Ferry Tale of Woolwich 

I took my grand daughter on it. She enjoyed it so much, we went back and forth for well over an hour. If only I could have found the Duty Free.

I used to teach Ben Woollacott, nice guy lost far too soon.

19 is no age. God bless the young man.

"the ferry is not going anywhere, but back and forth"- your word play always puts a smile on my face

"...comes to £180,000, or a couple of nights out in the WestEnd..." Really? You're getting discounts; how?!

In 1991 as a somewhat lost and bewildered Northern teenager heading for Croydon in a Datsun Sunny I arrived at the end of the North Circular expecting to see a bridge. I was very suprised to cross the Thames by ferry, but rather enjoyed it as I recall.

In the 50's we used to use the ferry 5 or 6 times a year when we went to Woolwich to visit family. The treat was to observe the engines driving the paddle wheels. I can still remember the smell of hot oil wafting up through the open viewing louvres.

I'm so old that I remember during THE war that the bridges over the docks (Albert and George) were never open to road traffic in case they got bombed and blocked the entrance to shipping. I think the journey on the 101 bus was via Slivertown etc . pretty cheap for a penny!

one of the upgrades that came with the Dame Vera Lynn and Ben Woollacott is that they have an automatic docking system, which means that the specific circumstances of Ben's death won't be repeated.

I recall that during the 80s one of the ferries broke down and drifted some considerable distance down stream before it could be rescued; which must have made for a much more interesting journey for those unfortunate enough to be on board.

1:04 - This is why I’ve never been on it: I’m terrified of mermaid attacks. 🧜‍♀️

Interesting. I'm old enough to recall travelling on the steam paddle ferries. The highlight of the journey(s) was always watching the engines at work, clearly remember the humps in the floor in the gangway covering the drive shafts for the paddle wheels. Several images of the steam ferries survive, but none I have yet found of the engines.

Serco were also briefly responsible for running the ancillary screening for security clearances. Anyone who has dealt with them probably can guess how that went.

The RU-vid subtitles for the word Woolwich came up with so many variations in this video that it's actually an Easter egg 😏

I remember using the “old” ferry late 1950’s - maybe early 1960. The approaches to the ferry looked nothing like now and were all timber. Boy, did they groan, move and creak when you drove your car over them. I was a young boy and thought that collapse was imminent. Could well have been apparently.

The puns and dry humour just keep improving, and hit me when I least expect them. "the ferry is going nowhere, except back and forth".

I always found it amusing that one can travel around the north and south circular at a moderate pace, in fact some of it is three or four lane motorway, then you get to the ferry and wait up to an hour to cross 😂

Worth noting the new ferries did not come into operation in 2017. They were due to start in 2019 but a catalogue of issues meant they didn’t start running properly until months later. And then the pandemic hit.

Just visited central London forvthe first time since discovering your videos and safe to say my wife was bombarded with random facts and knowledge. Keep up the excellent work.

Brilliant, in the 50s/60s as a kid it was great fun going to Woolwich just to keep going across, what a fun day out.

I've used the Woolwich ferry on occasion,a nice view of the Thames barrier in the distance ,long may the ferry continue.

5ft passengers vs 150ft passengers? Well, at least the 5ft ones have room to stand up! Another fantastic video - thanks Jago! You are the entertainment to my lazy Sunday afternoon.

As a child in the 1960s I went on a trip to Margate on one of the last paddle steamers. (We boarded at Southend, not Woolwich.) I remember it because passengers were allowed down to the engine room to see the machinery working, which was quite a treat. At that date the engines were probably diesel powered, not steam, but I don't remember. It seems odd that paddle steamers were still working as late as the 1960s, and not just as 'heritage' attractions.

I remember travelling to x fro on the paddle ferries as a child. On warm days the crew would leave the doors to the engine room open. One could then marvel at the huge engine operating, (very little health x safety then)! The other memory is of a very strong stink from the river. Ah! the good old days!

"the army took matters into their own handies..." So cheesey but worth it

Until 1965 North Woolwich was an enclave of Kent, the bloodless coup made it part of the LB Newham, itself rescued from Essex.

There's something special about a ferry, it makes going south of the river feel exotic.

Considering the distance the ferry has to travel and that it is then moored up to allow vehicles and passengers on and off for several minutes, it would seem ripe for full battery electrification. After all the Scandinavians have a fully electric ferry plying far longer routes around the fjords.

