Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, keen to promote traffic to his newly built town employed the paddle steamer James Dennistoun to pioneer a link between Fleetwood and Douglas, Isle of Man. Unfortunately the service did not develop into an all year round service, as was originally envisaged, despite several attempts to establish it.
The North Lancashire Steam Navigation Company introduced a twice weekly service to the island,on a year round basis, in 1845 using the paddle steamers Orion and Fenella. Orion had been built in 1841 and Fenella in 1846. The service was abandoned in December 1846 and reverted to the seasonal summer service begun by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's paddle steamer, Mona's Isle in 1842. Mona's Isle was a paddle steamer of some 200 tons and was capable of a speed of 7 knots. The saloon fare from Fleetwood to Douglas was a princely six shillings and six pence while steerage passangers went for four shillings.
Between 1842 and 1876 summer season sailings were maintained between Fleetwood and Douglas by North Lancashire Steam Navigation Company and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, sometimes operating jointly. Between 1876 and 1961 ships of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company were the sole operators of the service, working from the North End Berth. Over the years most of IOMSPC vessels worked the Fleetwood-Douglas route, the most noteable being Mona's Queen, Viking, Lady of Mann, King Orry, Ben-my-Chree and Manxman.
The Manx vessels were a common sight steaming into and out of Fleetwood up until 1961 when the passenger berth at Fleetwood was condemned as being unsafe and the service was withdrawn.
In 1968 an attempt was made by Sir John Onslow, to establish a hovercraft service with the newly formed Norwest Hovercraft Company Ltd. The Denny hovercraft that he employed was unable to maintain a reliable service but market research indicated the viability of a service and Sir John's company chartered a Norwegian motor vessel, the 1339 ton Stella Marina, which successfully reopened the route.
A second vessel, the ex-McBrayne steamer Lochiel (renamed Norwest Laird) proved to be inadequate for the task in size, age and speed. Consequently the service suffered sever disruption and ws discontinued and the Hovercraft Company ceased to trade. In 1971 the IOMSPC persuaded the Docks Board to improve facilities at Fleetwood's North End berth and summer season sailings resumed once more.
1994 saw the introduction of the IOMSPC Sea-Cat and a fast twin hull service was established. A brief history of the various
Manx vessels
can be found here.
