This film is part of Free

Queen of the Isles

Excitement abounds as the Queen of the Isles sets sail.

News 1965 6 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for South West Film and Television Archive

Overview

TV reporter Clive Gunnell is aboard the MV Queen of the Isles as daytrippers, holidaymakers and locals enjoy the journey from St Ives in Cornwall to St Mary's in the Scillies. They will have three hours to spend on St Mary's after arriving in Hugh Town. The Queen of the Isles operated at a loss and by 1967 was chartered as a day ferry by companies including the White Funnel Fleet operating out of Bristol.

Launched on 16 November 1964 in Bristol and built by Charles Hill and Son in 1964, the Queen of the Isles was intended to be run by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company as a ferry between Penzance and Scilly. The MV Scillonian was already in operation on this route. In April 1965 the MV Queen had a maiden voyage taking three hundred day passengers on an eighty-four mile round trip to the Isles of Scilly. The Queen of the Isles was eventually sold to Tonga in 1970.