Western Lady | National Historic Ships

Registration number 409

Status Archived

a12admin

Previous names

1941 - 1946 RML 535

Details

Function Fighting Vessel

Location Galmpton

Vessel type Fairmile B

Archive reason More information required

Current use None

Available to hire No

Available for excursions No

Construction

Builder Weatherhead, William & Son, Cockenzie

Built in 1941

Hull material Wood

Rig None

Number of decks 1

Propulsion Motor

Number of engines 1

Primary engine type Diesel

Boiler type None

Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam

18.30 feet (5.58m)

Depth

4.59 feet (1.40m)

Length: Overall

111.93 feet (34.14m)

Tonnage: Gross

108.00

History

Built 1941 by W Weatherhead & Son, Cockenzie, a Fairmile B motor launch. Built for the Admiralty and commissioned in 1942 as RML 535.

Her hull was made with the first pre-fabricated mass build system . The frames are bonded plywood with double diagonal mahogany planking.

During service during World War II she was stationed with 63rd ML Flotillas at Plymouth then sent to 62nd ML Flotilla at Appledore. Sold off in 1946 minus her twin Hall Scott Defender petrol engines which were on Lend Lease from the USA, she entered the Western Lady Ferry Service operating in and around the Torbay area where she worked until 1980. Her engines are twin127 bhp Gardner 6LX installed during the winter of 1971-72, following successful installation of similar engines on Western Lady IV.

Only 5 such vessels remain in UK waters of the 650 built during the war. WESTERN LADY is currently laid up at Galmpton, where she is unfortunately disintegrating and her future is uncertain.

Key dates

1941
Built by William Weatherhead & Son, Cockenzie
1942
Commisisoned and stationed with 63rd ML Flotillas at Plymouth between 1942 and 1944
1944
Moved to Appledore for brief spell before returning to Plymouth
1946
Sold off at Dartmouth and inaugurated the Western Lady Ferry Service
1980
Ceased to operate as passenger ferry, withdrawn from service and laid-up
1999
Major restoration programme to wartime service appearance under consideration
2007
In poor condition and no longer realistically salvageable. Due to be broken up

Sources

World Ship Society British Armed Forces Small Craft Historical Society, Survivors Register, 1998
Armstrong, S A, The Fair (Few) Miles: The History of the Western Lady Ferry Service, Western Lady Ferry Service, 1993
Motor Boat and Yachting: Model Boats, October 1993
Hobbs, John, Old Glory: Western Ladies, May Edition 63
Ships Monthly: The Western Ladies of Torbay, August 1993
The Engineer: Some Interesting Ship Conversions, December 1948
Warship World: Fairmile MLs - some survivors still seagoing, Winter 1988