''Fairlight'' was a paddle steamer ferry that operated on the
Circular Quay
Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...
to
Manly run from 1878 to 1914. She was the third double-ended steamer on the Manly run and first to be specifically designed for the route.
She was named after
Fairlight, a suburb near Manly.
Design and construction
''Fairlight'' was built in
Whiteinch
Whiteinch ( gd, Innis Bhàn) is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly north of the River Clyde, between the Partick and Scotstoun areas of the city. Whiteinch was at one stage part of the burgh of Partick, until that ...
, Scotland. She cost £16,000 including delivery, a sum for which the
Port Jackson Steamship Company
The Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company (PJ&MSC) was a publicly listed company that operated the Manly ferries in Sydney, Australia. After being taken over by Brambles Industries, the ferry service was eventually taken over by the State G ...
mortgaged itself heavily to pay. At 315 tons, and 52.1 m long, she was iron-hulled with a two-deck timber super-structure.
In Britain, she had been rated for 1,100 passengers, but Sydney surveyors rated her for 950 passengers on account of the large swells across the
Sydney Heads
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...
. She could make a steady 13 knots. At the time, she was the most well-appointed Manly ferry with cushioned seats, closed in salons and carpeted floors.
Service history
She was sail rigged to augment her modest coal supplies, and steamed to Sydney in fifty-six days. She hit rough seas in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
but was not damaged, and her master praised her seaworthiness.
Captain Mickleson was both her delivery master and her first master upon entering service.
She ran a two-boat service for the company.
In December 1882, she ran down a sailing boat with three people aboard near
Middle Head
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
* Middle Brook (disambiguation)
* Middle Creek (d ...
. A young boy on the boat received a fractured skull and later died. ''Fairlight'' was found to be at fault with insufficient crew on the day to have a lookout posted fore and aft.
''Fairlight'' was converted to a cargo ferry on the Manly run in 1908, and in 1914, she was hulked and her hull towed to Brisbane in 1912 and her new owners converted the hull of the ship into two lighters two years later. Her wreck is a
Tangalooma
Originally a whaling station, Tangalooma Island Resort (formerly known as Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort) is a resort on the west side of Moreton Island in Queensland, Australia. It lies on the eastern shore of Moreton Bay and is known for its ...
near
Moreton Island
Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) is an island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. The Coral Sea lies on the east coast of the island. Moreton Island lies northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. ...
.
Manly Wharf
Manly Wharf is a heritage-listed passenger terminal wharf and recreational area located at West Esplanade and serving Manly, a Sydney suburb in the Northern Beaches Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Since the 1850s, ...
, date unknown
File:Sydney Ferry FAIRLIGHT as cargo vessel laid up 1912.jpg, At the breakers yard circa 1912 before hull was sent to Brisbane
See also
*
List of Sydney Harbour ferries
Sydney Harbour's first ferries were sail and/or oar powered, but by the mid-19th century, paddle steamers were well established. Double-ended ferries became common as they did not require turning at terminating wharves in Sydney's busy but nar ...
*
Timeline of Sydney Harbour ferries
Sydney Harbour ferry services date back to the first years of Sydney's European settlement. Slow and sporadic boats ran along the Parramatta River from Sydney to Parramatta and served the agricultural settlements in between. By the mid-1830s, sp ...
Citations
References
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External links
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{{Sydneyferries, state=expanded
Ferry transport in Sydney
Ferries of New South Wales