Can we have a ‘Bazelgette’ episode? He’s a bit of a personal hero…

My memories are sketchy and they must have happened before I joined the Army is January 1964 at the age of 15 and a half. I can remember being taken to travel the ferry by my Aunt who lived in Plumstead. I couldn't wait to board and spent the entire crossing below deck just mesmerised by the engine movements and the sound of sheer power, and the smell !!..........sheer heaven.

It certainly 'floated my boat' Jago. Another extremely interesting and very watchable video. Thank you.

Thanks for the recent videos about the North Woolwich, that being a place we often visited during the school holidays just to ride on the free ferry. What a grand day out getting a "Red Bus Rover" and travelling all the way from Walthamstow on the number 69 bus.... no sniggering at the back.... with our sandwiches and a bottle of pop. You try telling the young of today that that was a grand day out...would they believe you....would they heck as like!

Another gem, Jago. As kids, my mate and I would go out for the day and come home via the ferry. After 60 yrs we both remember the huge 'Granada' neon sign shining out, with a fuzzy red reflection in the river.

Excellent stuff! I shan’t recycle my tale of using this ferry ⛴ to get to watch Charlton over the years 😜 Nice to see the service in good health so to speak. There have been various murmurs and rumours about its impending doom but the new ferries seem to have put that to bed for now at least! 😀 Sad to think I shall never ride on Ernest Bevan again but I guess that is just progress and I’d rather the service survived 🤔 Cheers 🍻 🍀👍

Talking recently to someone who drives one of these or may have now retired, they are looking at total leccy propulsion but they wouldn't be able to hold them against the ramps with the props turning which is the current practice because batteries would be charging.

The thing I find surprising is that it is still time and cost effective for people to line up and wait for the ferry, especially for commercial lorries ⛴ 🚛

Lovely. I used to cross here all the time back in the 80's with my late father. Good times.

Back in the mid 70's as kids we had our red rover cards and travelled far and wide on the buses and also had trips on the ferry back and forth. Big feeling of independence on the water and used to pretend we were at sea 😂. Well we were kids and has just left primary school and felt grown up, with plenty of imagination

This channel is awesome. Plain and simple.

Worth noting that the Metropolitan Board of Works wasn't supposed to have ended on 21 March 1889. It was supposed to have gone on to the end of the month (and the local government year). However, in its last days it got above itself. It gave many employees pay rises which would have to be paid by the London County Council. It permitted buildings to encroach on streets against local opinion. Then it proposed to award a contract to build the Blackwall Tunnel to a firm that wasn't the lowest bidder. There was such an outcry that the Government stepped in and brought forward its abolition to stop it. Hence the Woolwich Ferry opened as the first achievement of the LCC not the last of the MBW. There's an interesting letter in the last minutes of the MBW (pages 684-5) detailing the arrangements for the opening ceremony of the Woolwich Ferry. They can be found on Google Books.

Cue loud foghorn! I used to travel back and forth on the woolwich ferry back in the 60's when I used to live just up the road from woolwich. My mum used to take me to some place called eastham but I can't remember what it even looks like as I was only a little sprog at the time. All I remember is the crossings. And I also vaguely remember the old wooden beams on the woolwich landing before it was rebuilt and modernised.

Seems the next obvious step in your Thames Crossing Odyssey may finally be the infamous Princess Alice Disaster.

I'm 75 now but when I was young I used to get the bus to Woolwich just to go backwards and forwards on the ferry and especially to go to the observation area and watch the engine with its huge con-rods going up an down and all highly polished brass. Beautiful,,, and the smell,,,, to die for

I once appeared in a play called “Murder on The Woolwich Ferry” at the Tom Allen Centre in Stratford.

Have used the ferry intermittently for decades. After a long day at Canary Wharf, its nice to bob along the river and take in the views/get some space.

When I hear on the radio traffic news, as often is the case, that there is only a reduced one boat service operating the Woolwich Ferry, I always end up singing to myself... "One Woolwich Ferry, There's only one Woolwich Ferry, One Woolwich Ferrrr-eeee, There's only one Woolwich Ferry", to the tune of 'Guantanamera' by The Sandpipers.

6:54 Pedant alert... The modern ferry "Dame Vera Lynn" is 62 metres (203 ft) long not 210 metres (690 ft).

I have a memory of seeing the paddle versions and looking at the engines you could see then, but I was not cycling round there until the later 1960's, so I was probably with my father - the family had a small road haulage company based in Plaistow and he would drive one of the lorries when they were short handed.

