List of Red Funnel ships

The following list is of Ferries and boats that have been operated by Red Funnel.

Between 1840 and the 1960s, Red Funnel line and its predecessors operated 40 different classic passenger ferries, many of these being paddle steamers. Later ferries sometimes had space allocated for carrying cars but it was not until 1959 that the first purpose-built car ferry was introduced. Classic passenger vessels continued in service until the Balmoral was sold in 1969.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Although some earlier ferries provided space for cars, Red Funnel introduced its first purpose-built car ferry in 1959. Besides the Raptor-class vessels that are still in service, the following car ferries have been used by Red Funnel:^[5][10][11]

The first fast ferry introduced by Red Funnel was the Sea Coach Island Enterprise, a motor cruiser capable of carrying 11 passengers at 20 knots. She was built by the British Power Boat Company in Hythe, and operated from 1933 to 1938.^[5]

In 1968 the company ran trials with an HM2 sidewall hovercraft, number 002, in order to compete with the Seaspeed service which used an SRN6 between Southampton and Cowes. Due to the unreliability of the craft it never entered passenger service. In 1981 Red Funnel acquired a pair of HM2 MkIIIs, GH2019 & GH2024, which were primarily used on the charter service for Vosper Thorneycroft transporting workers from the Isle of Wight to the Woolston yard and back each day. These two craft were disposed of in June 1982 and the charter was subsequently operated by the augmented hydrofoil fleet.^[13]

The first hydrofoils to operate on the Southampton to Cowes route, and the first in commercial service in the United Kingdom were the Italian-designed Shearwater and Shearwater 2. These were introduced by Red Funnel in 1969, and each seated 54 passengers. They were replaced in 1973 by two 67-seat RH70 hydrofoils, built by Cantière Navale Rodriguez, named Shearwater 3 and Shearwater 4. The latter was delivered some five months after the former and in the interim, a PT20 craft, Fleccia di Reggio, was chartered to stand in. In 1982 Shearwater 5 and Shearwater 6 were added to the fleet. In 1991, with the introduction of the first Red Jet catamarans, the hydrofoils were demoted to backup duties until they were finally withdrawn in 1998.^[14]

Some tugs also had passenger accommodation to enable them to serve as tenders to liners not berthing in Southampton and to augment the excursion fleet on occasion.^[22]

In 2023, the Hythe Ferry was acquired by Red Funnel, previous ferries to have operated on the service include:

• MV Hythe Hotspur ex Gosport Ferry, Southsea Queen bought in 1978 to operate cruises and act as a standby vessel for the ferry.^[24]
• MV New Forester introduced in 1982. She utilised the engines removed from Hotspur III.^[24]
• MV Solent Rose was borrowed from the Hurst Castle ferry service in 2013.
• MV Uriah Heep^[25] removed from service following a collision with the pier on 13 May 2016. As a result of the collision the Maritime and Coastguard Agency withdrew the vessel's passenger safety certificate and vessel was later sold.^[26]
• Hotspur IV was built in 1946 and served on the service until 2014.^[27] Hotspur IV was the last in a line of similar ferries. One of her earlier half-sisters, Hotspur II of 1936, saw further service as a ferry on the Firth of Clyde under the name Kenilworth.