Welcome to this web site which contains details of the ferries which operated on the Firth of Forth on the route called the Queensferry Passage. The ferries operated between North Queensferry and South Queensferry. The route going back as far as the 11th century in the times of Queen Margaret. This site however concentrates on the ferries which operated between 1934 & 1964. Many of the items displayed in this site were in the possession of the late Captain John Penny who was the Master of the Sir William Wallace. Capt. John Penny was employed on the ferries from 1946 and was a Master of the largest vessel in the fleet from 1955. |
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| Four ferries operated this route - | |||
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Robert the Bruce | (Built 1934) | ![]() |
| Queen Margaret | (Built 1934) | ||
| Mary Queen Of Scots | (Built 1949) | ||
| Sir William Wallace | (Built 1956) | ||
Some facts regarding each boat:- |
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Ferry |
Built |
Length |
Width |
Tonnage |
Engines |
Passengers/Cars |
Robert The Bruce
|
1934
|
149 ft
|
28 ft
|
228
|
Paxman
|
500/28
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Queen Margaret
|
1934
|
148 ft
|
28 ft
|
228
|
Paxman
|
500/28
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Mary Queen of Scots
|
1949
|
150 ft
|
28 ft
|
230
|
Crossley Bros Ltd
|
500/35
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Sir William Wallace
|
1956
|
161.5 ft
|
30 ft
|
277
|
Crossley Bros Ltd
|
500/40
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The ferries only had a draught of approximately 4 ft 6 inches which made them difficult to manoeuvre in high winds. Newspaper articles record how the ferries on occasions ran aground during gales. The number of times this occurred however was relatively few. Their service speed was 8 knots and the 6 crew consisted of a Captain, Mate, Engineer, Ticket Clerk and two Deckhands. Despite high winds, sea fog and the occasional breakdown the ferries ran at a 99.97% efficiency. The ferries were making 40,000 trips a year and carrying 900,000 vehicles. This compares with the Forth Road Bridge which had 4 Million crossings in its first year and currently has 24 Million crossings. |
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| The Robert The Bruce was the first all welded vessel as well as the first with diesel-electric paddles. All the ferries were built by William Denny & Brothers Ltd who also operated the Queensferry Passage. Maurice Denny championed the expansion of the ferry service in the 1930s, providing and operating two additional ferries on behalf of the London and North Eastern Railway that aimed to supplement the services of the adjacent railway bridge. Their success allowed for the addition of two more craft in the 1940s and 1950s. |
| Details of the Paxman engines used on the Robert The Bruce & Queen Margaret have kindly been supplied by Richard Carr. A summary of the information available can be viewed at the links aside. |
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Queensferry Passage Uniform Badge. |
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| The Captains were invited to an annual dinner at the Hawes Inn at South Queensferry, the invitations for 1959 & 1960 are shown. |
![]() Flag from the Sir William Wallace, actual length 12 feet. |
The ferries last ran on the 04-09-1964, there fate after this was:- |
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Robert The Bruce |
Scrapped at P & W McLellan at Boness in 1965. |
Mary Queen of Scots |
Scrapped at T W Ward at Inverkeithing in 1965. |
Queen Margaret |
Scrapped at T W Ward at Inverkeithing in 1965. |
Sir William Wallace |
Scrapped 1970 in Ghent after carrying cargo on the river Ljsselmeer. |
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Newspaper archives plot the history of the ferries, articles from 1939 are reproduced, these having been discovered with the help of "Google News" | ![]() |
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The ships compasses were tested for accuracy as can be seen by this certificate.
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Lifeboat certificate issued in 1954. |
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Two superb models of the Sir William Wallace have been built by Eddy Matthews, the models are to a scale of 1:43 & 1:32. A Gallery of the models can be viewed by using the link aside. |
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| Videos of the ferries have been found on the internet, links to these are included on a separate page. |
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Although this 1896 map is strictly not connected with the ferries covered by this web site, it may be of interest to some as it relates to North Queensferry. |
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Detail from captain's uniform. |
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Site Created & Designed by Dennis Penny |
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Please visit www.PennyPictures.co.uk where you can view photographs on a variety of subjects taken by amateur photographer Dennis Penny. |