On 21st March 1941 my grandfather was ship's cook on the SS Halo which was delivering coal to London. As it approached the N. Woolwich pier it hit a mine and sank, the impact from the explosion rendering my grandfather profoundly deaf and ending his career as a seaman. As the wreck was blocking the approach to the pier it had to be removed; it was repaired and put back into service. Shortly before the end of the war, the Halo was sailing off the coast of Holland when it was torpedoed, this time being lost for good.

I live in Beckton and one my suppliers is in Woolwich. The journey by ferry is very enjoyable but I take it approximately 3% of the time, the rest is by the Blackwall tunnel, much more convenient. Woolwich ferry has a reduced service much of the time if it's not closed for technical issues or numerous strikes. I can count on one hand when I took the new ferries since 2017...

This is very nice. I love riding on river boats.

I dont know what it is about ferry rides but I love taking them. Here in Seattle Washington USA we have several ferries leaving from downtown to various destinations. We have one that is walk on passenger & bicycle only to British Columbia Canada. We have one to Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island, & Bremerton, WA. Then a few miles north one to Windby Island.

I used to travel on the previous ferries to and from work, and was always appreciative of the cocktail lounge and duty free shop. Sadly I haven't used the new ferries and fear that they will not have the same levels of luxury.

Space for 150-foot passengers? That seems a bit unnecessary. Are the Woolwichians giants?

You describe the foot passenger part of the new Woolwich ferries as “pretty spacious”, but it is basically a glorified footpath with a shelter. The old boats had basically the whole lower deck for foot passengers, which meant in the latter years and enormous empty maze to walk round during the crossing and fun to find the exit in the opposite corner of the vessel!

😥 Ben Woollacott - 19 years old - So sad 😢

I love the on board Duty Free shop. I always stock up on Jellied Eels.

@8:06 *Public Service Announcement* No boroughs were dissected in the making of this video, the ferry or the towns of Woolwich. North Woolwich is its own town in the London Borough of Newham. The River Thames separates this borough from the Royal Borough of Greenwich in the south. Woolwich is the administrative HQ of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. No one who grew up in Woolwich ever ventures deep into North Woolwich.

Great video. I presumed the ferry would have been cancelled/stopped like so many things covered here. It's nice to see some things endure.

RIP Ben. Very sad news that

your pun is national treasure

I use the Ferry everyday except Fridays when they're on strike.

Fantastic in the 60‘S I used to go across with my gran to get jellied eels as she was from silver town and moved to Welling in the 30’s, later my father in law was a lighterman on the ferry that’s how he met my ex.wife’s mother small world good to see its still going next time I manage to get back to the UK I will give it a try thank you

I feel the need for a Waterrman versus Lighterman delve into the murky waters of the Thames. Doggett's Coat and Badge race anyone?

Only 5 foot passengers? Do you have a height limit on the ferries?

Up until the 1950s the _Pool of London,_ and the docks and moorings stretching out from it up the Thames estuary, still rendered our city the then busiest port in the world - more so than even the likes of Rotterdam or Shanghai. While cannonballs excavated during construction on the vast original Woolwich Arsenal site, are prominently displayed at the entrance to the immense, three prison, HMP Belmarsh complex (don’t ask me how I know), which took up much of its original territory - *bombsite* is the most chilling, sobering webpage on the damage the Blitz wrought, but how easily we forget just how much of a military rather than just civilian target the geography today termed London was; think of all those BrEN guns ENfield was churning out alone. As for the appropriate demonym for the historic Woolwichanese: _”Woolies”?_

A very interesting story! Such big ferries for that short distance, but it seems economically worth it! Tnx for the story.

My kids used to love the ferry and on a couple of occasions sailed(?) on it from south to north and back, just for the fun of it.

Real treat when I was a child to ride back and forth on this. Gran plying my brother and I with mint imperials and lemonade.

One of the ferry boats proudly displayed a bullet hole received when she was used for the Dunkirk evacuation,

the ramps to the ferry before they up-dated them were aimed towards Powis street and were what would nowadays be classed as being 6'6"wide, many a car driver hesitated before they drove on.

I well remember watching the old steam ferry engines when using the ferries in the 1950s and 1960s.

Thank you. Nice ferry. I remember travelling on the steamers in the 1950s.

I love the ferry, it is by far my favourite way to cross that part of the river. The Blackwall tunnel and the Dartford crossings being the alternatives makes it a no brainer!

When I was at Thames Poly - now Greenwich University - during the 1980s, we were not allowed to have rag week. Apparently this was because a couple of years previously, on two consecutive years, students had stolen a Woolwich ferry overnight and driven it down the river, on the second occasion crashing it into something. So the poly was banned from having rag week for ten years. I was told.

