Category: Transport

This is a new edition of the Fishbourne Car Ferry, first published in 2004. It has been throughly revised to bring the story up to date and includes many new photographs. The six mile car ferry service from Portsmouth to Fishbourne, on the Isle of Wight, opened on 15 March 1926 and since those early days has expanded to become a major force in transport to the island. John CH Faulkner has thoroughly researched his subject and supplies technical data on all the ships, as well as drawing on the recollections of the men who worked them.

It is intended to be of general interest as well as providing something for shipping enthusiasts and local historians. Also included is some interesting technical data on the ships along with recollections of men who worked them.

The Author

John Faulkner was born in Reading in 1953 and has lived on the Isle of Wight since the age of four. He was educated at Sandown Grammar School before taking up a technical apprenticeship with the British Hovercraft Corporation and qualifying with an HNC in Mechanical Engineering. Much of his early career was taken up with hydrodynamic testing in the company's test tanks. Today his principal employment is certification testing of flight-critical aircraft structures. His interests include photography and cycling. A cycle ride from Land's End to John O'Groats in 1998, mostly on A and B roads, convinced him that the roads of the Isle of Wight are not as quiet as is often claimed. Perhaps surprisingly, given the subject of this book, he is a proponent of sustainable transport and he hasn't taken his own car on a ferry for many years!