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Douglas Head Ferry & The Port Soderick Boats
 
Price£8.50
AuthorCaptain Stephen Carter
FormatPaperback
PublisherTwelveheads Press
DescriptionIn Victorian and Edwardian times the Isle of Man was a mecca for holidaymakers and Douglas in particular developed into one of the north west's great tourist centres. Much tourist development was centred on Douglas Head including: an open air theatre with daily black and white minstrel shows, an hotel, various stalls, an open air swimming pool, a camera obscura and a 200 feet high tower with a revolving platform. The quickest means of access to Douglas Head from Douglas and the steam packet landings was by ferry across the harbour and then ascending to the headland on a cable worked incline railway. A distinctive type of double ended ferry steamer was developed for the Douglas Head Ferry. By 1900 the service was carrying between half and three quarters of a million passengers each season - a ferry service which today is virtually forgotten.

In 1896 an electric tramway was opened from Douglas to Port Soderick, a cove three miles south of Douglas that was also being developed to attract day trippers. A succession of boats and boatmen have been associated with this once popular passenger boat service. The present Karina still calls in but, alas, Port Soderick today is deserted.

With the help of some rarely seen photographs and from the vantage of a lifetime's experience working on passenger boats from Douglas, the author traces the history of these Victorian and Edwardian tourist enterprises.
 
    
 

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