The Docklands is such a vibrant area in East London with lots of history, a ferry service, Emirates Air-Line cable car, the Docklands Light Railway and of course the Blackwall Tunnel. Connecting East London and Southeast London within few minutes from each other which way you want to travel. Maybe a ferry service could be ideal in West London but it doesn’t need it as it’s got District Line, London Overground, National Rail and roads going over the River Thames.

When I lived in Charlton as a student we used to get the Woolwich Ferry for lads East End drinking Saturdays, late 60s a lot of East London pubs had live music.

Ah, the Greater London Council (GLC): I remember The Comic Strips Presents making a satirical film about the end of the GLC that portrayed Ken Livingstone as a sort-of Rambo-like character. And it had a lot of guns in the story too...

i have spent many a happy hour sitting waiting for this ferry. it a nice ferry and the staff are very friendly.

Having been out of the UK since 1995 I have never seen those new ferries .. the old black white and yellow ones are the last I saw. Nice to be "updated"

"Artists impression believed accurate" 🤣

Is it me or do the Woolwich ferries appear to spend much of their time doing water pirouettes? 😀

Serco : Nuclear weapons ... prisons ... immigration detention centers ... Perhaps just abbreviating their business concerns to general all purpose evil might be more concise ?

I wish there was a list of historic ferry crossings. There are some fantastic assets online detailing historic railways, but nothing for old ferries that have been replaced by bridges or tunnels. Just a bit further down the river, there used to be a Tilbury-Gravesend car ferry before the Dartford Tunnel was constructed.

I haven't been on it in nearly 40 years. Back then I lived in Woolwich when I was a student in the dog-days when the Royal Arsenal and docks were closing and Woolwich & North Woolwich were pretty grim places (other than the fact that it used to have loads of pubs which used to serve the Arsenal workers - all but 2 or 3 pubs are left). Back in the 1980s the population of London was much lower due to economic decline. It's nice to see it all looking a bit smarter know, and I might have to visit for old-time's sake. Back in the day the day, the ferry was one of the few 'free' things one could do, and we would explore the north side of the river on quiet Sundays (but not much to see though in those days apart from lots of concrete and corrugated steel fences).

Well done for turning up on a day the ferry workers weren’t on strike

I haven't been on the new boats yet, but did go on the older ones, both as a car passenger (well, you see, we'd been over the river - on a bridge - and under it - in a tunnel - that day, so we had to cross on it as well, didn't we?) and, a bit later, on foot. Wonderful passenger accommodation below-decks, very old-fashioned.

Hi Jago. A very comprehensive history and so well told!

that was one of my chat up lines when i was a callow youth. “you dance like a fairy” …… “Woolwich Ferry”

Thank you.

Thank you very much for a very interesting video. The last night of the three 1963 vessels was very memorable. Interestingly a Routemaster bus was on the last north crossing. It was hosting a "Hen Party" I recall the driver asked why there were so many people on the car deck. I was taken down into the engine room of the 'James Newman' which was a very interesting experience.

Woolwich is very unique because it's situated in South, East, and also has a Football Team based in North London by the name of The Arsenal. It has also done a lot of business shipping stuff to parts of West London in the 1800s too. Even Essex and Kent if you want to branch out. London would be a very boring place without Woolwich and The Arsenal.

Just a suggestion, why not something on the Thames Watermen Those ferries bring back memories. Back at the end of the 80s early 90s I lived in North Essex whilst my family lived in Cornwall. Loathing the M25 round north London and tunnel tolls (OK, I'm a cheapskate) my preferred route was A12, N Circ to Woolwich and, eventually, the M3 to the A303

Seeing the illustration of the mermaids with the 14th century 'ferries' makes me wonder if what they actually saw was dolphins. I know they have been seen in the Thames and I have been on ferries in other parts of the world where dolphins have swam with us.

When the Sandbanks Ferry near Poole was out of action for maintenance: "It's out ferry that floats, not your car, so don't try to cross without us".

I remember seeing an old map of Kent when it included a lot of what is now Greater London. North Woolwich was drawn with a border round and the words"Part of Kent".

In the early 1950s London Transport's London River sightseeing tour bus included the ferry crossing.

missed out the roll that the ferry played in the dunkirk evacuations and how brave the ferryman was and how many lives they saved

It spends more time on strike then it does running a full time service

The ferries I took in 1990 were the big yellow ones and it was the General Gordon that was my favourite…