new ferries which entered service in 2019, here  is another ferry story which features some of those ferries dating back to 1905.

Anyone who was born or grew up in Eltham, will have used them at sometime, and for me crossing the river by the free ferry has always been magic.

It might not take long but in the short time while on board the trip offers up spectacular views, and of course that distinctive smell that you only get from big powerful rivers.

I have never lost my love of the Woolwich Ferry, so much, that a few years ago on missing the M25 on our way north from Kent, I seized the opportunity to make the river crossing at Woolwich.

2021

Now I could have owned up straight away and blamed my map reading, but instead as you do I turned it into an adventure, confident that Tina would also fall for the magic of  the ferry.

The journey from Well Hall up to Shooters Hill was pleasant, the fall down into Woolwich quite spectacular and the river crossing something else.

Of course those of us who have used it all our lives can be a tad dismissive of the journey.

You often have to wait a long time to get on, the trip across is short and often accompanied by gust of cold river wind, but it can still be pretty good.

On the day we made thee crossing, the sun was hot, the water almost blue, and we were set up for the long drive north.

2021

But then even for that short journey the Thames didn't disappoint us.

I do miss the cranes and barges, and the busy doings of a working river.

And before I slip into romantic tosh about a bustling living water way it is as well to remember it was dirty, noisy and for those who made a livelihood beside the river it was hard dangerous work and the rewards were not always that good.

2012

But it was my river.

Location; Woolwich, London

Picture;  the Woolwich Ferry, 1905 courtesy of TuckDB, http://tuckdb.org/postcards, the ferry in 2012, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Dame Vera Lynn courtesy of Gary Luttman and Paula Nottle