Red Funnel Ferries

From the collection of

Wessex Film and Sound Archive is based in Winchester. Providing the opportunity to see and hear history, the archive contains nearly 40,000 film, video and sound recordings relating to Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, ranging from late Victorian times to the present day. It includes both amateur and professional material, local newsreels, military and maritime subjects, as well as footage produced by individuals, businesses and organisations.

Red Funnel Ferries

Wessex Film and Sound Archive
Solent, The
1 Jan 1969
Sound

Thrill to the speed onboard a Red Funnel hydrofoil as it scoots across the Solent in this nostalgic advert from 1969

This enjoyably nostalgic advert from 1969 starts with a shot of Red Funnel's newest hydrofoil, the Shearwater, speeding across the Solent. We cut to the interior cabin where the passengers, sitting comfortably, enjoy the view. Another shot shows the Shearwater overtaking a conventional ferry while the announcer extolls the fast journey time between Cowes and Southampton. We end with titles over a final shot of the Shearwater.

Red Funnel's Italian-designed hydrofoil, Shearwater, was the first such craft to enter commercial service in the United Kingdom. Introduced in 1969, the Shearwater, and her sister ship, Shearwater I, could each carry 54 passengers on the company's Cowes to Southampton service. The hydrofoils remained in service until 1973 when they were replaced with larger craft that could carry 67 passengers.

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From the collection

Near Your Local Cinema

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While they didn’t have access to the budgets of the national brands, regionally-specific businesses had the benefit of that personal touch. Products and services evolved over time, but that scratchy ad for your local Indian restaurant, so integral to the cinema-going experience into the 1990s, had its roots in the booming entrepreneurship of the industry many decades before.