ISLE-OF-WIGHT-L Archives

From: Barry Drinkle <>
Subject: Isale-of Wight holiday 1912 #2
Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 21:55:49 -0400

With most people the real enjoyment of a trip to the island
commences at the point of embarkation. To the dust-laden town dweller
especially, the short sea voyage is almost always a source of keenest
pleasure.
Walking on the seaward side of the vessel one takes in the principal
features of the historic harbour. On the Gosport side is Blockhouse
Fort,
marking the entrance to Haslar Creek. To the right of Gosport Hard, busy
with ferries, is the yard of Camper & Nicholson, builders of the
Shamrocks
and other famous yachts, and on our own side of the harbour stretches
the
great Dockyard, with its multitudinous basins and factories, though but
little of it is seen from the pier. Those who know where to look,
however,
will recognize the topmasts of Nelson's famous flagship, the Victory.
The interest increases when the ropes are cast off, and the steamer
threads its way through the narrow neck of the Harbour, and under the
guns of the forts, to the open sea.
The eastern portion of the channel between the mainland and the Isle
of Wight, which includes the historic anchorage of Spithead, is like no
other stretch of water in the world. It is at once river and sea. All
the animation, the bustle, the passing to and fro of craft of all sizes
and sorts that one associates with such rivers as the Thames and the
Mersey,
are to be seen; at the same time there is the sense of breadth and power
and breeziness that only the ocean gives. In the distance looms the
Island
with here and there a tapering spire or patch of foliage. We make for
Ryde,
the intervening 4 1/4 miles being usually covered in less than half an
hour.
Immediately ahead, Ryde Pier apparently floats like a huge centipede
upon the water. Behind it rises the town, on the slope of a hill some
160
feet high, the houses, especially to the westward, embosomed in foliage
and
the skyline broken by several stately spires, dominated by that of the
parish
church, one of Sir Gilbert Scott's finest creations. Rightward sweeps a
majestic bay, broken at intervals by creeks, and backed by rising
ground,
tree covered almost to the water's edge. To the north of this along the
five-fathom line was the ancient and historic anchorage, "The
Motherbank",
which was to the Merchant Service what Spithead was to the Navy.
Fielding, the novelist was wind-bound here when on his voyage to
Lisbon
in 1754. Towards the western extremity a glimpse may be caught of the
two square-topped towers of Osborne, almost hidden by the trees.
To the left, the eye roves along the sea-wall of Ryde, past the
picturesque
castelled watch-tower at Appley to the pier at Seaview.
A few more moments, and we are waiting our turn to pass off the gangway
to the hydra-headed pier of Ryde
TBC

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• Isale-of Wight holiday 1912 #2 by Barry Drinkle <>