The Seabus built recently at Voyager boat builders in Cornwall famous for building local cruising vessel Plymouth Sound has now been operating the route run by Strathclyde Passenger Transport from Gourock to Kilcreggan for five months now. Seabus replaced the 71 year old ferry Kenilworth 10 years younger than Northern Belle. Just a interesting part of Kenilworth's history was a radio message sent to Kenilworth at 9:40am 23rd October 2006. The message was as follows:
"Unidentified vessel approaching on my Starboard side please identify yourself. If you fail to do so we will open fire on you with live ammunition."
This came from a US navy warship taking part in training exercise 'Neptune Warrior'.
I e-mailed a William Murry a regular traveler and enthusiast where Seabus is now used asking him about how Seabus was getting on and what he thought of her. He says that she is proving to be very popular as the route transports many people who live on the north side of the river but work on the south. One of the major pluses of her is that she has a very spacious enclosed cabin which is heated and has double glazing with central heating so is welcoming when it gets cold especially as it is Scotland. But most do not like the fact that there is no open deck space and you have to be inside which is a disappointment after Kenilworth as she had lots of deck space. Probably more than Northern Belle. But he says that we must move with the times and that Seabus is a very capable boat fit for her purpose and is now an established cruiser in the area.
Luckily Kenilworth was not put onto the Scrapheap and has been saved. She now operated special school services which transport them for educational cruises in the upper part of the river. William says "Nice to think that we'll still see her around in her retirement".
If you would like to see footage of Seabus and Kenilworth in action please take a look at William's excellent films of both of them on youtube the links are below:
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