Читать книгу The Isles of Scilly - Rosemary Parslow - Страница 14

These days getting to Scilly is no longer the difficult and chancy business it was in the past, and we can easily forget that for earlier visitors the journey was frequently an ordeal. Passengers could arrange to go by sailing ship to the islands, but it was not until the start of the regular mail boat after 1827 that there was an organised service from Penzance to St Mary’s. Even so the passage usually took eight to nine hours and at times as much as two days. Things picked up when a steamer service started about 1858, and a year later the railway was extended to Penzance. Then in 1937 the air service started linking Scilly with the mainland, offering an alternative and much quicker route for those reluctant to brave the sea crossing.

The RMV Scillonian (Fig. 6) is the third of that name to have carried freight and passengers between Scilly and the Cornish mainland. She sails most days (except Sunday) between spring and autumn, the crossing taking about two and a half hours according to conditions. The Scillonian is notorious for her rolling motion, which is due to her shallow draft, designed to enable her to enter the shallow waters around the islands; but the possibility of seeing unusual seabirds, cetaceans and other excitements during the passage makes her popular with many visitors. The alternative routes to Scilly are by air, either fixed-wing plane or helicopter, both of which take about twenty minutes; but neither flies if there is fog. Flying is the only route in winter when the Scillonian is laid up. A second ship, the MV Gry Maritha, now transports most freight to the islands. Inter-island launches meet the ships in St Mary’s and transfer goods of all kinds to the ‘off-islands’, as the other four inhabited islands are known locally.

FIG 6. The RMV Scillonian in harbour after her two-and-a-half-hour sail from Penzance. July 2006. (Rosemary Parslow)