Lady Chelmsford
A special project of the Ferries of Sydney
| Type : |
Wooden screw steamer |
| Launched : |
1910 |
| Builder : |
Rock Davis Blackwall, NSW |
| Gross weight : |
98 tons |
| Dimensions : |
110.00 x 24.70 x 9.80 (feet) |
| Passenger capacity : |
446 |
| Speed : |
10 knots/11 knots after 1957 |
Lady Chelmsford was a wooden screw steamer built by Rock Davis in Blackwall, New South Wales. Launched on the 14th of April 1910 she had a gross weight of 98 tons, and was 110 feet long.
She was fitted with her compound engine and boiler at the yards of Morrison and Sinclair in Balmain and then entered service for her owners the Balmain New Ferry Company.
The boat was one of the last surviving Lady class ferries in substantially original condition. The Lady Scott is virtually unrecognisable as the Harbour Queen and the other member of the class, Lady Denman, survives as an out-of-water static display.
First of five, she was a sister to Lady Denman, Lady Edeline (a wreck on the Parramatta River), Lady Scott and Lady Ferguson all of who followed her in 1914. She was the most recognisable of the Ladies as she sported a much skinnier funnel than the others.
In 1917, the Balmain company’s fleet had been sold off to Sydney Ferries Limited along with their routes. She (like her sisters) was then removed from the Balmain run and placed on the Lane Cove River service where they became a much welcome sight due to their speed and capacity.
She survived the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and was modernised with a diesel engine in 1933 which was replaced in 1957.
Lady Chelmsford was the first of her sisters to receive a diesel engine – this had the benefit of reducing her operational crew to three rather than the previous five and also meant she could go for nearly three weeks without needing to refuel – previously she had required coaling every few days. She received a Gardner marine engine, new funnel and a new paint scheme which was soon to become standard across SFL’s much reduced fleet.
The Gardner provided service until 1957 when she was withdrawn and re-engined with a Crossley diesel engine. This had the added benefit of giving her an extra knot of service speed.
Lady Chelmsford continued working the harbour until 1971 when she was sold to Adelaide.
Prior to her removal to her new home, her aft wheelhouse was taken off and shipped separately to Adelaide. Here it found a home in the private collection of Keith le Leu.
In August of 1971 the ferry left Sydney harbour and proceeded on her own way to Adelaide. To begin with the trip was uneventful and the weather clear. An amusing anecdote relates that the lighthouse keeper at Green Point Light told them to turn around as they were going the wrong way for Sydney! Ultimately she arrived safely in Adelaide and settled in to her new career as a showboat. She was replaced in 1985 by a purpose built vessel and was offered up for sale again.
She was purchased by Bill Leahy who had recently purchased another harbour veteran, Karingal. Unfortunately Karingal was lost in Bass Strait while attempting to make it to Melbourne. Fortunately this was not to be Chellie’s fate and after being slipped and dry docked she made her uneventful way to what would become her last home.
In 2002 she was cited in a Marine Safety Victoria collision report for making contact with the Rob Roy during docking. In Melbourne she operated as a cruising restaurant, being taken out of service and sold in 2005. At that time she was also out of survey and unable to operate in a mobile role.
More recently in 2007, she was sold again to her first Melbourne owners and returned to a static dining experience. In the first half of 2007 she came close to sinking at her moorings, and on February 18th, 2008 at 5.30pm, slipped beneath the waves forever.
She had survived for 98 years and although her owner professed that he wished to raise her, as time passed by this looked more and more unlikely. The state of the old wooden ferry after being underwater for so long made it even less likely to occur in the future in any other way than in pieces.
In early 2010, Marine Safety Victoria called a meeting of the relevant stakeholders to arrange for the retrieval of the vessel. By this stage, the wreck’s ownership had passed to Nautilus Marine, an insurance company who had arranged a policy for the vessel before she sank.
Her former owner and principal of Pleasureboat Cruises, Keith Rankin, has said terms of a settlement with the insurer prevented him from commenting on the past 24 months of negotiations and legal proceedings.
However, public record documents show that Nautilus denied liability, claiming the vessel was unseaworthy and, therefore, in breach of the policy. The case ended up being settled in Mr Rankin’s favour by the Financial Ombudsman Service in 2009.
Proceedings of the case reveal that Nautilus issued the policy in return for a website link as a sponsorship contribution towards the restoration of the vessel. Nautilus was ordered to pay interest on the sum insured plus the cost of salvage.
Lady Chelmsford was finally broken up in place in early 2011.