Name Balmoral

1.   What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric? Evidence for designs, functions, techniques, processes, styles, customs and habits or uses and associations in relation to events and people.  How early, intact or rare these features are may impact on significance.

MV BALMORAL is a twin screw motorised ferry and a unique surviving example of early diesel-powered coastal excursion ships. Her overall design owes much to pre-war yachts such as Sir Bernard Docker’s SHEMARA, designed and built at the same yard. She had dual capability as an excursion vessel - s[ervicing Cowes as a car ferry or carrying up to 800 passengers with her car deck aft converting into a suntrap full of deckchairs. Her design also allowed her to be used as ship’s tender to the great liners in Southampton Water. Her original steel hull built by John Thornycroft & Company at Southampton in 1949 is still intact and her internal arrangement is much as it was throughout her working life. Her wooden-decked alleyways around the engine room, central cocktail bar and the lower bar with authentic mirrors and fittings are original. The forward saloon - now used as a bar rather than a restaurant - retains its shape with original fixtures including mirrors and other fittings. In 1986, the car deck aft was plated to form a new restaurant and galley, with an extended promenade deck fitted with seating. Her first engines were replaced after fifty years of service as part of a conservation project in 2003-2004. Still in use is the original Mechan’s telegraph system, housed in the engine room, manually operated and subject to conservation in 2017. 

2.   What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence? Associations with people or places.  Off-ship research. 

MV BALMORAL has strong regional associations to the Solent area from her early working life.  From 1949 to 1968 she formed part of the Red Funnel Steamer’s fleet, running a service between Southampton and Cowes as well as summer excursions which extended from Brighton to Swanage and included a Round the Island Cruise.  BALMORAL took part in the 1953 Coronation Naval Review and then carried the Duke of Edinburgh on board for the opening of the new locks at Shoreham in 1958.  She also later participated in the 1977 Silver Jubilee Naval Review.

From 1969 onwards, she moved to the Bristol Channel area, becoming the last vessel to be operated by the celebrated White Funnel Fleet run by P. & A. Campbell.  Her cruising ground included the resorts of Ilfracombe, Weston and Minehead, passenger-ferry work to Lundy and an annual cruise to the Scilly Isles. She was later based at Swansea, until being withdrawn at the end of the 1979 season. In 1980, she was chartered for a short period by White Funnel Steamers to continue a service to Lundy.  With the closure of P & A Campbell in 1981 she was laid up in Bristol until she was sold to Craig Inns and briefly used as a floating pub in Dundee.  BALMORAL was acquired by the Waverley organisation in 1985, refitted and entered service in 1986 to operate as consort to PS WAVERLEY.  She is widely-known as the consort of the charity MV Balmoral Fund Ltd, with Bristol’s floating harbour as her winter base.

Whilst her closest links are to the Solent and Bristol Channel, BALMORAL has visited all coastal regions around the UK for short visits since 1986, giving her a national appeal.  MV BALMORAL was awarded Flagship of the Year status by National Historic Ships UK in 2016 and featured in the TV programme ‘The Peoples Liners’ in 2016. She has an extensive paper archive currently held by Fund members, PSPS and White Funnel Ltd., including detailed technical descriptions of the ship. BALMORAL has been recorded on the National Register of Historic Vessels since 1996 and has the status of being a member of the National Historic Fleet.  She is the last vessel of her type on the Register and is an exemplar of the golden age of coastal day cruising.
 
3.   How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?  Overall aesthetic impact of the vessel, her lines, material she was built from and her setting.  Does she remain in her working environment? 

MV BALMORAL has an attractive appearance with her lines more like those of a private yacht than a ferry. Arguably her appearance and functionality was improved in 1986 when her redundant car-deck was decked over and converted into the restaurant. Her form, size, speed and maneuverability which, for example, enabled her to circumnavigate Anglesey, have helped her to visit more ports and piers than any other British excursion ship in history.  During the White Funnel years, increased weight aft improved her sea-going qualities enabling her to cope with the deep-sea work of the Bristol Channel. She has remained operational as a historic vessel and is currently pending works to return her to regular use.  Her principal regional affinity remains with the English and Welsh ports and piers of the Bristol Channel, but when active she also operates excursions in North Wales between Liverpool, Llandudno and Anglesey, as well as in the Thames estuary, and her original Solent home-waters.
 
Authors

Victoria Wallworth & Hannah Cunliffe, National Historic Ships UK June 2018