This article describes the shipping services of the London and South Western Railway and the vessels employed.
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) started out as the London and Southampton Railway in 1838, with the object of linking the port facilities at Southampton with the capital, as well as the other ordinary business of a railway.
With the network extended to Portsmouth and Weymouth, it also developed a shipping business to the Isle of Wight, to the Channel Islands and to France.
Lymington services The LSWR reached Lymington in July 1858. The town's commercial activity was declining, but an independent ferry operator provided services from Lymington to the Isle of Wight. This became the Solent Sea Steam Packet Company. The railway line originally terminated at what is now Lymington Town station, but silting in the Lymington River made berthing there increasingly difficult, and the LSWR extended the line to the present Lymington Pier station on 19 September 1860.
Effective from 1 July 1884, the LSWR bought out the Solent Steam Packet Company's fleet of two paddle steamers, and , four horse and cargo boats, and other boats and property, paying £2,750.
The original Solent pre-dated the arrival of the railway at Lymington, having been built in 1841. In 1858, Red Lion (built 1856) was added to the SSPC fleet to handle additional traffic brought by the railway, and a second Solent replaced the first on 3 November 1863.
Mayflower joined the fleet on 6 July 1866 had been built in Newcastle; she was tastefully fitted and comfortable. As well as plying to Yarmouth, she made excursion runs to Bournemouth, but was disposed of after 1878.
A new paddle steamer, , entered service on 9 May 1893; she cost £6,000, having been built at the Northam Iron Works, Southampton. She was 120 feet (37 m) long.R A Williams, The London and South Western Railway, Volume 2: Growth and Consolidation, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1973,
The second Solent was becoming life expired at the end of the century, and in December 1899 the LSWR ordered a new paddle steamer from Mordey, Carney and Co of Southampton; the purchase price was to be £8,300. The builders evidently encountered difficulties, and when she was delivered in January 1901 she was found not to be compliant with the contract. Acceptance was refused, and after negotiation, Mordey, Carney offered to build a compliant vessel for £9,000; this proposal was accepted. The third Solent was handed over on 14 October 1901, the previous (second) vessel of the same name being sold for scrap in June 1901 for £225.
The Mayflower was sold for scrap in June 1905, realising £50.
A combined tug and cargo boat named Carrier was purchased from J Power on 6 February 1906. A 36-ton twin screw vessel, she had a wide beam providing a large deck for carrying motor cars, as the route was becoming a popular means of getting to the Island.J N Faulkner and R A Williams, The LSWR in the Twentieth Century, David & Charles (Publishers) plc, Newton Abbot, 1988,
Fleet
An incomplete list of LSWR ships:
ShipLaunchedTonnage(GRT)Notes and references 1905 529 Built by Gourlay Brothers Dundee. Scrapped in 1934. 1900 1,236 Sold in 1930 to Greece. 1857 635 Purchased in 1869 from the Caledonian Railway, hulked in 1887. 1855 400 Scrapped in 1900. 1894 1,145 Sold in 1912 to Eastern Shipping Co Ltd. 1915 1,092 Ex-, purchased in 1919 and renamed Ardena. Sold in 1934 to Greece. Atalanta 1907 550 Sold to the Great Western Railway in 1910 1905 528 Built by Gourlay Brothers Dundee. Sold in 1933 to Metal Industries Ltd, Rosyth and employed as a salvage vessel raising the German fleet at Scapa Flow. 1864 Scrapped in 1900 1910 618 Purchased from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1912. Renamed Aldershot in 1933. Sold in 1936 to Italy, renamed Hercules. 1867 275 Collided with and sank off Cap La Hougue, Manche, France on 27 June 1884. 1910 1,505 Sold in 1928 to Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, renamed Manx Maid. 1873 Scrapped in 1930 1894 1,178 Sold in 1912 to Spain, renamed Sitges. 1847 255 Scrapped in 1885. 1876 745 Wrecked at St Malo in 1895. 1889 813 Sold in 1901 to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Renamed Douglas, the third IoMSPCo ship to bear that name. 1881 820 Sold in 1913 to the Shipping Federation. 1847 256 Wrecked in 1859. 1859 635 Purchased in 1869 from the Caledonian Railway. Scrapped in 1880. 1890 1,059 Sold in 1911 to Turkey, renamed Neylofer. 1874 Wrecked in 1915 off French coast. 1911 1,560 Scrapped in 1952. 1856 372 Wrecked in 1875. 1882 820 Wrecked in 1905 near St Malo with the loss of 105 lives. 1874 Sold in 1911. 1885 641 Sold to the Bahamas in 1927 and renamed City of Nassau. 1918 1,504 Bombed at Dunkirk in 1940. 1890 1,059 Sold in 1920 to T Sales Ltd. 1893 204 1866 69 Purchased from the Solent Steam Packet Company in July 1884. Scrapped 1910 1863 600 Collided with the steamship Mary and sank on 17 March 1870 with the loss of 30 lives. 1910 618 Purchased in 1912 from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. Torpedoed on 25 January 1918 and sunk off Cape La Hague. 1911 1,567 Bombed and sunk at Dunkirk in 1940. 1906 1,198 Requisitioned in 1915 and converted to a Q-ship. Returned postwar. Caught fire in 1935 off Jersey and wrecked. 1910 1,498 Torpedoed in 1918 at Alexandria and sunk. 1863 61 Purchased from the Solent Steam Packet Company in July 1884. Scrapped 1901. 1902 161 1843 204 Sold in 1863. 1874 657 Torpedoed and sunk in 1918 with the loss of 24 lives. 1860 585 Sold in 1897 for scrap. 1890 1,059 Wrecked in 1899 off the Channel Islands with the loss of over 100 lives. 1895 383 Built in 1895 as Granuaile. Acquired in 1917. Passed to the Southern Railway in 1923 and scrapped in 1928 1898 1,136 Scrapped in 1933 1896 709 Sold in 1919 to Turkey, later sold to Greek owners. Scrapped in 1937. 1865 593 Purchased in 1868 from the North British Railway. Wrecked in 1873. 1862 731 Purchased in 1871. Sold in 1896 for use as a hospital ship. 1844 250 Scrapped in 1873.
The company also operated a number of ships on the Isle of Wight service from Portsmouth to Ryde jointly with the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. ShipLaunchedTonnage(GRT)Notes and references 1889 256 Scrapped in 1928. 1884 342 Scrapped in 1910. 1884 342 Scrapped in 1910. 1899 443 Scrapped in November 1929 at Bolnes. 1897 399 Sold to New Medway Steam Packet Co Ltd in 1933 and renamed Clacton Queen. Sold to Mersey & Blackpool Steamship Co Ltd in November 1935 and renamed Jubilee Queen. Sold to Jubilee Shipping Co and then S B Kelly in July 1936. Scrapped in June 1937 at Barrow in Furness. 1911 381 Requisitioned by Royal Navy in 1919 as . Returned to owners in 1920. Sold in 1937 to Cosens & Co Ltd, renamed Embassy. Requisitioned by Royal Navy in 1939 as . Returned to owners in 1945, renamed Embassy. Scrapped in 1967 at Boom, Belgium. 1910 354 Struck a mine on 28 June 1919 and sank. 1893 260 1881 366 Scrapped in 1900 at Bolness.