Fairlight (ferry)
{{Short description|Australian paddle steamer ferry}}
{{other uses|Fairlight (disambiguation)}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Sydney Ferry FAIRLIGHT 1893 to 1908.jpg |Ship caption=passing Garden Island en route to Manly }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Australia|civil}} |Ship name=Fairlight |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry=Sydney |Ship namesake= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost=£16,000 |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship completed= |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=1878 |Ship out of service=1914 |Ship identification= |Ship fate=Broken up |Ship notes=}} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship tonnage=315 tons |Ship displacement= |Ship length=52.1 |Ship beam= |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= |Ship capacity=950 |Ship crew= |Ship notes=}} |
Fairlight was a paddle steamer ferry that operated on the Circular Quay to Manly run from 1878 to 1914. She was the third double-ended steamer on the Manly run and first to be specifically designed for the route.
She was named after Fairlight, a suburb near Manly.
Design and construction
Fairlight was built in Whiteinch, Scotland. She cost £16,000 including delivery, a sum for which the Port Jackson Steamship Company mortgaged itself heavily to pay. At 315 tons, and 52.1 m long, she was iron-hulled with a two-deck timber super-structure.
In Britain, she had been rated for 1,100 passengers, but Sydney surveyors rated her for 950 passengers on account of the large swells across the Sydney Heads. She could make a steady 13 knots. At the time, she was the most well-appointed Manly ferry with cushioned seats, closed in salons and carpeted floors.
Service history
She was sail rigged to augment her modest coal supplies, and steamed to Sydney in fifty-six days. She hit rough seas in the Indian Ocean but was not damaged, and her master praised her seaworthiness. Captain Mickleson was both her delivery master and her first master upon entering service.
She ran a two-boat service for the company.{{cite web |title=PS Fairlight I |url=http://ferriesofsydney.com/fairlight.html |website=Encyclopedia of Sydney Ferries |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160227124511/http://ferriesofsydney.com/fairlight.html |access-date=2 May 2020|archive-date=2016-02-27 }}
In December 1882, she ran down a sailing boat with three people aboard near Middle Head. A young boy on the boat received a fractured skull and later died. Fairlight was found to be at fault with insufficient crew on the day to have a lookout posted fore and aft.
Fairlight was converted to a cargo ferry on the Manly run in 1908, and in 1914, she was hulked and her hull towed to Brisbane in 1912 and her new owners converted the hull of the ship into two lighters two years later. Her wreck is a Tangalooma near Moreton Island.
File:Paddle steamer, possibly FAIRLIGHT, on Sydney Harbour (8163057702).jpg|steaming towards Manly, 1890s
File:Sydney Ferry FAIRLIGHT at Manly Wharf.jpg|At Manly Wharf
File:Sydney Ferry FAIRLIGHT approaches Manly Wharf.jpg|Approaching Manly Wharf, date unknown
File:Sydney Ferry FAIRLIGHT as cargo vessel laid up 1912.jpg|At the breakers yard circa 1912 before hull was sent to Brisbane
See also
Citations
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Graeme |year=1975 |title=The Ferries of Sydney |publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed Pty Ltd |isbn=0589071726 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Graeme |title=A Pictorial History of Ferries: Sydney and Surrounding Waterways |date=1982 |publisher=AH & AW Reed Pty Ltd |location=Sydney |isbn=0589503863 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Gunter |first1=John |title=Across the harbour : the story of Sydney's ferries |publisher=Rigby |date=1978|isbn=0727007157 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Prescott |first1=AM |title=Sydney Ferry Fleet |date=1984 |publisher=Ronald H Parsons |location=Magill South Australia |isbn=0909418306 }}
- {{cite web |title=Glass plate negative of Manly paddle ferry 'Fairlight' passing Garden Island, Sydney Harbour, 1893-1908 |url=https://collection.maas.museum/object/495298 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences |access-date=2 May 2020}}
External links
- {{commons category-inline|Fairlight (ship, 1878)}}
{{Sydneyferries|state=expanded}}